J
Jiggles
Guest
While he had his weak moments in defense for the Reds, he has never been as bad as say Campese, for example. From Memory he started to sweep back naturally in defense after making clearing kicks and then proved to be rather good at counter attack from the subsequent opposition kick return.
Link probably recognized this and thought it made sense to make the front line a bit more solid and force the opposition to try and kick and play a territory game, opening up a very good weapon for the Reds. I am all for this tactic at Super Rugby Level but not at test level.
At Super level the the realignment from turnovers is nowhere near as fast as test rugby, so the Reds can easily get away with playing musical chairs and often profit from it. At test level, and especially in big matches where 1 or 2 line breaks can easily, and often do decide a match, why put pressure on yourself by adding an extra variable to the way in which you play the game? Test rugby is just no place to switch your back-line around every time there is a turnover.
Robbie Deans employing this tactic, and making it more convoluted by brining Digby into it, is just another example of his inability to recognise the differences between the two games, and create unique tactics that suit the players at his disposal.
