NO-REPLACEMENT RULE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 136, 25 June 1937, Page 15

NO-REPLACEMENT RULE

"Referee")

Must It Be Used In Rugby? EFTECT ON SPRINGBOKS

fB,

The Springboks ' matohes in this eountry will be played unde international rules. One of these, the no-re-placement rule, is disliked by almost every player and spectator in New Zealand. In important matches played on the no-replacement system, injured players feel they must continue as long as they can stand. As a result a minor injury may become a permanent disability. When the 1930 British team played Wanganui, their crack half-back Spong remained on the field affer twisting «y knee; as a result he was again hurt and finally crippled for years. The same thing might happen to any one of the New Zealand payers who will meet the Springboks this winter. On the other hand, when seriously injured players have to leave the field, one team is left short-hauded and the game is spoilt. Last Saturday New South Wales beat the Springboks, yet the game was spoilt,. from, every point of view, by the fact after half-time the Africans did not have a full team. As sportsmen would, they called it the luck of the game, but it was not luck at all— it was the fault of an irritating rule. Before very long 10,000 Hawke 's Bay people will crowd McLean Park to see our team meet the Springboks; if two players from the same side have to leave the field, what kind of a game can we expectf This writer would like to know how much has been done in this matter by the New Zealand Rugby Union. Presumably it is impossible for visiting teams to play under any other than the j mternational rules; if not, then our visitors should surely accept our rulings. When the All Black teams go vn tour they naturally accept the customs pf th«ir hosts, The "no replaceme.ut" rule may spoil for us a Test match; thereforo the New Zealand public should know the exact position. .Let us hope that the International Rugby powers may soon diacard the rule — at appears to .be as much out of date as some of the farming methods which survive in Britain.