Rolling subs will make the game less safe
The French Top14 is already dominated by powerful packs, and the latest set of proposals from the FFR suggest that isn’t going to change anytime soon. We currently have 15 players on the field, and eight replacements.
Once a player has been replaced, that’s it for them, with the exception that a replaced player can come back on for a front-row injury. That avoids noncontested scrums – but the French now want rolling subs throughout the game.
We already have the situation where, by and large, front-row players play between 50 and 60 minutes before being replaced. On one level that’s sensible as it reduces the risk of tiring players getting injured, but on the other, a match lasts 80 minutes and don’t we want players fit enough to last the course?
The French proposal seems likely to lead to even bigger and stronger props, so musclebound they can only do a 20-minute stint before having a breather, and then coming back on later to have another bash.
They’ve asked World Rugby to approve the change in time for the start of the Top14 season, and seem confident it will go through, but surely it’s a retrograde step?
The bigger the players, the bigger the impacts will be, and that implies even more injuries at a time when there is huge concern about player attrition. Astonishingly the proposal is the result of work done by the FFRLNR Medical Observatory, the Union and Top14 medical committee on reducing injuries!
There’s a school of thought that says cutting the number of replacements might be a better idea, as that would force coaches to get players fitter, instead of them simply spending time lifting heavier and heavier weights. English players who have played in the Top14 comment that fitness levels are very different to those in the Premiership, and the proposed changes seem likely to widen that gap.
The changes will apply only to the Top14, so when French sides play in Europe, they’ll have to comply with the current regulations. Monster props will have to play longer, but I would imagine they’ll be able to get round that by claiming a player is injured – they have plenty of ‘previous’ in that department!
The other change is the introduction of the blue card whereby a referee can insist on a player leaving the field if he believes he has been concussed. The player then has to have a ten-day rest, irrespective of the return- to-play protocols. You would think this sounds like good news as, to use the cliché, player safety is paramount. However, the devil is in the detail and we’re currently missing most of that.
What happens if the club doctor challenges the ref and says that in his expert opinion the player isn’t concussed and is fit to play on? Isn’t this simply putting further pressure onto already beleaguered officials? And what if a player is blue carded, and after the game a consultant says the ref got it wrong – does the player still miss the next match?
Let’s hope that World Rugby ‘grow a pair’ and kicks this proposal into touch – the last thing we need is even bigger players and the potential for more serious injuries.
Premiership Rugby have announced the fixtures for the new season, giving a ‘fix’ to fans already showing serious withdrawal symptoms as a result of the lack of meaningful rugby.
We now know who ‘our’ club will play in all 22 rounds, and can begin to make plans.
The season kicks off on a Friday evening, and sees Bristol (do we really have to call them the Bears?) entertain local rivals Bath at Ashton Gate. If you were looking for a headline match to get things going, this would be it.
Can big-spending Briss make an impact at the top level, or fulfil the traditional role of the promoted side by immediately plummeting back into the Championship?
The scale of their spending raises questions about whether that will happen, but making a competitive team is very different from signing bigname players.
The following two weekends see Bristol travel to Allianz Park to take on Saracens and then Gloucester – after three rounds we might well have an idea of how the newbies’ season will pan out.