Author: Graeme Forbes

If anyone had been in doubt about the Chiefs title credentials then the manner of their victory over the Brumbies must have been one hell of a wake up call. Behind the Stormers (56) and the Sharks (71) the Brumbies defence was one of the most unforgiving in the tournament with only 88 points conceded from 5 games. They’d averaged around 90 tackles missing (on average) 15 a game, for a try conceded average of 2 per game. As we all know, defence coupled with arduous and intelligent attacking play is the template championship winning sides are built on, it’s also the exact…

Well, Super Rugby got off to a blistering start didn’t it? I know you can’t tell much from the first weekend of a competition but the fact this year’s opening round delivered 53 tries, compared to last years 28 is hopefully a sign of things to come. Of course there were two extra games this time around, but that’s an average of 5.8 tries a game, compared to 4 last year, so I think we have an early indication the trend of positive attacking Rugby continues. With only the Brumbies facing foreign opponents we obviously still have much to learn…

Another week, another Adam Ashley-Cooper try orchestrated by Bernard Foley. I make no apologies for saying I’m a big fan of both players, and I feel both have delivered time and time again throughout this world cup campaign none more so than during the semi-final against Argentina. So we’re going to have a look at Ashley-Coopers first try, the Pumas decision making leading up to it, the defensive lapse the Wallabies exploited and the fantastically worked strike move they used to set Ashley-Cooper free on the right. View image | gettyimages.com One of my bug bears in this World Cup has…

Anyone who saw Argentina will have been impressed with how easily they despatched Ireland. While the reality is it was far from a full strength Ireland side, the speed and precision Argentina dismantled Ireland’s much fabled defence will left many people wondering exactly how good these Pumas are. They shouldn’t really because anyone who saw the way they attacked South Africa in the rugby Championship will have seen this coming from a mile off. In a lot of ways Argentina remind me of France when they were good – back in the late 80’s early 90’s. Big, powerful offloading forwards…

There are a bunch of things we could focus on in the Australian defeat of England, the scrum, the defence, the breakdown. All valid discussion points, but I’m English and before I erase this horrible game from my hard drive, and memory, for ever, I’d like to focus on how wonderfully simple and well executed the Australian game plan was. It was about as good an example as you’ll ever find of just getting the basics right and letting the rest takes care of itself. Out of the window went complex lineout calls and screened passing moves – in came…

International Rugby is about making good decisions when the pressure is on and if it wasn’t an already interesting enough game, England’s Jekyll and Hyde performance against Wales has left us with plenty of unanswered questions ahead of the England vs Australia encounter this weekend. Obviously the defining moment of the game was England’s decision to kick for the corner. It’s been discussed in great detail in many places, so in the video above I wanted to revisit that Lineout and talk through a couple of the options England had available to them and illustrate why the one they chose…

Pool A Analysis – England from thedeadballarea on Vimeo. Since starting this article Australia have dispatched Fiji, in what I felt was reasonably comfortable fashion. Sure they never nailed the bonus point, but they never looked like they’d lose the game despite Fiji staying in touch throughout. The result of the game means Australia sit 3rd in the group and we’re starting to see how the teams stack up, so I thought it’d be a good time to continue our look at the teams in pool A, and this time out I thought we’d take a look at England ahead…

What ever you think of the way, or when, it was drawn – Pool A is shaping up to be the most exciting pool the Rugby World Cup has ever seen. Personally the prospect of one of England, Wales or Australia going out is exactly what makes it so exciting – it is what sport is about; there is risk in every game and as a result every single game in this pool has a meaning and ultimately an influence over the Quarter finals. So I thought it’d be good to go through the pool and give each team the…

Pretty much everything I’ve read over the last week has been about three things, Hoopers push/shove/punch on Sanchez, Sanchez’s diving and the one we’re interested in – Bernard Foley’s kicking. Five from nine is an odd stat, it’s not really negative and it’s not really positive either. Regardless, either way there are missed scoring opportunities, and in a World Cup Pool that could well come down to points difference, there is no room to be wasteful. So I decided to have a look at Bernard Foley’s kicking in the game to see if there is anything obvious going on there. View…

