Matt Williams insists rugby's subs rule needs to change 

"South Africa took advantage of a loophole." WTF is the loophole? It's strategy (which carries significant risk to the team employing it), not tax evasion. This man is demented.

If SA brings on 6 backs its discrimination against forwards 😂😂😂😂

😂😂😂😂 this guy is a total nut job..

"It discriminates against backs" 😂😭🤣🤣

Scrumcaps. Get rid of them. Too many springboks with scrumcaps are scoring trys these days. Its unfair and discriminatory against all those players without scrumcaps. Come on, World Rugby! Its a safety issue . I knew a chap once who became a paraplegic playing for the Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskiedwordfontein 5th XV because he was stepped by a guy wearing a scrumcap. World Rugby simply have tpo step in. Enough is enough.

Rassie Erasmus's brilliance is going to affect this mans health

“Back lives matter “😂😂😂😂

At the end of the day the sun will set, the sky will get dark and Matt Williams will still be a boks naysayer

Bring on your own 6 forward replacements.

All teams have 8 replacements. Why can't they decide when and how these replacements are used?

Matt Williams loves baiting you South Africans. He is literally making money out of it. Stop responding to the clickbait.

He is waste pundit

He is talking absolute BS. If it really is about safety it would make more sense to have more forward replacements because they have more physical battles.

WTF is Matt Williams smoking! Living in the past... The game has evolved mate! Get onboard.

Oh hell. Wait till SA start producing more and more wings like we do now and revert to a 1:7 bennch. He will probably cry then too

No matter how many rules you change, we will always come out stronger🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦

The springboks team is the epitome of what All shapes and Sizes represents in rugby.

Ireland used 6-2 split in six nations nobody complained

Matt always wants the rules to change to his liking 🙄

That's why Ireland will never win the world cup. Talk like this.

Cry babies. This is not backyard rugby. This is not the 80s/90s as mentioned. Its 2024, these athletes are conditioned to play 80+ minutes.. No stats or facts to back up your claims to player safety.

Mats tears bring me great joy

Sounds like Rassie might be... IN HIS HEEAAAAAAD, IN HIS HEEEEAAAEEED! 😂

Matt won’t be satisfied until Union is League where all players look the same and it looks like a game of “touch rugby”. Pick a different sport mate!

These guys!! LOL If South Africa bring on their water boy, it must be discriminating against drinks breaks.

Does Matt think the subs role in a game is simply to relieve tired and injured players and not strategy ?

Safety first for all players is at its core. Surely then when 8 of the 15 players have more set play physicality, it makes sense to have the 6:2 or 7:1 in the match.

"Springboks are abusing the fact that they have so many good players and it has to stop" WTF. Cry baby.

You can change all the rules, we are still going to find a legal way within the "changed rules" to win 😂😂 🇿🇦❤️

Here we go again!! Matt Williams complaining about the rules again just as Warren Gatland...criticizing South Africas' game and everytime South Africa tries something new and to be innovated...the critics and sour krauts of the world like Matt Williams and Warren Gatland jump up and wet their pants...crying like pre school children not getting their ice cream!! Matt Williams and Warren Gatland need to adapt OR learn OR stay away from rugby!!

Ah man, this guy is endlessly entertaining. Keep at it, Matt Williams, you're single handedly keeping South Africa spirits up, giggling all the way to another WC.

Next he might want Boks to play touch rugby and not tackle because our players are to big

Matt if u don't play rugby to your strength then why play rugby the all black are a team with running rugby why don't put in 6 back line players in because they play to there strength I think your opinion to that makes no sense

They should increase the number of subs to 10.

Oh ffs, are you crying again Matt? Rule no 1, don't be a doos

“Play the game, not the player” 🤷🏽‍♂️ Other countries just do not have the depth that SA has, and they are trying to defang SA.

This is rugby and how you play it does not matter as long it's with in the rules.South Africa are busy designing the game every single time and always getting on top why? Cause of too much new rules

Matt Williams disregards the fact that forwards (especially the tight 5) take more of a hammering than the backs - and therefore have a greater need for replacement. Perhaps this is why his services as a coach appear to no longer be required.

I see a lot mentioning LoopHole , absolutely no Loophole is being used ! You are allowed to choose your bench and you are allowed to replace them how you see fit. If there was a rule saying you need to have 5 forwards and 3 backs and you classify someone like Kwagga as a back then it would be a loophole but as it currently stands no Loophole is being used. On the flip side , the Boks are taking care of there forwards by replacing them before they get too tired and do themselves an injury due to lapse of concentration in the scrum , I would suggest other countries taking care of there forwards in the same manner , Safety first Ireland!

