Gregor Townsend has effectively doubled down on his view of the ‘Bomb Squad’ and has suggested that teams should not be allowed to go with a 7-1 split.
It was revealed last week that the Scotland head coach had expressed reservations at World Rugby’s Shape of the Game event in London.
Townsend reportedly stated that the tactic was not in the best interests of the sport, with more teams going forward-heavy with their replacements after the success of the Springboks.
South Africa regularly went 6-2 on the bench as they secured the 2019 Rugby World Cup title before they introduced the 7-1 just before the 2023 global tournament.
Scotland’s 6-2 bench
Many sides have since adopted the 6-2, including Scotland themselves, but only France have been brave enough to truly copy the Boks by putting seven forwards on the bench for their victories over Italy and Ireland.
That bold decision has been praised by many but it has also attracted plenty of criticism and Townsend explained his views after his side’s Six Nations triumph over Wales.
“If you want my view, I don’t think the bench was set up to suddenly have a new forward pack coming on. But that’s for World Rugby to decide what you do with the bench, and to make any changes,” he told reporters.
“But just now you can put eight forwards on the bench if you want. We’ve faced it already with South Africa (South Africa won 32-15 at Murrayfield last November).
“We thought we rose to that challenge really well when they brought their seven forwards on and our forwards matched them. If it happens again this week, we’ve got to do even better.”
Although it is apparent that Townsend has reservations about the tactic, which was coined by the Springboks as the ‘Bomb Squad’, he has not ruled out following suit should World Rugby decide not to take action.
‘All options on the table’
“Who knows? All options are on the table. We do have players that can play in different positions. France have that, but so do we,” he said.
“Guys like Blair Kinghorn and Tom Jordan have played 10 at international rugby and obviously Tom’s played 15 and 12. So who knows? We’ll see. First of all, we have to review our game and get our selection right in terms of the 15 that we believe can win us a game, the 23.
“Where do we think the game might end up? Is it going to be more a game where we need forwards in a 6-2 or 7-1? Or is it a game where we need backs because it’s going to be so open that we’ve got to make sure we’re bringing backs off the bench?”
After Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie decided to go with the 7-1 in their previous two Six Nations clashes, there is a possibility that Scotland could face it this weekend on Super Saturday.
“The depth of French rugby, right throughout their team, their backline, their squad, if they go 7-1, you know you’re going to come up against some top, top players,” Townsend added.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/gregor-townsend-doubles-down-on-bomb-squad-criticism-after-airing-view-at-world-rugby-summit
