But it will be employed in the Rugby Championship and appears to have found support in the northern hemisphere.
The first two tests this season between France and the All Blacks have featured eight reserves on the bench, up from seven in previous years.
The eight-man bench includes an extra front-rower, so the entire front row can be replaced, as it was on Saturday night in Christchurch.
The replacement front row of Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore and Ben Franks came on at various stages for Wyatt Crockett, Dane Coles and Owen Franks.
With eight players on the bench, more than half the starting side can be replaced. That was the case on Saturday night with all eight reserves getting a run.
Beauden Barrett was the last reserve used, going on for Ben Smith with about 10 minutes left.
Barrett, who went on at fullback, proceeded to finish an 80m move with a try under the posts in the dying minutes.
The eight-man bench was introduced by the IRB last year, and was used by the All Blacks on their northern tour last year.
It was brought in along with a raft of other trials such as the increased powers for the third match official and the ball being released more quickly from the back of a breakdown.
The thinking behind the eight-man bench was that an extra front-rower would mean less need for games to go to golden oldies scrums when more than one prop in a side was injured.
The eight-man bench was used in premiership rugby in England in the season which has just concluded but was not used in the Super 15 this season.
Sanzar chief executive Greg Peters said last year he did not support the eight-man bench due to increased costs on teams if it was introduced. Not all teams supported the trial. In more than 250 Super games before this season it only occurred twice that scrums were forced to go to golden oldies.
The eight-man bench will not be used in the ITM Cup this season, as the trial was compulsory for international rugby only, allowing other competitions to decide themselves.
