It’s a radical suggestion, but could it really fix several of rugby’s problems?
As we sit in the middle of a soporific Six Nations featuring a worryingly high number of concussions and other injuries, it’s fair to cast a wide net when looking for solutions.
Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton has failed to see out either of Ireland’s games in the tournament, while Dave Kearney was forced off after a brutal hit against France and Mike McCarthy’s season is over as a result of a head injury suffered in the same game.
A pair of esteemed rugby writers have published their solutions this morning and they make for interesting reading.
The Sunday Independent’s Brendan Fanning calls for changes to the rules regarding tackling and limiting the number of replacements a team is allowed to name.
Fanning says the sport must “lower the head on tackle to waist high; no choke tackle and more offloads, leading to a quicker game where crucially the speed of decision making is more important than the size of the player”.
He also suggests several changes to the breakdown, offside line and scrum, some of which are already being trialled, that would help speed up the game, while he advances the idea that teams should be limited to a maximum of five replacements that could be employed on a roll on, roll off basis up to a total of 12, making “form a bigger factor than the ability to summon up massive reinforcements”.
Stephen Jones of the Sunday Times also wants to change the way substitutes are used in rugby, in that he wants to get rid of them entirely.
Yes, you read that right, Jones wants an end to replacements, except in case of injury, and believes his radical plan to force players to get through 80 minutes is the big fix the sport needs, arguing that it would improve the quality on show as well as reducing the number of big hits that produce head injuries.
“The effect would be staggering, and beneficial,” Jones claims of his proposal.
“This Six Nations has been marked by a dearth of quality and sweeping changes. Defences have dominated, and the action has also been marked by a disturbing number of injuries. Italy and Ireland each lost three players inside the first half of one of their games.
“There has also been further disquiet about concussion. The more time goes by, the more we doubt we have a full grasp of the problem, and the powerhouse crunch of modern play is a worry in itself.
“So deal with all these problems at once. Ban replacements. People might say that keeping tired players out there is dangerous. At least seven players in every match play the whole game anyway, which ends that argument.
“Players would have to train to play for 80 minutes, to be fit for purpose, instead of training just for 55 minutes or so, as some clearly do.
“A little tiredness is good for the game and for avoiding injuries. You cannot hit so hard and so often. You cannot be exactly in your place on the defensive line. The lack of fresh reinforcements would open space in which to attack.
“The idea for decades was to dominate the opposition and drain them so that in the final quarter, attacking chances would open up. The intensity of the defence would fall away, the size of the collisions would lessen. Perfect.”
In addition to the those impacts, Jones also bemoans the fact that rugby “has become a game as specialised as American football”, and suggests banning the bench would increase the importance of utility players such as Austin Healey or Ireland’s Ian Madigan and end players padding their records with what he describes as “confetti caps”.
there’s definitely at least a grain of truth in what both Jones and Fanning suggest, but they would be absolute game-changers for World Rugby to adopt. Would either have the desired effect?
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