William hatches an egg

[Scarfman]

Genia's running game has hit 110% in the last fortnight. And there's no doubting his pass is long and fast. I think we've all got some questions about his kicking game.

But the big issue is the egg hatching at the back of the ruck. Personally, I don't even remotely understand it. If I had just busted my arse to get in there and cleanout the ruck quickly, I'd be rightly pissed off if I then had to lie on the ground with a prop's arse on my face for the next 45 seconds while Genia reflects on the state of the world today. What gives?

 

[Dam0]

There seemed to be a definite strategy of trying to hold onto the ball for long numbers of phases, waiting for the perfect time to attempt to break through. It reminded me of the old Brumbies style from the late 90's early 2000's. It seemed to work ok, but I wonder if it will work against a really committed forward pack who will make more counter-rucking techniques.

Genia's slowness behind the ruck just plays into this strategy. If he can't get quick ball then they wait and reset the formation again. The Aussie backline is a bit pedestrian without JOC (James O'Connor) and Beale (and Cooper though I wouldn't want him) to add a bit of life and game breaking ability It is probably the way to go given the resources you have.

 

[Scarfman]

But what about the times he does have quick ball and he chooses to sit on it? Once or twice a game makes sense - you get quick ball but you look around and there's no-one there. What you should see in those cases is a 5 second delay while the runners rearrange themselves. But Genia does it much more than that, and his runners don't seem to be realigning in any meaningful way. I'm really not sure what he's waiting for.

 

[Dam0]

I haven't seen much of the Reds this year, but I assume he doesn't do this for them. I imagine he is under orders from Deans to slow the game down and ensure that the support players are there for the next cleanout. He is obviously concerned that if the support players aren't there a lot of turnovers would result. I don't think the backline is dynamic enough to consistently play for quick ball.

 

[gel]

Is he doing it in order to break up the tempo of the game? He does seem to do it after several phases of quick ball. I don't really know if that's the plan (or even if it is a good plan), but that's the way it appears to me.

I don't really like it though, it seems to take forever some times.

 

[It is what it is]

Is he doing it in order to break up the tempo of the game? He does seem to do it after several phases of quick ball. I don't really know if that's the plan (or even if it is a good plan), but that's the way it appears to me.

I don't really like it though, it seems to take forever some times.

He really needs stronger calls and communication from players behind him.... a reason to pass quickly.
Like him or not, Cooper screamed for and demanded quick ball and Genia obliged.
Whether it's Cooper, Beale, O'Connor, Barnes or a combination of these as playmakers, Genia needs help to make plays.

 

[Gnostic]

The whole blame for this shouldn't be lumped on Genia. No matter who playes at 9 for the Wallabies and Waratahs (I must say) this seems to happen. It has much to do with the team tactics and structures (or lack thereof).

There is a big danger in the Oz tactics at the ruck.
1. They have been destroyed time and again by the ABs, England and SA (last two to a lesser extent) by strong counter rucking truning over ball when they fart around with it at the back.
2. On so many occassions the "ruck" of the Oz forwards amounts to sealing off and preventing the contest. I will hear all sorts of protest about that, as much as the Kiwis protesting about McCaw cheating, but like that it is the simple truth. These tactics and the slow grind of the Oz forwards from ruck to ruck should be penalised by the referees much more than it is. It is not dissimilar to the old Macqueen unlimitted tackle tactic.

I truly hope to see the 5 second rule from the IRB to do with rucks with a single call to "use it" from the ref. It will do away with that other ruck abomination now in use by the Bok and the Bulls, the gadget extenda ruck.

 

[RugbyReg]

I thought it was not only justified, but an astute tactic on Saturday night. Genia gave plenty of quick ball early on, but we all saw how quick the Welsh were up on our attack. The quicker we recycled the quicker they attacked in defence, lets call it 'anticipating'.

I think Will slowing it down at times was the correct thing to do. IT kept the Welsh on their heels and screwed up with their clear game plan to race out of the line to cut down our time. Its why TPN and Palu were so important for us, because they were able to make key ms from these more static starts, and thats when we started to assert a bit more control. But still, I think Will mixed it up and got it our quick enough plenty of times, but slowed it down appropriately too.

 

[Gagger]

To be fair I thought the Welsh played Pollock to a T. They loitered on the wrong side of the ruck to stop the fast recycle and were a yard offside for the whole of the first half. Also, as Rocky said in the G&GR PlayUp hangout

Seems like the welsh have loaded up another defender around the ruck to stop Will. If we execute properly we should have space out wide

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So it looked like the Welsh had decided to sacrifice penalties and spas around the edges to create the pressure you saw on Sanchez yesterday Scarfie​

 

[Scarfman]

Honestly, I didn't see any pressure out of the ordinary. Can you call it pressure when the ball is sitting there at the back feet and no-one is shoving? I don't mind the 5 seocnd rule, but we could just go back to the old "if a bird can shit on it" rule, then it's out.

I raised the topic this week because it made more sense than, say, against Scotland, when Genia seemed to be waiting until the Scotland defence was all organised before he was allowed to pass it. There seemed to be method in the madness this week, but I'm a long way from being convinced it did anything useful. Like I said, if I saw the attack re-align furiously between rucks I could see what was up.

Here's my prediction: against more physical oppositions in a few weeks' time, this tactic is going to look just as painful as it did against the Scots.

 

[Bardon]

I'm inclined to agree with those who believe this to be a deliberate tactic to slow the game down and break it up a little. If it wasn't I would have expected Genia to be screaming at players to get into position.

While there is danger of this tactic not working against a team that floods the contact area and counter rucks a lot more than Wales, ala NZ & SA. The biggest danger is that this Aus team have shown a distinct inability to change tactics onfield when they aren't working. Often stubbornly clinging to losing tactics because it's what they were told to do at the start of the game.

 

[Lindommer]

There is NO substitute for quick ruck ball, none. If the Taffies are rushing up offside on quick recycled ball, for Gawd's sake get a message to someone to pester the ref about it if the captain isn't. I don't understand why Pocock wasn't having stern words with Pollock to get the TJ/ARs on the job here.

 

[Scarfman]

Was direct result of Welsh pressure in this match?

Someone's been fiddling with my poll!

 

[Elfster]

There is NO substitute for quick ruck ball, none.

Agree, and also speed is essential in attack, (and to keep putting on cliches), attack is the best defence. And even if the Wallabies were doing it to set their attack, it allowed the Welsh to set their defence. With Genia hovering over the ball like he was, potentially exposed the ball to the opposition. The poms, saffas, AB's and Irish would have come through the ruck and claimed it. (Actually the AB's wouldn't have come through the ruck..they would already be there...). Next week I am quite sure the Welsh won't be sitting back and allowing the ball to sit.

And also, dare I say it, it was just plain boring!!!

 

[Bullrush]

There were a couple of times where I thought the ball was actually out and Wales would have been entitiled to for it while Genia was standing over it or behind it.

As a plyer, I hate having to play the guessing game about whether the ball is still in or out at times. Yelling at the ref, "Is it out?' is ridiculous.

 

[maxdacat]

There were a couple of times where I thought the ball was actually out and Wales would have been entitiled to for it while Genia was standing over it or behind it.

Yeah I thought we were quite fortunate the Welsh weren't counter rucking very strongly. This tactic will be exposed against better teams.

 

[Penguin]

Perhaps they won't use this tactic against the "better" teams. It didn't happen last week did it..... different game plans for different days/situations. Pretty bloody obvious that!