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Why the Wallabies' attack is improving

27th December, 2016
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The ARU need a plan that doesn't only involve prayer. (AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)
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27th December, 2016
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The Wallabies’ end of year tour results were as expected: three wins against the weaker opponents (Wales, France and Scotland) and two losses against the strongest opposition, right at the end.

One of the most positive indicators was the improvement in the slickness of the Stephen Larkham-designed offensive operation. When it worked, it worked with greater efficiency and smoothness than it had done in the earlier part of the year.

Much of the improvement appeared to stem from the creative combination of Larkham and skills coach Mick Byrne behind the scenes. Larkham has given Byrne a pattern to work with, and Byrne has added All Black know-how to much of the detail within that pattern.

In previous articles I have taken a look at how Larkham’s offence works, and how it succeeded in the first half against Wales.

The second of those articles examined how the Wallabies’ big ball-carriers – Adam Coleman and Rory Arnold from the second row, and Lopeti Timani from No.8 – were able to dominate the advantage line and produce consistently quick deliveries from the breakdown which enabled Australia to break down the Welsh defence in the opening period in Cardiff.

Perhaps even more impressive was the Wallabies’ ability to work good, usable, attacking ball out of their two forward pods, without any of those three players, in the second half against Ireland.

The fact that the structure is beginning to work without some of its first choice parts being available is both a tribute to a the preparatory work being done off the field by Larkham and Byrne, but also to the advances being made on it by the likes of Rob Simmons, Kane Douglas and Stephen Moore, relatively late in their Test careers.

Many of the nuances and little subtleties evident in the work done by the Australian tight five have an unmistakeable All Black imprint:

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The first two examples come from lineout attacks where the backs have been ‘used up’ in the first two phases out towards the far side-line. This means that the burden of attack over the next couple of phases will have to be shouldered by the tight forwards in reverse field. Typically this is the kind of situation where a good defence will be looking to attack the slower targets hard, either grabbing the initiative with high line-speed or (preferably) forcing the turnover.

The snapshot at 41:56 is seminal:

Wallabies pods against Ireland

As Bernard Foley prepares to make the second pass, the ‘jumbo pod’ of the two second rows (Rob Simmons and Kane Douglas) plus a back-rower (Michael Hooper) is closest to the ball, with a pod of front-rowers (Moore, Kepu and Sio) further out towards midfield. No.8 David Pocock (in the grey headgear) is already en route to his role as a linking forward on the near touch-line.

There are several small but important nuances in the set-up of the forward pod nearest to Foley.

Michael Hooper withdrawn
As the pass is made, Hooper is slightly withdrawn behind the two second rows. Instead of being a first-wave ball-carrier, the Wallabies want him to be available to receive an offload or clean out over the top of either Simmons or Douglas. This constitutes ‘best use’ of Australia’s outstanding number 7 by keeping him on his feet for longer.

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The Douglas/Simmons option
The intended target of Foley’s pass remains uncertain until the very last moment. The inside option (Rob Simmons) cleverly bends his run in towards the Ireland second defender (Rory Best in the white headgear) to both check his rush and attract the man outside him (Jack McGrath).

Kane Douglas – finesse on the ball
It is the outside option, Douglas, who is the real target. As soon as McGrath ducks in towards Simmons, Douglas swerves underneath the defender marking him, Iain Henderson, to hit the gap that has temporarily been created. He does not crash up straight ahead and nor does he expire with the ball, head-down in contact. He transfers it into two hands and looks for the offload to the ‘withdrawn’ Hooper, who penetrates deep into the Irish secondary layer of defence.

This understanding of running lines and the desire to unload in contact is a new development in Douglas’ play.

We can see what the subtle pyrotechnics of Australia’s ‘jumbo pod’ have achieved at 42:04:
Wallabies pods against Ireland

Although the Ireland have eight defenders available on the right side of the ball, six of them are standing inside the Australian first receiver, Foley, when he receives it from Will Genia. The Wallabies still have their front row pod intact and another three attackers outside them with Pocock now fully re-aligned.

With a potential three-to-one overlap on the left, the ‘king’ of the front row pod (captain Stephen Moore) makes an excellent decision to return the ball to Foley immediately rather take it into contact at 42:05. Only a marginal forward pass by Pocock to Henry Speight denies the Wallabies a try in the left corner.

The scenario at 44:17 is very similar – once again it occurs on third phase from lineout – with the difference that Pocock/Hooper and Simmons/Douglas have swapped roles. Pocock is now in the jumbo pod off Foley and Hooper is already standing in the left five-metre channel, while Simmons is the outside option in pod.

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On this occasion, Douglas is not quite as effective at persuading the Ireland tight forward defence that he is a potential receiver, which means in turn that Simmons has a smaller ‘seam’ to penetrate. He still makes a quick one-second placement of the ball however to sustain momentum.

With no obvious overlap, the ‘king’ of the far pod takes contact and produces another quick ruck-ball, which twists the tourniquet ever tighter on the Ireland D. At 44:38 the outside option pass to Simmons in the jumbo pod again catches Ireland narrow, with the end defender Simon Zebo only standing level with the far post.

The attacking intelligence in the first clip is repeated by the front row pod on next phase, with Scott Sio delivering the pull-back pass to Foley and the outside-half in an excellent position to exploit another three-to-one overlap at 44:45. Although his pass drifts too high for the score to be made immediately, Australia went on to score a deserved try three phases later.

This intelligence was there for most of the second half against Ireland. After a Pocock interception, Simmons senses the potential to find an overlap without any prep phases at all at 50:17. He delivers an excellent roll-pass to Reece Hodge off his right hand and only a poor piece of judgment by Israel Folau denies Australia another ‘phantom’ try in that damned left-hand corner!

Simmons excelled in his decision-making and passing all game in that jumbo pod. At 58:18 another good pass off his left hand enabled the Wallabies to execute an overlap play direct from the kick-off receipt, and at the finish of the break it was he who was the first up in support of Hooper, 70 metres downfield:

Wallabies pods against Ireland
Wallabies pods against Ireland

The accurate passing and decision-making of the people in the two Wallaby forward pods in the middle of the field were a chief contributing factor to Australia’s ability to find space out wide consistently against probably the sternest defensive side in the northern hemisphere.

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At 55:58 Stephen Moore uses a miss-pass to Folau to drag in the Ireland wide D and generate another three-to-man overlap next phase, converted on this occasion by Sefa Naivalu. At 68:14 right at the end of the reel, a similar overlap situation develops off his quick penetration and long placement of the ball.

With the new input of Byrne within the Wallaby coaching group, it is becoming clear that his creative interaction with attack coach Larkham is producing some impressive results, not least in the decision-making, handling and running lines of the Wallaby tight forwards.

Without any of arguably their first-choice ‘heavy mob’ of Coleman, Arnold and Timani in the jumbo pod, Australia were still able to overwhelm Ireland for much of the second half in Dublin. The unexpected running line finesse and passing range of the likes of Rob Simmons and Kane Douglas, and the outstanding decision-making of Moore – the ‘king’ of the far pod – generated a succession of scoring chances out wide.

If Byrne’s influence can extend upwards to Michael Cheika as far as it does sideways to Larkham, Australia will become a real threat to beat perennial rivals New Zealand and their current bogey team, England.

The Wallaby tight forwards are already beginning to show up-skilled capacity in contact, now they just need a balanced game-plan to get them playing in the right areas of the field more often. When that comes right, it will indeed be a happy New Year for Cheika and his coaching group.

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