Rugby Europe statement: Georgia versus Russia fixture

Injured players can’t be brought back on. If you substitute the fr at halftime, those players can come back on if one of the replacements get injured.

If the fr fakes injuries at halftime to get replaced (so that you can make your allotted say 3 tactical changes in the other 5 forward positions), the game goes to golden oldies if someone gets injured.

I can’t see South Africa for example risking loosing their scrumming advantage with an injury and going to golden oldies.

That solution looses a lot of interesting possibilities however, so it’s not my choice of action, but I’m perfect OK with the current unlimited injury changes, and if any future law changes somehow magically make injury replacements more likely, I’m happy with that too, as long as the game doesn’t stop for them of course.

Hell, I was happy to even allow injured players to come back on inside the 10 minute bloodbin type application, because I believe speeding the game up by removing stoppages would tire people out more than being able to have a fake replacement for 10 minutes would give them an advantage.

Ah, but at least you make a point that we can take interest in, risk. What makes you think it’s risky?

Double also, you wouldn’t have cleared up anything, as they may have simply told Doyle it wasn’t needed in the law as there was no need. Now that there is obviously a need it makes perfect sense that they will go back to vote it in. But has the situation changed, maybe they actually like this?

Isn’t that what your whole discussion was about, that you care because you want to make the game fast?

You can’t worry about anything retrospectively as if the intention was never laid out, say in the laws or in the code/spirit, then how is anybody to know that? Looking forward, if it was there intention, for next step is to recalibrate. They are simply going to put it in writing without first wondering if they still want a strict 5;3.

I’d therefor suggest worrying/talking about that first.

Enforcing a split seems a bit draconian, much more simple, elegant, and relevant ways of doing it. Would be easy to do, but also easily gamed and then we just have an even worse problem.

Why on earth would you say he won’t start though? That’s ridiculous, the opposite of an impact sub so I would have thought only there as a 80 minute option.

The whole article smells of cherry picking, but totally random which way it falls.

Adding Flutey does zero to fix the main issue; poor set piece, poor lineout, poor carry/cleans, poor ruck/maul D, poor tactics, backline defence optional . . .

For example. In the 2 test losses v ENG last year, the Roses’ backs scored 12 tries out of 13. Seven by wings, 2 by fullback, 1 by centre & 2 by halfback. The other try was a rolling maul. And they did this by dominating us up front, & blowing through our soft D.

But yeah, welcome Riki.