All Blacks great urges Razor to ‘fight power with power’ as World Rugby boss laments rise of Boks’ bomb squad
Outgoing World Rugby chief Bill Beaumont would like to see South Africa’s Bomb Squad lose some of its explosiveness, while an All Blacks great says it’s time for New Zealand to “fight power with power”.
Beaumont, who will finish up in rugby’s top job in a month, told The Times that one of the regrets of his tenure was that the game has not reduced the number of replacements from eight players.
A World Rugby review opted against trials after deciding a change it would make little difference from a safety viewpoint.
“My view is that we allow too many substitutes,” said Beaumont. He was at pains to say he was not pointing the finger only at the Springboks, who have pushed the limits on the number of forwards they’ve carried on the bench.
“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,” said Beaumont, who played 34 times for England, including 21 as a captain, in an era when substitutes were only permitted in case of injury.
“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 the bomb squad could run for a bit longer and a bit further.”
Rassie Erasmus and former Springboks boss Jacques Nienaber took it to a different level in 2023 by having a 7-1 bench split en route to winning the World Cup.
With the current regulations not about to change, it’s incumbent on South Africa’s rivals to find a way to match the world champions, according to former All Black Sonny Bill Williams.
“I try and look at the things from an open perspective. We can’t just blow teams away anymore,” Williams was quoted as saying by RugbyPass.
“We’ve got to look at what the greatest teams in the world at the moment are doing, what’s Ireland doing, what’s South Africa doing?
“Example, the Bomb Squad, they’ve been putting no backs on the bench, these guys are crazy. Well, how about we meet power with power?
“We’ve got Beauden Barrett that can play a few different positions, we’ve got Rieko Ioane who can slide onto the wing.
“How about we mix it up and put Dalton Papali’i on the bench? We should be carrying an extra forward. We’ve got the depth, we’ve got the talent, I just feel like the coaches need to accept that we are not where we once were.
“We’ve got to fight power with power, test the waters so to speak.”
Williams said the All Blacks “don’t like it” when faced with pressure at the international level.
Under Scott Robertson the team has failed to finish off games strongly in The Rugby Championship this year.
“It’s a hard one but I feel that New Zealand, the All Blacks, if we are going to call a spade a spade, when the going gets tough, when the microscope is put heavily on them, they don’t like to feel the pressure,” said Williams.
“We like to blow teams away at the minute, it’s kind of like that Super Rugby style of play. The way your leading, playing well, everything is free flowing and things are comfortable as a rugby player.
“But as soon as the heat comes on, as soon as that battle intensifies, and we’ve seen it. Like you said, three out of the last six games, that last 20 minute period when the heat is on, we’re struggling and falling away.”
