Stung.

The Springboks could get “stung” when it comes to one of their most infamous tactics following World Rugby’s recent law changes, according to new Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt.

Rassie Erasmus has infamously created the ‘Bomb squad’ to great effect, going with a 6-2, sometimes even a 7-1 split when it comes to forwards-backs, rolling out almost a completely new pack, fresh to steamroll their opposition in the second half.

But with World Rugby introducing several new laws changes and some trials, including one that stops teams from calling for a scrum from free-kicks, as they look to speed up the game, Schmidt thinks South Africa’s ‘innovation’ might have run its course.

Schmidt was quite innovative during his time with Ireland, adopting an aerial game at one stage that made them almost unstoppable, but this proved to be a finite tactic.

“I think if you ask the players, they feel pretty fatigued at times,” Schmidt told reporters.

“There is still fatigue in the game and if a ‘Bomb Squad’ member comes on at half-time, they’ve still got to play 40 minutes.

“One of the challenges is to keep players moving from set-piece to set-piece. With the new law trials, 30 seconds to set a scrum, 30 seconds to have that line-out underway, 60 seconds, not 90 seconds, for a conversion now.

“Some of those times are being contracted a little bit and maybe that will impact on the size of the player.

“There are risks. Talking to Vern Cotter, who is obviously a good mate of mine, around the Blues this year, with a 6-2 split they got two injuries very early on in their backline and played a half-back on the wing for the whole of the second half.

“You can get stung by it, so any innovation is great until it’s not.”