BOKS OFFICE: 'Put eight forwards on the bench'

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Scotland flyhalf Finn Russell expressed his frustration on how his side couldn’t capitalise on the opportunities they had in South Africa’s red-zone and England scrumhalf Ben Youngs gave his verdict on the number of forwards that should be allowed on the bench.

In the latest Episode of BOKS OFFICE in collaboration with the ‘For the love of rugby’ podcast, host Hanyani Shimange alongside John Smit and England scrumhalf Ben Youngs discuss the influence Eddie Jones had on their respective teams.

Youngs also touched on how the loss of Felix Jones and Aled Walters affected England and whether they are replaceable or not.

John Smit shares a funny story following the celebrations post the 2007 World Cup involving Jean de Villiers and opened up on his post-match interaction with Scotland flyhalf Finn Russel.

“I was fortunate enough to be in a room where Finn Russell came in and had a chat,” John Smit said.

“He came in and you could see he was frustrated.

“He said ‘you can’t spend that much time in the 22 [metre area] of South Africa and not get a reward’, that’s probably the undoing of Scotland and the survival of South Africa.

“Scotland had massive time and opportunity on that five-metre line where they should’ve put either a five or three points on the board and that didn’t happen.

“And he said that, that was the most frustrating thing and really broke their confidence in a game they could’ve won.”

Smit and Youngs also touched on the ‘bomb squad’ with Youngs having an interesting view on it.

“I don’t know if I would do that as a coach, it’s a massive risk,” Smit said

“You put seven blokes on with 35 minutes to go, and you start getting some injuries in the backline, things can go pretty pear shaped.

“It is risk and reward, it is within the laws and other teams and even at club level are experimenting with the bench and the numbers in the forwards.” Smit added.

“You should be able to play eight forwards on the bench if you wish, it shouldn’t matter, you’re allowed to do whatever you want,” Youngs said.

“I just think that no one possesses that level of depth, and that’s for other oppositions to figure out how to combat that.

“That’s their strengths, that’s what you know is coming, you still got to stop it.”

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