Aaron Cruden looks set to play an important part as part of the All Blacks squad at the Rugby World Cup 2011, but should extra replacements be allowed from outside the squad once the initial squad was named? Stephen Donald and Hosea Gear have also been added to the All Blacks squad despite missing the initial 30 man squad.
Other sports like the FIFA World Cup doesn't allow new players to be added to the squads placing more importance on the selection of the initial squad.
Rugby is more specialised and you can't have people filling in at prop or whatever, but I think it would make the tournament more intriguing and it would force teams into selecting utility players. What irritates me is that Corey Flynn has barely laced up his boots for the All Blacks this tournament, yet the All Blacks have still been able to call in replacements for Daniel Carter, Colin Slade and Mils Muliaina. The All Blacks still have other players who could have filled in like Piri Weepu or Isaia Toeava, but surely New Zealand is at a massive advantage if they can keep replenishing their team quickly as opposed to some other teams who may not bother putting a player through a 24 hour expensive flight from the other side of the world, like Thomas Waldrom? The minnows could have done with some fresh players, but wouldn't have bothered spending money on replacements. Romania didn't bother when their winger couldn't come to terms with his fear of flying. Where do you stand on Matt Todd stepping in at training as cover too? Surely this gives New Zealand an advantage?
The other view point is that it is better to have the best teams playing with the best possible players at the top level. Surely the Rugby World Cup final would go better with proper players in the correct position? Would a top level player out of position be better than a third string player in that position?
In summary, I love the idea of teams having to select players from within their Rugby World Cup squad, but because there are safety issues with some positions, it could be necessary to have larger squads than 30 players. Currently a player can't be replaced and then return, so I guess that is good, but I think it would add something to the challenge of the tournament by having to only use players from within the squad.
What do you think? Would you rather see teams having to use players from their initial squad? Or would you rather see specialists playing in positions?
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