The 2023 Rugby World Cup has been one for innovation and we’re not just talking about the facial attire that could see Antoine Dupont make a dramatic return for the knock-out phase.
Marco van Staden of South Africa during the Rugby World Cup 2023 (Pic – Steve Haag Sports)
Coaches around the globe were looking to get the upper hand headed into the global showpiece and they’re still hard at work while the tournament is going on with a number of out the box ideas cropping up throughout the campaign.
Will these be flash in the pan moments or are these ‘innovative innovations’ here to stay?
Flankers Flirting with Hooking
Of course, the Springboks would be at the forefront of things with Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienabar at the helm.
The role of a hooker has become pretty similar to that of a hybrid backrower with breakdown skills and ball carrying skills the name of the game. With World Rugby possibly looking into lowering the number of subs on the bench post-World Cup, we could well see utility backrows/hookers become the norm.
Bench Barrage
Speaking of substitutes, the South Africans have been at the forefront of this a gain with their 7-1 split causing much ire in the rugby world but looking extremely effective in a warm-up fixture against New Zealand. While this didn’t quite come off against the Irish a few weeks later at the World Cup, it is an interesting prospect for future coaches to ponder.
To be able to replace almost your entire forward pack with fresh legs is certainly an interesting prospect. It should in theory allow you to be quicker to the breakdown and also allow you to dominate the physical battle late on in the piece when your opponents are tiring.
Pretty Lights
It’s hardly a new innovation with Rassie Erasmus using different coloured lights to communicate with his team as far back at 2005 when his fledgling coaching career had just got off the ground, but the former Springbok is at it again with the disco lights making an appearance in the coach’s box at this World Cup.
With the coaching technical boxes tucked high away in most stadiums, lights are a pretty handy tool to have. Yes, there are miked up technical teams running the touchlines but a set of lights can be seen by the players which alleviates the need for a waterboy to run on and send messages. And with referees being told to clamp down on how much time physios and water assistants spend on the field, the pretty lights could become a regularly used tool in coaching boxes across the world.
Sneak ‘Em in Late
Without claiming conspiracy here, surely a number of sets of coaching staff must be thinking they can now give injured big guns a bit more time to recover if they suffer an injury in the lead up to the World Cup.
The casualty rate at this year’s global showpiece has been massive with each week seeing a handful of players ruled out of the tournament through injury.
Perhaps coaches will now look at World Cup squads as far from finalised when the tournament actually kicks off. The late injury call ups have essentially given the ‘Boks a bigger squad for their campaign and people will have taken note of this.
