‘I can’t believe World Rugby hasn’t stepped in’ – Matt Williams rants again as Springboks-style bench costs Scotland after Finn Russell injury.
Matt Williams is at it again as he slams World Rugby for failing to change the laws around the use of replacements.
Matt Williams has slammed World Rugby yet again as he believes that Finn Russell’s injury cost Scotland the Six Nations fixture against Ireland.
Russell was forced off the pitch to undergo a head injury assessment (HIA) and while the fly-half did pass the tests, the Scotland coaching team opted not to put him back onto the field.
After the match, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend explained that while Russell passed the doctor’s examinations, the playmaker was struggling to remember certain plays leading to the decision to not put him back on.
Instead, Stafford McDowall played out the rest of the fixture with inside centre Tom Jordan taking over at fly-half, a position he regularly plays for Glasgow Warriors.
Rolling the dice
Former Scotland head coach Williams has slammed the events that unfolded during the Six Nations clash Murrayfield with Townsend being ‘bitten’ by his decision to select a bench consisting of six forwards and two backs.
Russell sustained the head knock when he collided with teammate Darcy Graham, forcing Scotland to use up both of their backline replacements in the first half.
Williams has been a consistent critic of the Springboks and their coaching staff’s regular usage of forward-heavy benches with Rassie Erasmus selecting 6-2 and 7-1 splits.
He has dubbed it ‘against the spirit of the game‘, an ‘abuse of safety laws’ and even accused the Boks of ‘discriminating against backs’. His constant bashing of the tactic even drew backlash from Springboks great Schalk Burger.
In his latest rant, Williams once again called on World Rugby to act and outlaw the use of 6-2 and 7-1 bench splits as he believes that Townsend’s decision not to select a ‘suitably trained’ fly-half on the bench meant that when Russell’s game was over, so were Scotland’s chances of winning.
“We are getting so immune to this now ever since the last World Cup and South Africa started going 6-2 and 7-1, we are not even saying anything about it anymore and I’ve got to stop saying it because people are getting sick of hearing it – even though it’s true,” he said on Virgin Media Sport.
“When you go with a 6-2 bench there are a whole lot of reasons that I’ve spoken about in the past but you are rolling the dice on your backs not getting hurt and it’s worse when you go 7-1.
“And no one wants to see what happened on Sunday, it was awful, but accidents happen in our game it’s a contact sport… but Scotland didn’t have a trained 10 on their bench.
“Now if you go with a 5-3 bench, you’d usually have an out-half that can step in and they chose not to with the 6-2 selecting a scrum-half and an outside back.”
“If that was a scrum”
Williams continued that World Rugby would not allow this to happen when it comes to front-rowers as it is a requirement there are trained players to fill the three positions on the bench.
“If that was a scrum that wouldn’t happen,” he continued.
“Because World Rugby says ‘You have got to have front-rowers’ and I just can’t believe that World Rugby hasn’t stepped in on this particular point since South Africa went 7-1 and everyone’s going 6-2 and Ireland’s stayed with 5-3.
“That game was over at that point [when Russell went off].”
Show host Stuart McAvoy raised the point that starting inside centre Jordan led Glasgow Warriors to the United Rugby Championship as their starting fly-half and took over the playmaking duties when Russell went off but Williams still argued that it is ‘very different to having a trained 10’.
“If you look at the Ireland bench and every 5-3 bench usually has a trained 10 so they didn’t but that game was effectively over at that point, Scotland were never going to win that game from then on,” he added.
“This problem is so easily solved. We’ve been talking about it for a couple of years now and all they have to say is you got to have three recognised trained backs on your bench – it can’t be a forward who can play in the backs – just have three backs on the bench.
“We do it with the front-row and if they did it with the backs, this conversation would be over – it’s such a simple solve.”
Gregor Townsend ‘bitten’
Williams added that he feels for head coach Townsend, who rolled the dice with the make-up of his bench without a ‘trained 10’ beyond Russell in the squad, despite nine of Jordan’s 13 appearances for Glasgow coming in that position this season.
“Townsend is the only one so far to get bitten by this,” he added.
“But that’s what happens it ruins the game as a spectacle and it cost Scotland any chance of competing in the end, not just losing Russell’s brilliance but not having someone that could conduct the tam as they needed to when playing a top side like Ireland.
“Scotland believed that they were right in the Championship but as soon as that injury occurred and didn’t have a suitably trained player, I thought it was all over and it proved to be correct.”
He concluded: “Until we get to that point where World Rugby starts saying ‘You do have to have three suitably trained backs as part of your
eight’, this option that we saw on Saturday is going to be a constant in the game and that’s a shame because it’s easily solved.”
