All Blacks vs SpringboksI must admit I was (and still am) furious about the Springbok loss in the last minute of the match last week against the Wallabies from Australia. Specially with the constant box kick tactics.

I hate losing but can accept it if the team plays proper rugby. I get furious when the team plays below potential because they are too scared or too careful. I thought that the Springboks played below what they are capable of, last week.

I am not a fan of kicking your possession away.

I played for the university Under 20 team in the 1980′s mosly as flyhalf and inside centre, in a time when Naas Botha was the ‘role model’ of flyhalf play in South Africa. I worked hard at my kicking game because Naas sort of set the template for flyhalf play in those days, but rarely kicked in matches because I just disliked the idea of kicking hard earned possion away. Nevertheless, I scored or created tries on occasion by utilzing the high kick and charge.

There are, in my mind, a couple of things that are absolutely essential if you want to utilize the high kick and charge effectively… and make no mistake, if you use it correctly it is very hard to defend against, and creates immense pressure. It rattles the oposition specially if you employ it early in in the match.

I’ve selected a few Youtube clips from the 2nd Test match between South Africa and Australia in 1993 to demonstrate my point.

This Test was probably the Test which made the biggest impression on me of all the Tests I’ve seen in my life, mostly because of the way Australia played and won it. The tactics they employed and the extraordinary precision of execution are impressive.

See in this clip how the Aussies start the game off with a high kick and charge.

 

 

The clip starts with Australia hoisting a high kick. Joel Stransky finds himself under immense pressure and drops the ball. The ball spills backwards into the Springbok in-goal area and almost resulted in a try for the Wallabies.

There are a number of things to take cogniscence of about this first hoist…

Firstly, the Aussie flyhalf pulls the South African loose forwards and inside backs forward (or towards him) by sitting deep and by drifting sidewards. His No 12 and No 13 and left wing is sitting even deeper so that they can start sprinting towards the place where the ball is going to land (with no danger of getting in front of the kicker) even before he launches the kick. This is key, because they are already at an almost full sprint by the time the ball leaves the kicker’s foot.

Secondly, notice the place on the field (inside the Springbok 10 meter area)

Thirdly, notice where the ball actually lands (almost on the Springbok goal line)

Fourthly, notice the height of the kick and the speed of the charging players. The placement of the kick forces the receiver to actually turn around so that he can’t jump into the ball.

You can’t do this if the defenders expect you to kick. You need to draw the defenders forwards first or force them to run backwards by creating front foot ball, before you launch the kick (see the Clip entiled Tim Horan’s try to understand what I mean with creating front foot ball first).

Anyway back to this first clip. The Wallabies get a 5m scrum but the Springboks prevent them from getting a right shoulder, by moving the scrum sideways and by turning it. The Wallabies then try a set move, involving No 10, No 12 and David Campese, from back foot ball. The move basically consists of No 12 (Tim Horan) scissoring on the inside of No 10 who dummies in his direction but passes to Campese who comes in on the angle.

The Springbok defenses hold and they force a turnover scrum. From the ensueing scrum, Hugh Reece-Edwards make the fatal mistake of not kicking out and David Campese hoists another league-like up-and-under, which Tiaan Strauss knocks.  Deon Lotter then falls over the ball and gets penalized. Marty Roebuck succeeds with the penalty at goal and the Wallabies take the lead by 3-0.

The thing that makes this second hoist by Campese so successful is the fact that he first built up speed, before he kicked. He ran just long enough to:

  1. Force the defence to advance in order to tackle him;
  2. Get at least one more team mate (No 14), also at full tilt, next to him before he launces the ball into the air;
  3. Stop the Wallaby fowards from running back, as they actually have time to turn around and wait for him.

Again the ball lands just short of the Springbok try line and the kick is high and deep enough so that the Wallaby forwards can turn and build up enough speed in the direction of where the ball is due to land. Campese advances at such pace that they are never really at risk of being in front of the kicker.

I might be stating the obvious here, but the point I am trying to convey is that the charging players (in both instances) are already at full tilt before the kicker actually kicks the ball – that particularly makes the hoist so succesful. The fact that the charging players are already running at almost full pace in the correct direction towards the landing spot before the kicks are hoisted, allows the kicker to place the kick deep enough to force the receiver to turn around and / or preventing him from jumping forward into the coming ball.

The Wallabies then proceed to move over into an even higher gear soon afterwards, producing this fantastic try by Jason Little.

 

 

This is one of my favourite tries for a number of reasons.

