World Rugby bosses have hit back at claims 31-man squads threaten player welfare at the Rugby World Cup.
Ireland’s Joe Schmidt criticised the 31-man World Cup limit, suggesting that is not enough players to attack a global tournament without compromising safety.
“The first thing I would say is that we’re never entrenched in one particular position; that position has come quite late in the day,” said World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper.
“We believe that there’s good player welfare parameters experienced around the size of the squads.”https://t.co/n5Mxhh43PE #rterugby
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) September 17, 2019
“We believe that there’s good player welfare parameters experienced around the size of the squads.
“Coaches generally want more players at their disposal and we understand that. Looking forward we might look at that.
“It does have cost implications but of course, if we do sense and understand that there are real player welfare gains in those squad changes, we would move towards that. So we’re not closed to that.”