Last Friday night, in Melbourne, I made my return to the coach’s bench with the Sydney team against a Rebels Rising team, selected from the Melbourne Rebels plus their academy. The Sydney team has not played since the birth of professional rugby in 1996, but has a formidable pedigree with victories over all major rugby nations save the Springboks, whom we have never played. The team is selected from the twelve Sydney Premiership clubs, minus their contracted Super Rugby players and academy squads (that’s a lot of players – I’m guessing at least 80!).
I haven’t coached at this level in Australia since 2003, but given the importance of the rebirth of the Sydney Rugby team, I was pleased to accept the invitation. I was, I know, very keen to put into action my (strong) views on how the game can, and should, be played. I was also very interested to discover the breadth of talent that sits outside of the Super Rugby franchises, despite the many claims that Australia just doesn’t have enough talent to fill five squads.
I wasn’t disappointed on either front. After five practice sessions — this would equate to less than three days for the professional squads — with various (amateur) players missing a session or two, the Sydney boys were able to score six tries and showed excellent skills, with pace and support play to the forefront. The best teams in Super Rugby (for “best” read “New Zealand”) display pace too, and commitment at, the tackle contest. This was one of my major focuses at practice. Believe it or not, the lack of such a focus is the major shortcoming of most of the world’s teams. Most games go from set-play to (slow) ruck, to (slow) ruck. After a few, we get a kick!
Commitment at the tackle contest includes:
(i) a desire to immediately continue the advance of the ball towards the opposition try-line;
(ii) taking every opportunity for the off-load;
(iii) powerful leg-drive; and
(iv) quick ball transfer, either by way of a driving maul or recycle.
With players more accustomed to the ‘slow ruck to slow ruck’ routine, this was a major challenge. The key factor for this commitment at the tackle is the presence of the players, ideally forwards, in whatever numbers are required to execute, to the full, any opportunity that presents itself. For me, this requires all forwards to be chasing the ball, with urgency. This required a major shift in the mindset of my forwards. I can’t say that such a major shift was achieved, but we made a start. It was, after all, a very warm evening and most players were having their first game of the new season — but we made progress and all forwards played a major role in our convincing victory.
Our backline attack also needed considerable adjustment. Catch-and-pass skills must be fluent, and such fluency, while simple, is not common — not at all! Some players find such attention to detail a little more suited to the rugby kindergarten, but they are wrong. A strong commitment — and personality — is required from the coach! And perseverance! We made some progress here also; I would have liked more progress, but this is always the case. With fluency, and accuracy, we can play closer to the defence, and this puts them under more pressure. In addition, we need to be closer together so that the ball is not in the air for too long. That only makes it easier for the defence.
One area of the game where we performed well was in counter-attack, especially from kick receipt. We had no opportunity, given the time restrictions, for any practice, but we talked about it a little. Number one factor for successful counter-attack is getting numbers back behind the ball, with urgency. This, in turn, gives options to the ball-carrier and questions for the chasing defence. I was more than pleased with our efforts here and the players, and the spectators, enjoyed it!
Defence, like a number of parts of the game, is largely a mindset. It’s hard work and not as glamorous as attack — but it is 50 per cent of the game. For this season opener on a steamy evening, it required an even more focussed mindset to keep going. We restricted our presumably better-prepared opponents to only two tries, and this speaks clearly of our players intestinal fortitude (sometimes described as ‘guts’). I’m a strong believer in it and I was more than pleased. A final scoreline of 45–14 was a great reward for the players — and the coaches!
One part of my motivation for doing the job was to enable me to look at the players — closely. I have already said that I believe that we have many very good players in Australia — in this case, in Sydney. They need opportunity and exposure — and quality direction. I remain confident that I can provide that direction. Over the next few days, I will be speaking with Super Rugby coaches about five or so players who I believe are already worth a long look. If even one or two of them go forward, I will be very happy.
At the end of each practice session, the players must be better players than they were at the start. Soon the better players will be promoted out of your team and you will have done your job. Once a coach, always a coach!
