I often talk about attack not being about scoring tries, not about beating your man, nor making breaks. Attack ‘is about asking questions of the defence, and the more difficult the questions you ask, the more successful your attack will be.’ These are the opening remarks of my Coaching Manual – Essential Level Attack from Set Pieces.
The All Blacks, in scoring the only try in their loss to the Springboks last weekend, certainly posed some difficult questions to the Springbok defence. The defence came up with a wrong answer in mid-field and the pace of Hosea Gear and Richard Kahui proved too much even for the (generally excellent) scrambling Springbok defence.
For me, attack from lineouts is more difficult than from scrums. For a start, the two backlines are 20 metres apart and this gives more time and space for the defence to slide and fill the spaces. ‘The defence moving from the back of the lineout will want to fill the defensive space between the lineout and the flyhalf, and will therefore be moving laterally. [Note on the video that Fourie du Preez moves very quickly into this space.] The attack must arrest this lateral movement and force the defence to move axially. Hence they must attack or provide a potential attack in this space.’ The All Blacks do this beautifully.
Just look at the various processes that they have thought through and then put into action. This predetermined forced movement of defences, followed by the injection of attacker(s) into the resultant spaces, is an intriguing part of the game. It is fun – and a source of great satisfaction – for players, coaches and fans. It is also a great educational tool for all.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imZzV_PqhoA&feature=youtu.be&t=2m49s[/youtube]
- First, they play a 5-man lineout and throw deep to the number 4 spot. This allows only du Preez to slide into the ‘drift defence role’. The two back-rowers already in the line are forced ‘to move axially’ to confront the potential attack from the two All Blacks back-rowers running straight at them.
- Slade then skips both back-rowers and passes directly to the drifting SBW – we used to call this type of play ‘Drifter’. Note that the Springbok defenders, especially Brüssow and Steyn, are back on their heels balancing for the potential runners on their inside shoulders. This halts their cross-field drift and opens up a space on the inside of the rushing de Villiers. Had de Villiers stayed with Steyn, de Villiers would probably taken the arriving Hosea Gear, thus giving an overlap on the right. Either way, it’s a tricky series of questions.
- Both Fourie and Habana – who had excellent defensive games – frantically try to buy themselves some depth, to allow them time to move laterally as required, but, alas, too late to achieve an effective tackle.
- SBW is running straight and can therefore see the space on the inside (or wherever it appears in an alternative set of circumstances), knows that he has an arriving player and uses him. Hosea Gear breaks the line with plenty of support on his right.
- Richard Kahui inexcusably over-runs the ball-carrier – I would have wrung his neck – but the ref, and his assistant, miss the forward pass and Kahui scores with Dagg and Toeava unmarked outside of him.
The fundamentals of this play are (i) quality set-play ball, (ii) straight running, (iii) accurate passing, in front of the receiver. Numbers in motion around the ball carrier, in position to receive the ball, subsequently pose difficult questions. The play is also clearly well-designed and, in a result common with such quality technique and execution, successful. Well done!
