#bench-impact

#bench-impact

There are seven minutes remaining in the Toronto Raptors' game against the Charlotte Hornets. Jamal Shead is on the floor. He is a reserve, but with RJ Barrett out injured, Darko Rajakovic has been turning to his bench point guard more and more often in high-leverage situations. And in this one, Shead seizes the reins of the offence. He plays a two-man game with Brandon Ingram, gets off the ball early to give his superstar scorer a chance to dance,

Scoreboard flattered Andy Farrell's team but bench-impact is a positive That the better side won convincingly - on the scoreboard at least - is beyond dispute but that the better side deserved to win convincingly is not. Before Saturday's game against Japan, Andy Farrell had declared his pre-match mantra as "a lot needing to be better as far as accuracy is concerned but our intent in how we play the game, we need a reaction to that".