PODCAST: To the Last Drop episode 62: Professor Ross Tucker on limiting substitutions in rugby

Rugby, as vehicle for delivering a spectacle, is on as smooth a path it has ever been professor Ross Tucker tells this week's edition of To The Last Drop. The renowned sports scientist who sits on a World Rugby committee tasked with player well being, especially in relation to concussion, says players are now less likely to suffer catastrophic injury than ever before. This, he believes, has not come at the expense of the product despite the fact that the sport is played at break neck speed.

Hosts Liam Del Carme and Brenden Nel also stare into the crystal ball and predict URC wins this weekend for three of South Africa's URC franchises. They are divided on the fourth.

[avrilgardiner]

Why 8 on the bench, and not any other number?

[mountainman]

Prof Ross Tucker, at time stamp 20:00, states that time lost to scrums is a lot less in the modern day game. With all due respect to the professor I strongly disagree with this statement. If you care to view many of the old games from the 1970 - 80s even 90s the scrums were hardly reset. The ref would just make a spot with his heel and the players would just get on with it. Of course the big difference was that the ball had to be placed directly down the middle of the tunnel. This meant both hookers had a fair chance of getting the ball back and it was in the best interests of both teams to keep the scrum stable.