Controversial coach Eddie Jones supports France’s deployment of a 7-1, forward-dominated Bomb Squad in their heavy defeat of Ireland last week, a tactic their coach Fabien Galthie unashamedly drew from the Springboks.
Opinion on the use of Bomb Squads has polarised opinion in the rugby world but it seems that the critics come from the “have nots,” in terms of forward depth, while there are no complaints from the “haves.”
But Jones, a former coach of Australia (twice), England and the current coach of Japan (his second stint) said in his column on an online rugby website that teams like France and South Africa would be silly if they didn’t cut their suits according to their cloth.
Both countries have forward depth that their rivals envy and Ireland is not far behind. They had six forwards on their bench against France but their substitutes, as a unit, were not in the same class as the monster Frenchmen. The Irish bench men were more squibs than bombs.
“Whatever people want to say about bench splits, rugby is now a 23-man game and has been for a long time,” Jones wrote.
“You use the assets available to you and if you have the depth at forward that France and South Africa possess, why wouldn’t you use it?
Claiming it’s unfair is plain daft – as a coach you’re there to win a Test match, not wonder about the feelings of your opponents!”
Jones says that Galthie astutely envisaged a game of differing halves and picked specific skills for specific jobs.
“It was the defensive abilities of the starters and then the carrying carnage of the finishers,” Jones explained.
“Galthie understood the need to defend early Irish aggression and the opportunity to up attacking intensity once legs tired. He knew that his depth was far greater than that of Ireland in the forwards, so he created a point of difference with the 7-1 split.
“I also want to praise the French defence: the first 15 minutes was a master class in accuracy. France made the first 38 tackles of the match and missed none. It was statement defence and Ireland lacked the points of difference to make their possession pay.”
The colourful Jones summed up France’s 42-27 victory, thus: “France reminded me of a lovely glass of Bordeaux’s finest. A strong start, getting better the longer you drink it, and wonderful down to the last drop!”