Owens: Put stop to tactical subs in Test rugby

FORMER international referee Nigel Owens thinks tactical substitutions should be dropped from international rugby and that replacements should only be allowed onto the pitch for injured players.

Owens argues it would result in players carrying less bulk and reduce the impact of collisions.

“I think we need to look at substitutions,” Owens said. “There’s too many substitutions in the game.

“Whether you reduce them from eight down to five or four? Or at international level, do you just have them for replacements rather than substitutions? So, the only time you can come on is when a player is injured; you can’t come on for a tactical substitution.

“I think that will help the game. It’ll prevent all these changes and players coming on in the second half. You can have eight players coming on in the second half – more than half a new team – fresh, fit and playing against seven players from the opposition that have been on the pitch for 60 minutes, and they’re just coming on fresh for the last 20 minutes.

“Also, I think that what it would mean as well is, instead of a player coming on carrying 120kg to last 40 or 50 minutes in the game, he may now just have to carry 110kg to last 80 minutes. That will take away some of the bulk. Will that then help with less impact, less big collisions because players coming on are actually not as heavy. I do think it will benefit the game by changing it to replacements rather than substitutions.”

Owens told William Hill there are other rules he would change too.

He added: “I would also definitely change the goalline dropout when a team kicks the ball into end-goal and it’s made dead. That should still be a dropout 22 it’s putting the side that’s defending under pressure to kick out from their own goal line. Will it encourage teams to kick a bit more and put the ball in there and put pressure on the defending team? So that’s another thing I definitely would change.”