Why Kick the Ball Down the Middle of the Field?

There are times when kicking the ball down the middle of the field can be to the kicking team’s advantage.

If a team works on the principle that a kick must be sufficiently long to allow the team to create pressure then there are certain situations which suit the middle of the field.
There is the old adage that playing with the wind it is a good idea to kick down the middle and playing against the wind play up the 15 metre channel although the same principle of kicking down the middle can be applied even without a following wind.

The idea of kicking down the middle can create two areas of pressure. Firstly, the ball is generally recovered deep in the defender’s half and the player has some distance to go before the safety of the side-line is accessible.
If the defender decides on a clearing kick then it is most likely that the team playing down wind has won a territorial battle, and if it is run out with support players and the downwind team has organised a good chase, then the tackles can be made far behind the rest of the returning defensive team.

Ideally the ball will be kicked to land in space either behind the player covering the back area of the field, or by making that player run across field.
A turnover ball in the defensive zone creates a situation when a long kick and chase down the middle can be a good idea. With the attack line being up shallow in the first instance there is every chance that the kicking team will arrive at a similar time to the previous attackers, and this will create a great deal of pressure.

The kick-chase organisation is very important to the success of any kick so this needs to be practiced and understood. The chase requires pressure on the ball carrier and the close support players, a defensive line across both sides of the field, a player in the pocket behind the ball carrier for a short kick and three players covering the back part of the field for a kick-return. As you can see everyone needs to be involved and they must know their role depending where they are on the field.
The big advantage of a good kick-chase is that your team is not kicking the ball in to touch and giving away possession, but is instead creating a pressure situation on the opposing side.
With a well organised chase a long 22 metre drop-out can be kicked down the middle with the idea of making tackles in the opposition half and not allowing them back over the halfway line. As part of the organisation your fastest runners should be the first players arriving at the player receiving the ball from the kick.

There may be a time in the game when the team is behind on the scoreboard, the clock is running down, and there are no players in support of the ball carrier. By kicking and chasing hard the team has the opportunity to quickly reorganise and turn the pressure on the opposition with a concerted chase. Rather than seeing this as a situation that has given possession away it should be looked at as an opportunity to make tackles in the opposition half and win some battles away from your own tryline.

On any day, but especially on a windy and wet day, the high kick up the middle of the field can be a cause for defensive concern. Assuming that the opposition will have a player in a position to catch the ball it should land outside the 22 or if it is inside the 22 the kicking team need to place sufficient pressure on the catcher without taking that player ‘out in the air’.

This requires the advancing runner to look at the catcher from a distance and decide whether to leave them or go up high for the ball, or even go up close to the catcher, but make no contact. The pressure might just do the trick.

Good luck. The kick is the easy part. The chase requires plenty of planning.