All Blacks need to re-think their attack

 
The Crowd Roar Pro

By ohtani's jacket, 4 Jul 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

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Rugby can be a frustrating game to watch. Teams spend an age fighting for the ball, only to lose it on their first possession. And even the most promising of movements can end in a penalty or turnover.

Yet, nothing grates quite as much as inept attack, and in the Test against Italy, the All Blacks showed once again that without line breaks, they have no teeth.

The Italian defence was nothing out of the ordinary.

It was a less aggressive version of the rush defence used by the French in Dunedin, a defence which is fast becoming the norm at Test match level.

It’s a defence that’s designed to keep play trapped in the midfield and prevent the opposition from getting quick ball out wide.

The idea is to “sack” the ball carrier before he can get over the advantage line, similar to how a linebacker targets the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage. The difference being that a quarterback has protection from his offensive line, whereas the first receiver in rugby is a sitting duck.

The All Blacks tried to counter this with a short passing game.

In theory, this creates holes in the defensive line, but in a real game situation, passing under pressure leads to a litany of mistakes, such as near intercepts, passes to no-one, and in the case of the Christchurch Test, a bizarre number of obstruction calls.

It’s more or less proof that you can only use a short passing game once you’ve broken through the defensive line. If you’re too flat, as the All Blacks were in Christchurch, then you can’t hit the ball at pace and wind up playing a static offload game.

This wasn’t entirely the backs’ fault, however.

The All Black forwards didn’t play over the ball and barely contested the rucks, allowing the Italians a huge amount of territory and failing to get the type of turnover ball that’s probably the All Blacks’ best attack against a rush defence.

The overall performance reminded me of the Hurricanes or Chiefs when they came up against the tougher defensive sides in the Super 14.

Guys would look to batter their way through the defensive line, but without any sort of go forward, the countdown was on to the inevitable turnover.

In short, we didn’t play enough rugby.

The good news is that these things are fixable, but it raises the question of why these players need the basics drilled into them.

The first instinct is to blame the coaches. But if those were the tactics, then Henry and his assistants sold the players down the river with their post match comments.

While it’s true that Wayne Smith has never fully abandoned his flat backline strategy, I’m not convinced that flick passes are what he had in mind.

During the game, you could see Muliaina trying to enter the line and give the All Blacks some direction, and it wasn’t until the substitutes came on (and Ross went out into the backline) that we started playing with purpose.

Too often people act as if the coaches pull all the strings and players are merely pawns to be moved around the field.

While it’s important to play the right players in the right positions, Test selections are only half the equation.

Perhaps the All Blacks thought the Italians would fall off some tackles and leave some holes. Perhaps they didn’t expect Italy to last the full eighty minutes. Or maybe the All Black forwards didn’t want to take a battering for the third straight week.

It could even be that the All Blacks, not being great proponents of the rush defence, aren’t that au fait with how it works.

Or perhaps they’re simply tired, stretched too thin and on the wane.

Whatever the case, Graham Henry needs to take stock of what he has: a backline that’s missing any sort of nucleus. For that reason, I’d suggest a pragmatic approach to the Test at Eden Park.

The All Blacks need to spend time in the opposition half and look to convert territory and possession into points by constructing our attack in a simpler fashion.

As disappointing as it sounds, we no longer have the backs to play running rugby from anywhere on the field.

Whoever plays first five eight, and I imagine it will be Donald and McAlister in tandem, the coaches have to tell those players that we don’t need them to be Dan Carter.

We simply need them to relieve pressure, kick for touch, look for territorial gains and be judicious with their running and passing. In other words, solid play from the five eight position.

There’s no need to set the world on fire. The All Blacks have always been at their best when they’ve played clinically.

So let’s try to get into a groove and actually outflank opponents instead of attacking the line with an endless series of pick and goes.

If Piri Weepu moves the ball quicker, then Henry needs to forgo his “impact” strategy and play Weepu from the start.

The All Blacks don’t have the luxury of playing their best players off the bench and can’t afford to wait until the final quarter to play rugby.

Nothing the All Blacks did in the past is working right now, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The New Zealand rugby public seem a little edgy about another team passing us, but it’s a good chance to test our mettle.

This was the challenge Henry took on when he sought his reappointment.

Even last year it was obvious that we couldn’t keep winning playing the same style of rugby. What worked in 2005 and 2006 can’t work forever.

Unfortunately, the New Zealand rugby public don’t really think like that and thus the pressure is squarely on the shoulders of Henry and his players.

Personally, I think that’s ridiculous after four straight Tri-Nation titles. Painful though it may be, I look forward to the coming challenge.

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