John Dobson has rubbished safety concerns around South Africa’s Bomb Squad while giving credit to the Bok coaches for rolling the dice against Ireland.
The Boks pulled off a surprise for the crucial World Cup pool clash in Paris on Saturday by naming seven forwards on the bench to face the world number one.
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South Africa’s heavyweight matchday squad has raised eyebrows and prompted questions, particularly from Ireland, around the safety aspect of being able to call on seven fresh forwards in the second half.
Stormers coach Dobson, who has used the six-two split for his own team, appeared on the Off the Ball podcast and during a wide-ranging conversation defended the use of the Bomb Squad.
“A lot of fuss has been made about the safety element – especially in Ireland – about the seven-one split,” Dobson told SARugbymag.co.za. “To my mind, it’s a calculated gamble.
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“I’m not sure it would’ve been done if we hadn’t beaten Scotland. In essence, that probably puts us through to a World Cup quarter-final. Our coaches are prepared, and organised, so this will be a highly-calculated gamble. If it comes off, it could have a massive knock on Ireland’s World Cup aspirations and morale.
“I don’t buy into the safety element of it,” Dobson explained. “Those fatigue injuries that happen later in the game tend to be open-play, high-speed injuries. They aren’t injuries from mauls or scrums. Mercifully, rugby has fixed the scrum issue. We don’t get injuries, very rarely, in the scrum, certainly not cataclysmic ones. Nor do people get injured in a maul.
“Those are two areas where fresh legs in the pack will make the most difference. You can’t say that Jean Kleyn coming on is going to be more dangerous than Eben Etzebeth, in terms of player safety.
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“It is a risk. I do it as well, with the six-two at the Stormers. If your second back gets injured, you can’t make the substitutions. Those one or two backs have to almost be old-fashioned reserves. You have to have somebody like a Kwagga [Smith] or, in our case, Hacjivah [Dayimani] or like a Paul de Wet or Cobus Reinach, someone who can play in a different position.
“We can play our way into the Irish, our attack is looking sharp. But the easiest way to get 22-metre entries, and this is across the board not just with the Springboks, is to win penalties. The best way to get those voluntary penalties most often is at a scrum or a maul.
“I don’t see the safety concern element, even though, tactically, it is a gamble,” Dobson added. “We are going to make the World Cup quarter-finals, so the upside of this gamble is enormous. It’s masterful. They are braver than I would be. They have clearly calculated the odds.
“We need to trust in an exceptional coaching staff. It’s not a gamble I would have had the balls to make, but it could pay off spectacularly.”
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