See how the Wallabies first create depth from the lineout. The throw is deep and the catcher drives it up. Phil Kearns then comes storming in to receive the recycled ball from Nick Farr-Jones. Another runner takes it up even further and with the whole Springbok side on the back foot, the Wallabies distribute the ball to the backline. No 10 whips it to Horan who pops it back to No 10 who then crosses behind No 12 (Horan) before he flat-passes it to Jason Little, who comes in straight but also stepping off his left foot, the moment he receives the ball. He passes on the inside of the Springbok cross defense and scores under the posts.

This is fantastic rugby!

The speed, the depth, backline interplay and the options they manufactured and had available once No 10 receives the ball back from Horan is just incredible. If you stop the video on exactly 46 seconds (ball is just leaving No 10’s hands on its way to No 13) you can see that at that exact moment they they had at least two other options they could have utilized. See the large opening on the inside of No 10 at that junction and if he then flipped the ball to Roebuck (No 15), running an inside angle, then Roebuck would have had a clear run to the goal line. The other option would have been to pass the ball behind No 13’s (Little) back to Campese, coming in on an angle and that would have produced a try as well.

This try is produced by the speed and aggresion onto the ball, from set piece.

The Springboks with their superior lineout should be able to play like this but we never see speed onto the ball. It is the speed onto the ball which creates fast recycled ball. By the time the ball goes to the backline they can play flat on the gainline because the defenders are running backwards.

Back to the kick and charge.

In the second half the Wallabies tried the high kick and charge tactic again and it produced a try for Tim Horan.

 

 

See in the video how they attack the No 9 / 10 channel twice, first Campese then Horan and the ball then goes to Little who straightens up before they bring it to the right to Campese who hoists it for Horan. Again the kick comes from fast ball after they’ve forced the Springboks on the back foot. Again they are running at full tilt before they kick. They hit the ball with pace and only decide to kick once they see nothing else is on. The pace at which they hit the line forces the defenders to come foward because if they do not the attacker will just keep on running. The kick is part of an attacking process and not a sort of escape option, from poor ball.

This lack of speed onto the ball is in essence the problem of the current Springbok team. They rarely create fast front foot ball, hence neither running the ball down the backline neither the box kick seems to work.

The box kick or any other tactical kick as well as backline play are dependent on first creating forward momentum. Rarely do we see the Springboks drive through the lineout, as is the case with the Jason Little try. The Springbok box kicks are mostly from static scrums or lineout balls and as a result not deep enough to force the recceivers to turn around.

Heyneke Meyer’s plan to run at the All Blacks in the weekend’s Test will not succeed, unless they first create fast front foot ball. I hope the Springboks get it right but have little hope that they will.

11 Responses to The Rugby Championship: High kick and charge tactics

  • 1

    makes sense, well researched and explained ML. Good stuff.

  • 2

    In 2009 we were the masters of controlled kicks, good chases and converting kicks into tries.
    The AB’s learnt their lessons, started deploying full backs on the wings to counter, and has since surpassed us.
    It’s the same with the line out maul, it used to almost be exclusively our domain, yet the Kiwis are mastering it now, 2 tries scored against Aus a couple of weeks ago shows they are getting that set piece right as well.
    If they can evolve and “steal the blueprints” so to speak of other sides that implement certain phases well, why can’t we?

  • 3

    nortierd wrote:

    In 2009 we were the masters of controlled kicks, good chases and converting kicks into tries.
    The AB’s learnt their lessons, started deploying full backs on the wings to counter, and has since surpassed us.

    Yes, part of there current success in countering the box kick is the fact that we 1. Do it all the time, and 2. We kick static ball.

    They know it is coming and that in combination with the fact that it comes from static ball allows the wings too hang back. As a consequence they can run into the ball and jump for it. They then also have support players behind or close to the jumper to either secure the ground ball or to be available for a quick offload (shifting the point of contact).

    If you force the defence on the back foot and/or hoist while you are at full tilt then you can kick deep enough to force the wing to turn around. So instead of the scrumhalf box kicking from static ball send it to the blindside wing who come in at pace. This force his opposing wing to come forward leaving the full back stranded and without support. Also the wing can hoist the ball deep enough to force the fullback to turn around.

    Simple variations like that can be employed with the box kick too keep the defence guessing.

  • 4

    Thanks for the excellent article mclook

  • 5

    Excellent analytical article McLook… Really makes your point with authority. I’m sure more like it would be welcomed by most RT readers… 😉

    As much as deep kicks close to the try-line force the defenders to turn etc… the new law of the ball rolling dead and going back to where the kick was taken may temper the enthusiasm of teams to use such deep kicks these days.
    You do show the truism of kicks only being as good as their chasers though… and the chasers must force the defenders to play the ball before it rolls dead.

    Who was it who said a few weeks ago that the All Blacks kick to get the ball back… but we just kick the ball away… or words to that effect? These clips show the Aussies kicking as a step in a strategy… not an end to one, which seems to be what we do so much of these days.