As comebacks go that was pretty special. After the whistle. A TMO decision. It was nail biting stuff from a Wallabies team that looked to have blown it 5 minutes earlier when passing up a kick for the corner for a shot at goal. But regardless of how close the score was, Australia will be pleased they scored three lovely tries, the pick of which for me was the one we’re going to look at in more detail, finished by Adam Ashley-Cooper it comes from a well rehearsed strike move. Instrumental in it were Matt Giteau and Quade Cooper who we’ve discussed…

Love them or loathe them, but with three back to back European Cups, and top four in the Top 14 for the last 4 years it’s hard to argue that Toulon’s star studded band of merry men  – including Matt Giteau – aren’t one of the best teams in the Northern Hemisphere. Personally, I’m a supporter. I love seeing the big names tear it up, and sometimes, in those moments of schadenfreude, it’s nice to see them get brought down to earth with the occasional spanking. Either way one of the key players in the squad is Matt Giteau, and…

We look at Video analysis of the impact Rob Hornes yellow card had, in allowing the Lions to score a try.

Whilst the Waratahs were never the most dominant championship winning side ever they were great value for money and on route to the Super XV title showed plenty of endeavour and bags of guts (Foley’s try vs the Brumbies anyone? ). Oh, and they also played some exhilarating rugby along the way. I think it’s safe to say though, that the Waratahs have struggled to replicate that form this year. But if you’re going to throw it all out there, then against the New Zealand conference leaders away from home is about as good a time as any to do…

Another week another loss for the Reds, but every cloud has it’s silver lining and whilst senior players in the Reds set up continue to self implode, Reds fans will have been buoyed by the return of probably the most high profile player in Australia, Quade Cooper (at least until he got himself injured again). View image | gettyimages.com The word Maverick often gets bandied about in regards to attack minded players, but I feel that really undersells Cooper somewhat and I think over the last few seasons he has gone a long way to shedding that tag. For some…

We all like to see running rugby but the game can’t always be about length of the field tries and behind the back passes, Ben Tune style. Sometimes teams just have to take the points on offer and get themselves into a position to win the game whether it be a classic rolling maul or a pushover scrum. While the ACT Brumbies vs the Western Force last week served up some lovely running rugby and some cracking open field tries, we’re not going look at any of those though and instead look at the Brumbies first try scored off a maul…

It’s hard to deny that over the last World Cup cycle Fly Half has been a problem area for the Wallabies. Injuries, indifferent form and politics all seem to have played their part in chopping and changing between 6 different players: Cooper, Barnes, Beale, Toomua, Foley and O’Connor and seven months out from the world cup, it, along with scrumhalf, remains one of the most debated positions in World Rugby. View image | gettyimages.com It’s understandable, throughout the 80’s and the 90’s Australia revolutionised the role of the fly half – they became much more than simple game managers they…

Having put the Crusaders to bed in pre-season, the Reds must have been pretty confident heading into Round One of the 2015 Super XV. Sadly for them they ended up on the end of a 47 point demolition and while it was a really good performance by the Brumbies, and a lot of credit must go to their coaching team, the Reds really made things hard for themselves with shockingly bad attacking play. So with this video analysis I thought it’d be worth looking at two examples from the game last weekend to focus on how they corner themselves in. View image…

We take a look at the Wallabies inability to safely clear their lines with this video analysis

There was a lot worth looking at in the Ireland vs Australia game, some great attacking Rugby from the Wallabies (which we focus on here), as well as some awful exit strategies from the same team, and some incredible tactical kicking from Ireland. We’ll look at exits and tactics later on this week, but, first things first, there was absolutely no way I couldn’t do a try analysis of Nick Phipps brilliant score. It starts like many tries now, from a counter attack. Sexton firing the bomb to the corner looking to isolate Speight and Foley only for the ball…

We take a look at the evolving Wallabies defence system vs Wales.