Next Rassie should do a 8-0

I started playing rugby when I was 8 years old, I was a prop, and we as 8 year olds were scrumming. But this guy has a problem with an extra forward sub in international rugby as a safety issue. Someone tell Matt Williams that every team with a 5-3 split still has 3 front row players on the bench, he’s talking utter Bs.

This guy is a cry baby . The replacements actually reduce injuries. Also he keeps saying that The irish had the worst game in years... saying that at thier worst they can go up against the World champs and only lose by 7. Wat a discracefull person .

Sorry Matt . This is just Sour Grapes from your side. For each and every argument that you brought forward, there is an counter argument.

Back to his old ways. What exactly did he achieve? Similar to the rules, SA uses loopholes to use better commentators. Agree, unfair that others have to listen to this nonsense.

Out of every single rugby podcast. This Matt Williams cries the hardest😂 shame

Loool this is nonsense shame .

he claims "our" game is for all shapes and sizes yet wants scrums diminished? he is just negative

STRAIGHT FROM WIKIPEDIA "Matt Williams (born 1960) is an Australian rugby union coach who is best known for whining about Springbok rugby and Rassie Erasmus" Whoever made this edit is a hero 🤣🤣🤣🤣

there is a letteral study on USA football players that indicate that it is safer when fresher players and more substitutions are made, as a fresher player is less likely to be mentally and physically fatigued, and thus less likely to cause an injury or get injured as they have more control of their body and "in the moment" decision-making. I just don't understand the point being made with zero evidence to support it.

So tired players running into each other is safe 🤔

There is no data to claim that fresh forwards cause injuries.

how about each nation can only select a national squad from players born in their respective country, that would be interesting to see how the game changes

Because of safety???? Rugby is a physical game. Are you saying people are going to get injured in the scrum .....

Matt, your gripe is the bench, which gives the Boks the advantage, but it is rubbish. They have the depth to do this. You NEVER complained before. You are conflicted because Australia can never get this depth of development going. You seem to contradict yourself. You agree it's fair game, but your rhetoric is different. The bottom line is you hate it as an Australian that SA can do what Australia cannot do and hope that this will give you a chance to win a RWC.

You cannot have a 6-2 or 7-1, but 5-3 is fine as long as you do not make the subs at the same time and not to soon after the second half.... wara wara wara.... Matt needs to explain his logic, if I can replace a player more often it will be safer for the player, if a player is tired and plays on he will be injured. You replace forwards more because their work rate is higher. If you don't like the tackticle subs just say it. This is not the 80's, 90's or 2000's anymore we progressed and this is why the fan base increased, rugby is more interesting. To answer Matts concern regarding lower levels of rugby... THE RULES ARE DIFFERENT FOR JUNIORS AND SENIORS at U9 level in South Africa the boys are not allowed to push in a scrum and the attacking team has to win the ball, up to U18 rugby the scrum are not allowed to move more than 5 meters, and list goes on. Matt sounds like someone with sour grapes because he hates it to see South Africa win.

Matt . This is the worst argument that it Discriminate against the Backs, Choose a team that can win the game for you and not to satisfy the oppositions Couch !!!!

no evidence that fresh legs are dangerous . In fact it evidential that injury goes down with replacements . Whose tradition ? What ethos ? How come ev ery one is coying it ?

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE COMMENTS ABOUT THIS Guy. NOTHING TO ADD. I DONT LIKE TO INSULT PEOPLE BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP😂😂

Horses complaining about cars. Just get on with it

His upset he didnt think of this masterclass tactic

If players rest less then we'll see more injuries. Please get the old man some oxygen

Matt always negative thoughts on Rassie n his tactics Rassie follows rules of the game he didn't made those rules, south african players are build differently they are big n strong different type of human specimen, all blacks did it with jona lomu n crew they were huge n dominating rugby

😂 South Africa is such a nightmare to world rugby

Only Matt Williams agrees with this crap. The data will show no additional danger to players.

When is Matt going to wake up and catch up.

Please tell me is Matt an expert on what he is talking about. He is one of the international coaches with the worst record and a pundit in my view with a one sided view on everything. Please let him not speak on SA rugby he does not like South African period, and will always have a bias towards them.

So in the 90s if u were facing the great Jonah Lomu, would u have played a player like Cheslin Kolbe?

What's next, ban SA from playing rugby?

Does this guy ever stop crying?

