England were not spared from the critique, as Williams continued: “South Africa and England are like great tax accountants, they find every loophole and exploit it brilliantly. I admire the intellect, but that is not good for the global game.
“It is not good for the other sides in the game like France, New Zealand, and Ireland, who are trying to play a more positive, ball in hand, entertaining game. We are in the business of entertainment. Is it a 15-man game or an 8-man game? Right now, it has become so biased towards scrummaging and mauling. The game is totally out of balance.”
Williams’ words of wisdom are likely to fall on deaf ears in the South Africa camp as they prepare for the World Cup final against New Zealand. Their tactics – overseen by director of rugby Rassie Erasmus – have allowed the Springboks to succeed so far in the competition and they won’t care about not winning ‘pretty’ as long as they lift the Webb Ellis Cup.
