- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Australia’s comprehensive loss to the All Blacks on Saturday underscores the crucial nature of the advantage line in Test rugby under the ELVs. The line of advantage has always been important, but in the past, a team who conceded metres could slow a ball down in the tackle and go for a counter-ruck; or in extreme cases, give away a penalty.
Invariably, the penalty would lead to a kick to touch and the chance to regroup, reform the defensive line, and perhaps even win an opposition throw. That, or a penalty shot by the opposition resulting in a worst case scenario of 3 points, or a best case scenario of a miss and a 22 dropout putting you back on attack (albeit briefly).
The point is that under the old laws a breach in the opposition advantage line wasn’t always sustainable, particularly if it wasn’t clean into space. The laws ensured that the momentum often faltered quickly, leading to a situation where teams aimed to play a million or so short phases, reluctantly shifting the point of attack no further than midfield, concentrating on ball security and wearing oppositions down. In short, boring rugby.
The ELV’s have created a situation where all of a sudden momentum is sustainable for attacking teams, and defending teams are forced to halt that momentum with sheer physical brutality.
Last Saturday, the All Black philosophy of attacking the advantage line at every opportunity paid off like a pokie jackpot, gifting them a glittering gush of possession in attacking positions and releasing their backs to tear the Wallabies apart in midfield.
At the ruck, the All Blacks simply smashed their way over the advantage line with the same vicious intent of the Tartars sacking Jerusalem. On this performance, those who feared that the ELV’s would lead to a smaller, faster player should take heart, since the damage was done by the big men – Thorn, So’aialo, Williams, Woodcock.
The Wallabies lacked desire and poundage to combat this strategy, and the loss of Rocky Elsom was more significant than anyone realized. Phil Waugh has a heart the size of a blue ribbon pumpkin, but against a backrow as big and intent on mayhem as the All Blacks, the two flyer option proved to be optimistic.
The Wallabies scrum was far less assured than previous weeks, and again the All Blacks attacked the advantage line. They may not have made much ground, but the half-metre to a metre that they made was enough to put their defending backs on the front foot, where they used the pressure to good effect, rattling Giteau to the extent where he felt late in the game that the chip kick was the only option.
In defence, the New Zealanders simply bullied the Wallabies backwards. Their line (from both set play and kick chase) surged forward like a line of bighorn rams, bashing the Aussies and stopping them dead, before flooding the ruck with frothing maniacs – So’aialo being Exhibit A.
Again the advantage line was the key to it all – the Australians didn’t get over it, and so even when they kept the ball they were forced to play backwards to gain some space in attack.
The All Blacks’ ownership of the advantage line equalled pressure and indecision in Camp Wallaby, as evidenced by the massive turnover rate and the significant number of missed tackles. Even a defensive line as impregnable as the Wallabies’ finds it near-impossible to organize effectively on the back foot and this in turn magnified both the pressure on them and the momentum of the Blacks.
What the ELV’s have done is reward the team who dominates the advantage line, because the momentum they gain is no longer questionable, but inevitable. And unlike in the past, there are fewer shortcuts back from the dark side. The only way now to halt that momentum is through a massive turnover tackle, or by flooding the ruck with big men to smash the opposition off the ball.
Whilst the game may have become less physical in some areas, the physical confrontation required to dominate at the breakdown is bone-shattering, and if possible, Test rugby has become more, not less, of a collision sport.
The ELV’s too, far from creating a hybrid player, are actually reinforcing the specialist roles of backs and forwards. The forwards are as physical, if not more so, than they have ever been, and the fast running, classically evasive backs (eg Peter Hynes, Conrad Smith) are making a comeback.
The All Blacks learned the hard way against the Wallabies in Bledisloe I that the advantage line was the key to winning games under the ELV’s. They used that lesson to devastating effect in Auckland.
Now that both sides know how to win, and how to lose, the battle lines are clearly drawn.
Stand by for advantage line fireworks in Bledisloe three.