A good big player always beats a good small player
Roar Guru By Tenebroso, 6 May 2011 The Crowd is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- de Villiers, John O'Connor, Joost Vanderwesthuizen, Kelleher, New Zealand, Nonu, Ranger, rugby, Rugby Union, Sonny Bill, Traille
Okay, halfbacks have always been on the diminutive side, because it was thought a nine had to be nippy around the scrum. But Joost Vanderwesthuizen proved that you could have some size and still be good – in his case, devastating – and nobody in New Zealand complained about Kelleher being chunky.
But the theory persists and four of the the Big Five (Parra is 1.8 m) all have small guys playing at nine – Care and Genia, in particular.
However, the era of diminutive backs is further going the way of the dodo, and with Welshman Williams nearing the end of his career, Aplon and Davies remain the only small wingers in contention for a major squad (although I’m ready to be corrected about that).
Just about all the other backs have size. Apart from John O’Connor, that is.
And watching O’Connor play against SBW/Fruen or anybody else he was supposed to tackle or run past, it was evident that just as the small man has all but vanished from tennis, so is the small guy an anomaly in today’s big-time rugby.
It’s not enough to be fast anymore, you need heft to break tackles, heft to stop a man in defence, and heft to hit the ruck. All of which is why I don’t see O’Connor playing at 12 for the Wallabies.
I think it has to be AAC at 12, Iaone at 13, and with Mitchell out, Morahan on one wing and JOC on the other.
I know the call is to get O’Connor closer to the action, but if Deans lets him rove around, he’ll be there for the inside ball. And he won’t be as vulnerable to all the big guys (Sonny Bill, Nonu, Ranger, de Villiers, Traille – there’s a whole bunch of them).
O’Connnor is a great ball-carrier and our best place kicker. If we play him in the centres, we’re asking him to do too much.
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The Crowd Says (9) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- de Villiers, John O'Connor, Joost Vanderwesthuizen, Kelleher, New Zealand, Nonu, Ranger, rugby, Rugby Union, Sonny Bill, Traille
May 6th 2011 @ 6:07am
Bazza All Black said | May 6th 2011 @ 6:07am | Report comment
…well there is always soccer for the wee fellows…but I do agree with your sentiments
When I watch the 87 World Cup highlights (over and over and over again) I am struck by how tiny everyone is!
Some of it is due to professional era but goodness me.
And everyone in NZ loves to watch AB versus Wales when that little munchkin Shane Williams is playing, he sure can jink and jive but when the fellows get hold of him, it is like watching a kid fighting an adult..
..so totally agree with your thoughts…
May 6th 2011 @ 8:22am
Brendon said | May 6th 2011 @ 8:22am | Report comment
Totally agree on the JOC position.. But I still would have barnes at 12 and AAC at 13. barnes cam tackle very well.. Which also leaves digby on the wing. Freak player but the less decision making he has to do the better
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May 6th 2011 @ 8:52am
Hoy said | May 6th 2011 @ 8:52am | Report comment
I have vivid memories of AAC going very badly at 12 in every game he has played there. Besides, he is better in space wider out, where he can get a sniff through the line, and then use his fend. Heaven knows he doesn’t pass outside much.
I would have O’Connor at 12. It is his preferred position, and he has shown in the past he can take heavy contact with the ball, and be solid in defense.
Barnes is a basket case, and I don’t think he will last much longer. One more knock and he will need serious thought to his future. Aside from that, I don’t think he has played enough footy recently, over the last 2 years, to show good enough form consistently to warrant selection. Maybe that is just me, but even last year when he came on for the Wallabys, his passing was a touch late, a bit out of sorts, simply through lack of game time.
You are right, if you are 5 metres out, a big man will usually win. But if it comes to that, then a big agile man will beat a big slow man. So when SBW comes up against say Palu, where is your big on big thinking then? It still won’t work. Besides, SBW is a freak of nature. It is his offload, not his size that needs to be combated, and I don’t know a way to stop it. We have seen countless times two or three in the tackle, and he can still get it out somehow.
Instead of focussing on stopping other players, maybe we need to focus on our combinations, and what is the best option for us in our backline. O’Connor should be put at 12, and not shuffled so much.
May 6th 2011 @ 9:11am
EP - Rugbywits said | May 6th 2011 @ 9:11am | Report comment
Its a minor point of the article – but I’m happy to see Morahan in the test side. He has side and speed. He’s going to be a good long term player barring overseas contract or injuries.
As for the main article…
Hmm… the signs are yes, the best way to go is to have good size. But I believe there is still room for the odd smaller guy.
The problem is the number of them. I agree with what Brett has said before. Having O’Connor, Giteau, Genia, Cooper and Beale all in the same side is too many smaller guys relying on guile to win. We need maybe 3 of those 5 and the other 2 be replaced by larger bodies to inflict regular pain on the opposition.
May 6th 2011 @ 10:41am
kovana said | May 6th 2011 @ 10:41am | Report comment
Uale mai. End of.
May 6th 2011 @ 11:37am
Tenebroso said | May 6th 2011 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Rugbywits, Hoy, Bazza – - the only Oz back capable of inflicting pain is Morto. He’ll make the squad but I doubt he’ll be used in the important games. The Ws’ backs are not going to be punishing like the ABs are. And I’m not swayed by any argument so far that JOC should play 12. We have two games against the Boks in the TN and we’ll be undersized against them too.
Barnes would have been my choice at I/C before his injury, but now I don’t see anybody fitting in to allow AAC to play his regular O/C position. Giteau doesn’t make my team even in the second row.
May 6th 2011 @ 2:33pm
Hoy said | May 6th 2011 @ 2:33pm | Report comment
You are right, though we have never had a bruiser in the backline really. Mortlock would be our hardest tackler in a long, long time in the backs. Apart from him, maybe Herbert, but I never saw him clean a bloke up like Mortlock.
May 6th 2011 @ 12:13pm
Gary Russell-Sharam said | May 6th 2011 @ 12:13pm | Report comment
I see where you are going and I also see the trend, its quite sad in the respect that rugby was a game for all sizes but since the intervention of professionalism I see a trend to a uniformity of size within the team. I would envisage in twenty years from now we rugby boys will not be too dissimilar to league boys who in the main are all 6′ and 90kg. I grant that we will always have the tall second row and the beefy boys up front but the beefy boys will become smaller when they eventually defuse the scrum (like they’ve been trying to do for the last 10 – 20 years). I have a son who is quite special in his talents and skills but is at 18 nearly 19 still at 5′ 7 ‘ and nearly 70 kg and keeps getting passed over for bigger blokes. I keep telling him to keep working at the gym and one day he might be big enough but its like a rabbit chasing his tail the more he works at it the bigger the other boys are because they are working as hard as him. Such is life you get what you are born with and have to make the most of what you have. On the rep front at the moment I still think that there is time for the likes of O’Connor to shine at inside centre for at least this WC but in future I see the trend to having blokes like SBW, Nonu, De Williers, Fourie as the norm in the centres. That just the way the game is going in this professional age.
May 6th 2011 @ 2:33pm
Comrade Bear said | May 6th 2011 @ 2:33pm | Report comment
It is not too long ago that we had Sailer, Tiquiri, Latho, Mortlock, Larkham, Gerrard all in the backs and all 100kg+.
We seem to be getting smaller – even Beale used to be 100Kg+, but is now sitting arund 90kgs
As mentioned above, I don’t think the odd small guy is a problem (Giteau shined when he was the only small critter) but too many small guys is. Like most things – you need balance.