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Frankenstein’s bench must be given the boot

NICK CAIN

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THE reality of the 7:1 bench split is unmasked. The development ushered in first by South Africa’s head coach Rassie Erasmus, and adopted in this Six Nations by his French counterpart Fabien Galthie, is driving Rugby Union inexorably down the same route as American Football, with its “special teams”contingents.

There is no mistaking that if it is not reversed, it spells the end of the cherished Rugby Union tradition of an 80 minute game played between two 15-a-side teams. Like so much that happens with World Rugby&#x...

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