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Rugby

Rolling subs excite Griquas

───   MORGAN PIEK 10:30 Fri, 20 Apr 2018

Rolling subs excite Griquas | News Article
Peter Engeldow - DFA

The Tafel Lager Griquas are excited about the new rolling subs law which will be trialled in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge which kicks off on Saturday afternoon.


The tournament marks the official season opener for the smaller unions and franchises. While the tournament saw reasonable success in its inaugural season last year, it didn’t really overly excite rugby fans in South Africa.

The addition of the new law could prove to be a big game-changer in domestic rugby and it truly is something to be excited about. Managing players in the game has now become perhaps a little easier for the coaches, and more importantly, it can be done in a legal way, which was not always the case in the past.

This could very well also speed up the game as the playmakers can also be rested and put back onto the park.

The use of the rolling subs will not be a free-for-all but will be limited to 12 per team in the game. 

While the concept is not new to the sport, it certainly is in South Africa, and with previous experience in using it, the Griquas coach, Peter Engeldow, told OFM Sport that he is excited.

“It’s actually not new, we used it when I was working of the England Rugby Union (RFU).

“We trialled it there and we used ten rolling subs back then, and it worked extremely well.

“I think that it is very beneficial, especially in the front-row. In the past, many teams - myself included, would bring a prop off and then you would have to fake an injury to bring the prop back on. This was the only way that you could do it, so this eliminates all that.

“It’s clear and you can also use it quite strategically, even with the seven subs.”

Engeldow added that it brings a whole new dynamic into play when it comes to making subs and it can work very well tactically if used in the right way.

“Quite often you would have only one backline player left with 20 minutes to play, and you would be quite cautious about putting him on too soon. If you had another injury you would only have 14 men to play with, so all that also gets eliminated.

“It’s very exciting. If you’ve got a loose-forward that’s tiring quite early and has done a lot of work, you can bring him off and put him back on for the last 20 minutes.

“Tactically and strategically it can be used very well, but ultimately I think it’s to the benefit of the front-row and it avoids uncontested scrummaging.

“If you do go uncontested now with the rolling subs you go down to 14-men, so I’m very happy about it.

“I’m excited about it, with having some experience using it before.”

The Griquas open their campaign on Saturday afternoon against the Sharks XV in Kimberley. The Peacock Blues are known for upsetting the Sharks in the Diamond City and this will be the exact way Engeldow and his chargers would want to kick-off their season.

Saturday afternoons’ game at Tafel Lager Park kicks off at 15:00.

Griquas - 15 Eric Zana, 14 Ederies Arendse, 13 Kyle Steyn, 12 Christopher Bosch, 11 Enver Brandt, 10 André Swarts, 9 Louis Venter, 8 De Wet Kruger, 7 Sias Koen, 6 Wendal Wehr, 5 Pieter van Vuren (captain), 4 Jono van Rensburg, 3 Nicolaas Oosthuizen, 2 AJ le Roux, 1 Liam Hendricks.

Replacements – 16 Khwezi Mkhafu, 17 Ruan Kramer, 18 Wandile Putuma, 19 Conway Pretorius, 20 Damian Stevens, 21 Pieter-Steyn De Wet, 22 Tythan Adams.

 Sharks XV – TBA


Morgan Piek/OFM Sport

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