Eddie Jones says France coach Fabien Galthie picked “specific skills for specific jobs” when loading his bench with seven forwards for their Six Nations match against Ireland.
Les Bleus claimed an emphatic 42-27 win in Dublin last Saturday despite losing inspirational captain Antoine Dupont to a season-ending knee injury in the 29th minute.
France trailed 13-8 at the break but dominated a second half in which they brought on six fresh forwards early on (and a seventh late in the game).
In his Planet Rugby column, Jones said criticism of the Bomb Squad was unwarranted.
“Whatever people want to say about bench splits, rugby is now a 23-man game and has been for a long time.
“You use the assets available to you and if you’ve the depth of forward France (or 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!
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“What Galthie did was pick specific skills for specific jobs,” the Japan coach added. “The defensive abilities of the starters and the carrying carnage of the finishers.
“I thought Manny Meafou caused carnage and I loved the ambition of Cyril Baille with ball in his soft hands, who added so much to those string attacks around the breakdown.
“Think of it like this; first half, defence set. Second half, attack set – and use the men you have in skill-driven roles.”
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Jones also gave his verdict on the Dupont injury incident, involving Ireland lock Tadhg Beirne and prop Andrew Porter. Neither player was cited for the ruck clean-out.
“This was an unfortunate rugby incident and whilst I can understand the sheer frustration of losing a great player, from both a team and wider game perspective, we have to accept that rugby has a lot of big men in confined spaces banging the crap out of each other.
“Injuries will happen, and whilst awful for both Antoine and for France, it was a rugby incident.
“Given modern medicine techniques, I have no doubt he’ll be back, but for now, France have to learn to adapt to life without him – just as they did when he was on his sevens sabbatical.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
