Stuart Lancaster can still vividly remember the moment the idea of the captain’s challenge was first brought to his attention at a World Rugby meeting in 2014.

The then England head coach’s view back then was that it was a “crazy” notion, and seven years on, Lancaster’s stance on the matter has become even more solidified.

The initial idea behind the implementation of rugby’s most recent law trials was to make the game safer and a better all-round product.

However, the captain’s challenge in particular has only served to lengthen the already worrying trend of games taking an age to complete.

Many supporters have been left frustrated by the law trial, which may be about to fade into the background again, depending on what the powers that be decide to do over the coming weeks.

Leinster’s defeat in Glasgow last week was the latest game to drag on and the frustration levels from fans watching on was felt by those directly involved in the game. 

Lancaster is worried about the direction rugby is headed, and while he has many thoughts on how the game could be improved as a whole he is in no doubt about where the starting point must be.

“Get rid of the captain’s challenge,” Leinster’s senior coach said, as he recalled that day in 2014.

“Why would we want to go down this route as a sport? Anyway, I didn’t hear any more of it and suddenly it’s reappeared. I just think with the advent of TMOs, captain’s challenges, and a couple of other things, I think, one, it has created a lot of dead time in the games.

“Probably more importantly, maybe because there are no fans, it has created integrity challenges about the game I think that I’m not comfortable with really. And you know, I think it’s a distraction for the players. I think we should trust the officials to do the job.

“We all take the rough with the smooth. We know it’s a subjective game and it’s very hard to referee, you just let the referees get on with it.

“We don’t want a game where it’s over two hours, but it’s two hours from start to finish. If you take 40 minutes of the ball in play, which is good, a 10-minute half-time, that’s one hour 10 minutes of dead time.

“One hour 10 minutes where nothing is happening. It (Glasgow) was a frustrating game to watch as a coach, it was a frustrating game to play in for players, equally I’m sure it was a frustrating game to watch from home.”

The idea of the game’s integrity being called into question is concerning in so far as the captain’s challenge has created a platform from which teams are looking to catch each other out to such an extent that on many occasions it seems as though some skippers are bringing unnecessary incidents to the referee’s attention.

It’s not something Lancaster agrees with.

“I’d like to see the players just concentrate on playing the game,” he continued.

“This isn’t levelled at anyone in particular. Generally what it’s created is a sort of appealing mentality.

“As a consequence, there is definitely some issues there which are not in the values of the game. I’d rather players concentrate on playing rugby and the officials do their job.

“It’s been very difficult for the officials to manage this, they’ve not, to my knowledge, voted for it. I think it’s been very difficult to manage.

“With no crowds as well, there is a lot of noise from the sidelines trying to create the energy in the groups.

“We need a bit of a retake when the season finishes and just get back to accepting decisions, not appealing for everything, and getting on with the job of playing rugby in a way that is exciting and fun to watch without so much dead time.

“I think we as players and coaches have to accept that they might not get everything spot on, but I would rather have the fluidity in the game where there is a constant narrative between the TMO and the referee.”

Leinster will bring the curtain down on a frustrating end to the season at home to the Dragons on Friday night, as Scott Fardy gets set to play his final game for the province before retiring.

Although Leinster have resisted the temptation to sign an overseas lock to replace the talismanic Fardy, Lancaster made it clear that it remains an option.

“I think in the future there is a slot for an overseas signing for Leinster and I think that’s something that we probably need to look at,” he added.

“He’s (Fardy) the forward’s version of Isa Nacewa and that’s the highest accolade anyone can give a player from Leinster.

“If you had overseas players like Isa Nacewa and Scott Fardy every year you wouldn’t go far wrong. He’s been amazing really. I really enjoyed working with him personally.

“I picked his brains a lot but also look forward to his development as a coach and he’s got plenty of thoughts on the game and I want to try and help him make that transition because if he can do that successfully then I think he’ll make a great coach.”