Food for Thought

Recently I sat down with the former Taranaki coach Graham O’Brien, a deep thinker on the game and the man who masterminded a game plan which out thought Graham Henry and Auckland, to lift the Ranfurly Shield in 1996. Still as sharp as ever O’Brien has some ideas on the modern game.

“At the last coaching school I was involved in I was charged with the task of conducting a kicking skills clinic with a group of promising secondary school five eights. At the pre-clinic briefing I was stunned to be told to instruct the players to practice standing on one leg while kicking the ball to one another - not a skill you see often on the rugby field! I knew at that moment that rugby had lost its way and its soul.

As the original and leading contact ball game its tactical framework was the intellectual legacy of a hundred years of input from the great rugby minds who have shaped the modern game, often with innovative ideas sparked by rule changes. Unfortunately with the arrival of professionalism it has allowed itself to be hijacked by ideas from games such as league and Australian rules - both guaranteed ball security games whose only relevance to rugby is the use of a similarly shaped ball!

Specialist narrow focus ‘skills’ coaches have flooded into the game bent on justifying their existence. The amazing decline in the standard of punting at the top level is one glaring example of their destructive effect.

The reliance on pure physical dominance (even by teams that haven’t got it) in the hope of forcing a defensive mistake by the opposition seems to be the only tactical approach. This approach has led to the proliferation of the repeated mini ruck, slow ball and futile attempts to run at a waiting defense often by players not suited to the role (not many props are good midfield distributors) and the more this trend continues the more rugby will come to resemble league with its ‘one size fits all’ players.

The big weaknesses in today’s execution is the constant over use of sequencing; the predetermined continuation of the pattern in one direction without regard to the response of the defensive screen. Players are being aimlessly ‘missed’ with passes and the proliferation of the second line attacks, produce a low percentage return. Worse still, second line attack creates players in an offside position who are then out of play – not a problem in league from whence it came, as you simply play the ball and carry on, but a disaster in rugby! These plays are easily read and give little credit to the intelligence of the defensive group.

With a group of about 12 defenders spread across the field it is almost imperative nowadays to penetrate first so that the outflanking can take place once the attack has moved in beyond the initial tackle line. Most teams attempt to do this through having charging runners, but surely it is time to reintroduce the dynamic driving rolling maul in to the game to be utilized as an attack weapon by taking the ball straight at the opposition, staying up a lot longer and manipulating the defence by rolling and driving and controlling the numbers in the opposition defensive line.

In general the maul is not a well coached tool and has become far too static with players preoccupied with getting the ball to the back of the maul. Driving mauls require a lot of practice and it is important to get the technical detail right. Simple things like establishing a line of shoulders, driving straight and early until the maul begins to turn and then being able to continue play by having the ball on the inside arm and wrapping and rolling on the outside shoulder need to be emphasized. All coaches should seek out and watch Australia’s try in the 1991 World Cup Final.

Ways must be found to render defenders ineffective by taking them out of play. Currently too many starter plays leave the defense intact and sometimes even  strengthened for example after a futile hit up off a scrum by a back. This uses up attacking numbers (often backs who are forced to clean out) and forces the team in possession to restart play against a waiting defence with superior numbers. This in turn leads to excessive kicking away of possession and given the currently abysmal standard of punting, hands the initiative to the opposition who then mirror the same futile tactics in reply. Sometimes rugby seems to have changed to such an extent that the old adage, the best form of defense is attack, seems to have become the best form of attack is defense.

Much more thought must go into first phase attack from set play and off short arm penalties – it is embarrassing for our game to see teams opt for a scrum or kick to a lineout when awarded a penalty when they have just been given guaranteed possession and a chance to manipulate the opposition! What do they do with all that time they spend at training?

Midfield scrums provide a prime opportunity to attack by creating a weak side in the defense to be attacked at the ‘best’ time and with the appropriate players. Switches of play are rarely seen and running off the ball to create a numerical advantage seems to have become a lost art.

We must get back to a running passing game with continuously contestable possession if the crowds are to return.”