What are Matt Williams' accolades in rugby? Just curious since he's very vocal about the safety aspect of the game.

Jesus, Alan Quinlan is a disaster....

Matt was clear - SA can play within the laws however they please His point is surely the laws should correct for this as it changes the dynamic of the entire sport - allowing more giants who can last 40mins in and removing other athlete types who can play 80mins. It’s a choice for world rugby pure and simple. SA are utilising the flexibility to exploit their incredible riches in resources so fair play

I’m literally struggling to understand this clown! His been hurting since the WC! 🤣🤣🤣

Who the hell is Matt Williams....is he going to tell us that we can't play Kolbe because his too small and too fast...he could get hurt if the tall guys tackled him...Matt Williams is a cry baby...8 subs is to make rugby faster and more entertaining...this is about power and South Africa has power in spades. We have speed in the rear and big strong timber up front....South Africa is totally unique in that these two systems were borne out of apartheid....it's rugby developed along colour lines where white was tall and strong ,it's game was developed around the pack...people of colour ,who supported New Zealand back then developed the running game...which is about speed....Rassie knows this ,he grew up around it and he and Alistair Coetzee go way back playing against each other....South Africa is getting the benefits of Rassies vision....it was my vision too growing up..there are many kopbes and etzebeths in South Africa because of it

Making a statement then second guessing yourself. What next? Cancel scrums?

So why does the other team not bring on six forwards?

If we change the number of subs on international level won’t that be a disadvantage to these players on club level as they will be battered and bruise if some play full 80 min and then go back to their clubs where they make their livelihood. Don’t make sense reducing subs as it helps the players and the clubs who pays their wages having much more healthier and ready-to-go players once they come back from international duty or am I looking at this picture wrong?

It is probably safer to bring replacements on and gives forwards career longevity.

I love Matt😂😂 he entertainss me. Wouldnt mind even paying his medical aid just to see him on socials

Williams, it's time to give it up. It's 2024. The game has changed. it's even gotten softer in some areas because of people like you. Leave the game alone now. This is a mans game. Go watch ballet and comment on something else. We don't need any more interference. Best you move on.

Matt Williams is a nobody, when their teams loose they always want to change the rules.

His attitude is why Australian rugby union is a mess.

Rassie earned the right to do it because he changed the players ip...some of his backs can cover 3 positions and a guy like Kwagga can play at 13

It is like large corporations are operating. Looking for loopholes. Powerful lawyers. Operating like the Stellenbosh mafia. A few years ago the Australian cricket teams behaviour was also copied.

Oh, absolutely, while we’re busy bickering over nonsense, let’s dive into the wings. Because it’s totally fair that James Lowe is a whopping 1.88m and 105kg, while “poor” Cheslin Kolbe is just 1.72m and 70kg. Yeah, that’s a real balanced matchup right there. Jy is ‘n poepol

If he's really concerned about safety then he would rather debate that they increase the number of substitutes rather then limit them per position.. but he won't because other teams don't have the depth of the springbok. Don't hate on them just because you aren't them

Omg. What the heck is he talking about?

springboks winning is discrimination against the opponents

It is NOT a LOOPHOLE. Complete garbage. Rugby is a contact sport. Watch soccer and leave us alone

Shame,go and assist Aus to get up there again and leave the grown up stuff to the big boys!

you cant change subsitute rules...in football/soccer they have 5 changes you can do

Boks come in 7-1 for second test.😛😂🤣🤣😂😋

guys please just wikipedia Matt Williams , its really funny what it says

Objectively speaking, Matt Williams was Scotland’s worst coach ever. His punditry career is following a similar path.

South Africa play to their DNA. SA can ball play but it's predominately a forward style in SA.

Rassie in Matt's head... 😂

And here I was thinking Gandalf had changed in his ways but yeah, he always goes out his ways to prove how senile and demented he is. What you saying has nothing with to do with passion but an obsession of an old man who is sour of Africans dominating Rugby and your mates at World Rugby also hate how we as South Africans are dominating Rugby.

It's called strategy. All teams can do it. You MW, are targeting South Africa because they are doing it. When SA does something radical to the sport, then you want to change the rules. Don't talk about traditions, it's called progression. The sport is traditional but is played with progress in mind. Move with the times old man.

Matt Williams once again reminding us why he was Scotland's worst ever coach. The bench split is entirely based on a team's style of play and not 'discrimination.' The game would become pretty dull if every side had to adjust their tactics to fit in with a permanent 5-3 split or something similar

Blah blah blah.. is Matt the best pundit around