English Premiership to consider trial of rolling substitutions

ENGLAND’S Rugby Football Union will consider the introduction of rolling substitutions on a trial basis in the Guinness Premiership in a bid to eradicate cheating from the sport.

The potentially divisive proposal is one of 16 recommendations published by an RFU task force yesterday following a month-long review into the state of the game following the ‘Bloodgate’ scandal at Harlequins.

The 13-man panel, which included former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio and Twickenham’s elite rugby director Rob Andrew, found no evidence cheating is systemic in rugby.