Varsity Cup leads the way

The FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International has never been scared of experimentation. From setting the trends off the field with a unique marketing strategy, to taking over Monday nights for two months of the year and, more crucially, allowing the use of the much talked about white card in the 2008 final.

Whilst the jury is still out over the success - or lack thereof - of the white card, which was used just once; the 2010 Varsity Cup will see the introduction of 23-man playing squads for the first time in South African rugby history.

The various top-flight club competitions in England, France and Italy have already made use of eight-man benches, in a bid to stamp out uncontested scrums, and the Varsity Cup will now be trialling this in conjunction with SA Rugby to see if it has a future in this country.

André Watson, South African Rugby's Manager of Referees, explained: "The Varsity Cup has always given us a platform to test things out, and experiment - whether it's been white cards or power plays - and for that we're very grateful!

"We will be conducting a survey, with players and coaches, during and after the tournament, as well as using video clips and thereby establishing a full database in order for us to evaluate this experiment properly.

"Funnily enough, uncontested scrums are quite rare in top-level rugby in South Africa, but there is no doubt that having that extra player on the bench will block out the possibility of uncontested scrums completely."

FNB Maties head coach Chean Roux, who has guided his team to successive Varsity Cup triumphs - in 2008 and 2009, is very excited to be part of this experiment in 2010.

"I'm a coach that always picks five forwards on the bench bench and I often go into matches with a five-two [forwards v backs] split," he told varsitycup.co.za.

"As far as I'm concerned, I will still be choosing five forwards on the bench, but, now, I can also include an extra back - so it's a great concept as far as I'm concerned. It also throws up some interesting possibilities as far as tactics are concerned, so it should make for an exciting ruling in more ways than one."

Ultimately, however, Roux is hoping that the 23-man playing squads will help eradicate uncontested scrums - for good.

He added: "In last year's WP Super League we were forced into uncontested scrums on five occasions - nobody wants that; as a coach, player or a fan; so hopefully this will help stamp out any possibility of uncontested scrums."