    The first clip also shows the old chestnut of not getting your kicks into touch. Few things irritate me more than kickers not finding touch… especially with penalties… because it is (usually) a wholly preventable and unforced error.

    Again, really excellent article.

  • 6

    @ McLook:

    Good analytical article. As UFO stated, you made you point tellingly.

    1) We just do not have enough chasers. 2) They don’t chase hard enough either. 3) Placement of the kick is crucial.

    We just end up kicking the ball down defenders throats and then wonder why the counter attack so effectively.

    I was able to listen to HM recently before the RC kicked off. And he, himself, bemoaned the quality of tactical kicking in this country. Not just by the Boks but by the franchises as well. It was HM himself who said that we just kick the ball away whereas New Zealanders – and I include the franchises here – kick the ball to get the ball back.
    HM mentioned an exercise on the training field with the Boks where they were practicing tactical kicking and the art of regaining possession. They practiced the drill 20 times. Guess how many times the kicking team managed to get the ball back. Zero.
    Did you notice in the 1st clip why Stransky had to turn to receive the ball. He was looking straight into the sun. So the Aussies did everything right to unsettle the Boks immediately. Clever rugby.

  • 7

    ufo wrote:

    As much as deep kicks close to the try-line force the defenders to turn etc… the new law of the ball rolling dead and going back to where the kick was taken may temper the enthusiasm of teams to use such deep kicks these days. You do show the truism of kicks only being as good as their chasers though… and the chasers must force the defenders to play the ball before it rolls dead.

    True but as you say a good chase can prevent that by forcing the opponents to play the ball. Also with enough practice you can create either back spin or a soft lift such as what golfers do with a chip.

    The defence lines are also a lot better than in 1993 so it is harder today to create the forward momentum. However you are not going to create forward momentum if the first ‘basher-upper’ receive the ball standing still. One of our problems is that the ‘basher-uppers’ seems to always try and run over the defender. We don’t attack space. The All Blacks use a system of offloading at the moment of contact to a runner on the shoulder of the ‘basher-upper’. That offload to a runner that attack space can be done in quite a number of ways. The B$I Lions of 1997 use to attack the blindside with the number 8. The number 8 will run 40 degrees towards the touchline but will turn around just before contact (blocking in the process the defender) and offload to his flanker running into the gap on his inside. Or he will offload to his No9 coming past him going to the outside. They sometimes also used the wing and fullback in these moves. So the flanker and No9 still run their lines -acting as blockers evenually- but the ball goes to either No 15 coming from behind going to the outside or the wing going to the inside.

    The Springboks have none of these type of variations and just ‘stampkar’ endelessly making them very predicatable and prone to loose the ball in contact.

  • 8

    7 @ McLook:

    Agreed McLook… frustrates the heck out of me with our basher-uppers trying to run over players instead of into space…

    Not a lot of finesse or subtlety in our play… or players… most of the time…

    Although Hendricks’ and Pollard’s try was a pearler of considerable rugby finesse and beauty…!!

    Hopefully a sign of things to come…!! 😉

  • 9

    Hi McLook nice read thanks, only got to read it this morning and on my mobile so didn’t play the clips but actually didn’t need to as you described the technicalities of what happened so well. Not seen much of your articles lately, pity as remember a while ago you writing about coaching your son’s team are you still doing that coaching?

  • 10

    @ Bullscot:
    Hi Highland bully

    My son is in high school now. At high school kids start to play for school teams; not clubs anymore. So he has a teacher (who actually played for the NZ junior team) as a coach. The coach asked my to help with the coaching which I do on occation. I am a bit flat out at work hence the less articles on rugby-talk from my side.

    The boy got injured a couple of weeks ago. Not too serious but could have been. Rugby has morphed into a game for the big and oversized so I am actually going to pull the kid out of it and concentrate on his other sport in which he has the potential to go all the way to the top if we plan it well and work hard. We are doing lots of tyre work and eccentric loading exercises to improve muscular control and explosive strength. We’ll see where we are in two years time and re-assess the rugby situation.

  • 11

    10 @ McLook:
    Hey McLook, hope your son recovers ok, at least it’s not too serious. All the best for the other sport then it sounds really promising. As much as I love rugby I share your concerns about the physicality in the game and so while I always wanted my son to play the game I am less and less keen for him to do so now, he is not showing much interest in rugby anyway, even though he enjoyed going to the Commonwealth 7s with me, but will support him if he wants to play, it’s a bit harder here do get your children into the game as not many non-private schools play it, the rugby culture here is much less than there in New Zealand. I know its a completely different game but touch rugby is played with small leagues and seems quite sociable so that may be another avenue. Hopefully things calm down a bit for you and you get more time to write again.

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