'Would be great': Ronan O'Gara backs rugby to ape football-style rule change

La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara has backed rugby union to follow football in changing when the a team line-up is named prior to a game.

The norm in football is to keep starting line-ups under wraps until just an hour before kick-off. It’s a practice designed to protect tactical plans and enable late decisions based on weather or the opposition. For coaches, it offers maximum flexibility.

Rugby operates under a more traditional framework.

Team announcements in professional rugby are typically made 48 hours ahead of a fixture, usually on a Thursday for a Saturday Test.

This allows media build-up, fan engagement, and presumably, a form of competitive transparency. But it also hands the opposition time to prepare in detail for a settled XV, leaving little room for late tactical sleight of hand.

Once the team sheet is submitted, there’s little scope for deviation unless injury strikes.

Former England centre Will Greenwood has floated the idea that this approach is ripe for change, suggesting that rugby could benefit from borrowing football’s late reveal culture.

Speaking to Ronan O’Gara on Sky Sports after the British & Irish Lions’ win over a First Nations and Pasifika XV at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on Tuesday, Greenwood laid out his vision for a modern, flexible model.

“On your question, knowing players now and the psychology of everyone being ready… I don’t think it’s a long time before we go like football and we don’t announce until an hour before kick-off,” Greenwood said. “Then you’ve got 30 players…let’s say it’s chucking it down with rain, you say, ‘I want my two best kick chasers, my best tacklers, my best back three.'”

O’Gara, the La Rochelle head honcho and former Ireland fly-half, backed the proposal.

“You can’t, though, with the regulations,” O’Gara noted, “I actually think it’s very interesting.”

Greenwood pushed the point further: “I’m saying I don’t think it’s long before they change that regulation.”

“It would be great,” O’Gara replied.

Asked whether his players could adapt to not knowing the team until an hour before, O’Gara added: “Well, if we practice what we preach all week, everyone is tuned in and, after the first 10 minutes, if you have a Hail Mary, you can easily know on Monday that this guy hasn’t really bought in to what you’re wanting to practice.”