Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Reds coach Ewen McKenzie reflects on the pros and cons of a rotation policy.
"The easiest thing a coach can do is to make as few selection decisions as possible and hope nothing changes. In an ideal world you would run your best 15 players for the length of the competition. Combinations would be honed, match fitness would be OK and Bob would be uncle.
"The Brumbies almost managed this back in the Super 12 days (11 games plus 2 finals) when they won a title using just 24 players. That dream run was probably the significant reason why they won. When I coached the Tahs in 2007 we suffered a number of injuries, forcing us to use 37 players, before finishing second last in Super 14. There are more stories like this than the aforementioned one about the Brumbies.
"When it comes to both proactive and reactive management, the dream has to be connected to reality. It's simply not possible to know when your next injury might occur in a contact sport. Soft tissue injuries can (and should) be limited with good programming, but contact injuries just happen. Proactive coaches consider all the possibilities and always have a plans B, C and D to allow other players to step up."
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