England rugby icon Will Greenwood has accused South Africa of exploiting substitution rules ahead of the Autumn Nations Series clash at Twickenham this weekend. The Springboks have courted controversy over their use of their so-called ‘bomb squad’.

Rugby allows for eight substitutes to be named, with South Africa exploiting their extreme attacking depth by naming six such players on their bench. They are subsequently introduced late on to help their side win matches

But Greenwood is not a fan of the tactic and believes the number of substitutes should be decreased, believing the point of changes is for health and safety reasons.

The 2003 World Cup winner

Grosvenor Sport: “There is a wider debate to be had on this, with substitutes originally being to support health and safety. I actually think that it’s moving away from that now.

“If you want to have 8, where you’ve got to have three front-row replacements. It’s getting to the stage where, if you want to have 6-2 then I would have seven replacements and make them go 5-2.

“I’d say upskill your backs to go into the back-row, but the whole point of substitutes is for health and safety, as opposed to now, where you can tweak it to replace almost your entire pack.

“There’s a wider debate for World Rugby, where a lot of people want to go back to fewer replacements. I think now, where there’s this manipulation of teams to front-load their benches is part of how teams have always tried to get around the rules put into place by the sport.

“More replacements were brought in for the right reasons, but it’s now gone too far slightly and with a bit of fatigue there is more space, and people do make more mistakes.

“It should be looked at as to why there are this many replacements and, if necessary, they should be made to carry them in certain positions.”

It is a view shared by World Rugby chief Bill Beaumont. The 72-year-old is in favour of the number of substitutes being reduced. “My view is that we allow too many substitutes,” Beaumont told The Times.

“I don’t know if I’m looking through rose-coloured spectacles but in years gone by the game always opened up in the last 20 minutes, and games were often won in the last 20 minutes.

“The Bomb Squad are very effective at what they do, and very successful — they have won two World Cups. I will not criticise that at all, because it suits their game, but maybe they could run for a bit longer and a bit further.”

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England target revival against old foe South Africa after successive defeats

Home side signals intention to stick with blitz defensive system but also take game to the Springboks

England are looking to banish their autumn frustrations at South Africa’s expense this Saturday and have vowed “not to shut up shop” against the reigning world champions. Successive defeats to New Zealand and Australia have meant Steve Borthwick’s side sink to seventh in the world rankings but the players insist they can still confound expectations and turn their month around.

Rather than ditching the high-risk defensive system that has so far conceded eight tries in two games this month, England also intend to double down and be even more aggressive with and without the ball in their first rematch against the Springboks since last year’s agonising World Cup semi-final defeat.

In Paris just over a year ago England adhered to a strictly limited kicking-based gameplan against the Boks which came close to paying spectacular dividends. This time, however, they intend to stick to their recently embraced blitz defensive system and take South Africa on attacking-wise as well.

The Springboks’ powerful pack may just have other ideas but England believe now is not the moment to retreat into their shells or get into an unwinnable arm wrestle with the world’s top-ranked side.