Matt Williams has doubled down on his comments earlier in the week which once again criticised the current laws around the bench.

The former Scotland and Leinster coach, who is now a pundit in Ireland, has been outspoken in his criticism of the Springboks’ ‘Bomb Squad’.

South Africa often put six forwards among the replacements and just two backs, and have sometimes increased that to a 7-1 split.

Other countries are now copying them with Italy, England, France and Scotland using the same plan in last weekend’s Six Nations games.

Incident in Scotland v Ireland clash

There are undoubtedly risks involved from a purely tactical point of view and the Scots found that out to their cost when Darcy Graham and Finn Russell collided and were forced to go off against Ireland.

“We are getting so immune to this now ever since the last World Cup and South Africa started going 6-2 and 7-1,” Williams told 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.

“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.”

It is not just the tactical side of it which irks Williams, however, with the Australian adamant that going with a 6-2 or 7-1 split on the bench is dangerous.

Following that rant earlier in the week, Williams has now used his column in the Irish Times to expand on his point.

“Well-considered law changes that reduced the impact of scrum engagements and converted technical scrum infringements to free kicks and not penalties diluted the motivation for brutal scrummaging tactics,” he wrote.

“The wisdom of those in stewardship of the game during those difficult days all but eliminated the danger of spinal injury in scrums.

“Over the following decades, law changes have once again empowered aggressive scrummaging.

“The reserve bench, which was introduced as a safety law to protect players’ spines in the 1980s, has metamorphosed into an instrument that has drastically reduced the number of backline players who can participate in the game and fuelled match-defining power to scrummaging that lawmakers in the 1980s could never have foreseen.”

Trying to get World Rugby involved

World Rugby have – rightly in the eyes of many observers – refused to take action, but Williams will not let this issue lie and has urged the governing body to change the laws about how the bench can be used.

“Even though 7-1 and 6-2 benches are now common, they remain unjust and dangerous,” he wrote.

“At World Rugby’s council meeting last November, they should have been legislated into the history books, alongside the spinal injuries that brought the bench into existence.

“This imbalance has leached down into the lower levels of the game, once again creating the environment for a potential spinal disaster.

“The practice of selecting a 7-1 or a 6-2 bench and replacing seven or six forwards only minutes into the second half also has many concussion experts concerned that the introduction of several huge, fresh athletes against fatigued opposition increases the chances of brain injury.”

Williams concludes that World Rugby are ‘neglecting responsibility’ if they fail to act and suggests that certain countries are joining forces to deliberately stop any amendments being made.

“The World Rugby Council consists of an unwieldy 52 representatives and requires a 75 per cent vote of support to change any law. A deeply flawed design for an instrument of reform,” he added.

“The rumours of a cabal of nations within the council, who use political influence to block reforms to scrums and replacement laws are rife. So the injustice inflicted on backline players remains unchanged.

“World Rugby has stewardship, not ownership of the game. With that stewardship comes responsibility. A responsibility that some on the council appear to be neglecting.”