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Schalk Burger responds to 'broken record' criticism of Bok tactics
By Josh Raisey
South Africa great Schalk Burger has fired back at the critics of how the Springboks use their substitutes.
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Rassie Erasmus decided to deploy all six forward substitutes in one fell swoop on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld as the world champions defeated Ireland. The six new players came on after 49 minutes and began to gain supremacy up front, culminating in a scrum penalty try in the closing minutes of the match.
Ever since the Springboks started deploying a 6-2 split on the bench, and latterly a 7-1 split, their most vocal critic has been former coach turned pundit Matt Williams, despite the fact that plenty of other teams have also used the 6-2 split since then.
The Australian has been at it again this week following South Africa’s victory, saying the Boks’ use of the ‘Bomb Squad’ is “not what our game is designed for”.
“At the 49-minute mark, six South African forwards walked onto the field, is that what the replacement laws for safety were designed for?” he said on the Virgin Media Sport podcast.
“It discriminates against backs; our game is for all shapes and sizes, so in that game, you had 14 forwards.
“That is not what our game was designed for, that’s not what the ancients designed for it, it’s not what we did in the 80s, 90s and 2000s.
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“It is not a game for 14 forwards and nine backs. It should be relatively even; it’s never been 50/50 because we have eight forwards and seven backs [in the starting line-up], but that is not what it is.”
Burger has seemingly had enough of Williams’ criticism, saying on RugbyPass TV’s latest episode of Boks Office that he is like a “like a broken record”.
The former flanker has no problem with this approach, and even warned Williams that it is only going to get worse with plenty of injured Springboks poised to return.
“By playing 50 minutes or by playing 80 minutes, you can’t guarantee a player’s safety,” he said. “You can get injured in the first five minutes.
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“We are playing the rugby rules and we are fortunate that we’ve got a lot of depth, I think the greatest pool of depth on international level, of Springboks that we’ve ever had.
“And there are more players to come back, to Mr Williams’ agony. Imagine a Lood de Jager comes back, Jasper Wiese, Damian Willemse, Steven Kitshoff comes back, and that’s only going to enhance our squad depth.
“So I don’t see anything wrong with it. If anything, in the years going forward, for player safety and more stringent HIA rules, I think the squads will get bigger. We’ll go to 25 players or so.”