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Thinking about the Rugby World Cup
Nov. 5th, 2015 08:08 am Bottom line, New Zealand have redefined rugby union and everybody else is playing catch up again. The three defining moments for me were all from the All Blacks. Two involved forwards coming into the three quarter line and displaying levels of skill that few backs would have shown even just a few years ago. The third involved a very large centre, of the kind who is used on most teams as a battering ram, spotting a micro gao and going through it to score untouched from the half way line. It was like watching 110kg of Jeremy Guscott.
I think the lesson here for the other countries, especially the Northern Hemisphere ones, is that we are now in an era of extreme total rugby. Exceptional handling skills are required from 1 to 15 and picking players based mainly on size, speed and power is not going to cut it. There will be big, fast, powerful players; likely bigger, faster and more powerful than ever, but they will all be able to float a double skip pass or off load out of the back of the hand. Second thing I saw (and Australia and Wales showed this too) is that a team needs at least one, preferably at least two, players who are brilliant at the breakdown; real jackals. These two things have real selection implications. France and England in particular will need to rethink their tendency to pick big men who just aren't very good footballers. Bastereau and England's endless supply of large but mediocre Fijians come to mind. The implications for back row selection are huge. Every team will need to be thinking about picking two specialist 7s (playing one at 6 or 8) and again, there just will not be room for big but one dimensional 8 men. It's going to be interesting to see whether (or how quickly) this gets reflected in the Six Nations.
The other thing I thought the RWC showed was that the driving maul has become a bit of a joke. It's the way the refs have been told to call it which gives all the advantages to the attack. Basically, attacking players are being allowed to join ahead of the ball carrier and wedges of players with the ball at the back are being allowed to split off from the maul but are still given the same protection from the defence as if a maul was still in being. Both of these things are blatantly illegal and make defence all but impossible. I guess the PtB think it's "exciting" but it's terrible rugby. What next? Legalize the "flying wedge" and the "cavalry charge" from a tapped penalty? Both these tactics seem to be allowed now in open play so why not?
I think the lesson here for the other countries, especially the Northern Hemisphere ones, is that we are now in an era of extreme total rugby. Exceptional handling skills are required from 1 to 15 and picking players based mainly on size, speed and power is not going to cut it. There will be big, fast, powerful players; likely bigger, faster and more powerful than ever, but they will all be able to float a double skip pass or off load out of the back of the hand. Second thing I saw (and Australia and Wales showed this too) is that a team needs at least one, preferably at least two, players who are brilliant at the breakdown; real jackals. These two things have real selection implications. France and England in particular will need to rethink their tendency to pick big men who just aren't very good footballers. Bastereau and England's endless supply of large but mediocre Fijians come to mind. The implications for back row selection are huge. Every team will need to be thinking about picking two specialist 7s (playing one at 6 or 8) and again, there just will not be room for big but one dimensional 8 men. It's going to be interesting to see whether (or how quickly) this gets reflected in the Six Nations.
The other thing I thought the RWC showed was that the driving maul has become a bit of a joke. It's the way the refs have been told to call it which gives all the advantages to the attack. Basically, attacking players are being allowed to join ahead of the ball carrier and wedges of players with the ball at the back are being allowed to split off from the maul but are still given the same protection from the defence as if a maul was still in being. Both of these things are blatantly illegal and make defence all but impossible. I guess the PtB think it's "exciting" but it's terrible rugby. What next? Legalize the "flying wedge" and the "cavalry charge" from a tapped penalty? Both these tactics seem to be allowed now in open play so why not?
