The first weekend of the 2011 Rugby World Cup gave us some fine displays of open side flanker work.
David Pocock turned over a lot of ball in the first half of Australia’s match against Italy, and did a great deal to prevent the Azzurri building pressure through phases. Josh Kronfeld tipped him as the world’s best No.7, and he did a lot to justify the billing.
The Welsh game with the Boks pitted Sam Warburton against Heinrich Brüssow, and it proved to be a tasty confrontation. The Welsh captain claimed the man-of-the-match award, even though he ended up on the losing side.
And yet the role of the fetcher was being questioned in some parts during the run-up to the tournament.
This focused on how the referees would see the breakdown. The IRB said they wanted to see the tackler roll away from the ball, and any assisting tackler would need to put daylight between himself and the tackled player before getting to his feet to contest the ball.
When Brüssow put in some dominant work at the breakdown during the British and Irish Lions tour in 2009, there was no apparent need for daylight. The Bok star tackled, got to his feet and contested the ball in one fluid movement.
The Lions complained they weren’t being given a chance to place the ball after the tackle but referees ruled that players on their feet had rights to the ball.
This seemed to give an edge to teams with top class fetchers and players like Pocock thrived on the opportunity.
The IRB instructions, however, seemed to imply that opensides might be better off not tackling a player, or assisting, but instead being first in at the breakdown.
This would mean sacrificing a little of the advantage of speed. More importantly, an openside holding back even a split second might be vulnerable to a big opposition lump driving him off the ball.
When squad selections were announced, it was noticeable that a number of teams had elected to name only one specialist openside in the back row.
In the case of England, captain Lewis Moody is first choice No.7 but he’s not really a true fetcher. The rest of the back row choices are happier at No.8 and blindside.
However, Warburton and Pocock thrived like it was 2009 again. Indeed, the Boks management said after their game that they wanted more clarity at the breakdown. They think referee Barnes didn’t enforce the daylight rule and allowed Warburton to out-Brüssow Brüssow.
It’s a difficult balance to strike. The IRB wants a fast, attacking game and a world class openside at the top of his game is the ideal player to produce that result. He can recycle his own side’s ball faster than anyone else on the pitch but can also engineer turnovers. Teams with attacking mindsets love turnover ball because it lets them run at a defence before it has had time to adjust.
On the other hand, you want to favour the attacking side at the breakdown for a flowing game. A fetcher making a pest of himself slowing down opposition ball threatens that ambition and it seemed the IRB wanted to rein in that aspect of play.
And yet that’s not what we saw at the weekend. South Africa should have realised how Barnes was handling the match and put Brüssow front and centre. After all, the Springbok player had a fine game against the All Blacks during the TriNations in just that role.
Perhaps they did but Warburton was just better on the day.
So on the evidence of the weekend, it looks like the fetcher might be back in the spotlight, in spite of the squad selections.
Or perhaps it’s just that the referees are inclined to give more licence to the world class opensides they recognize while penalizing other players who do the same but don’t have the reputation.
That’s not good news for England but surely it’s fantastic for Richie “Hands Away Seven” McCaw. The All Black captain remains a crucial figure for his team but had a quiet game against Tonga.
Marc Hinton in New Zealand, voicing the views of many home supporters, has openly wondered whether the great man has lost his mojo.
If open sides are going to be making their mark in this tournament. New Zealand will need him back to his best to counter the threats offered by other major challengers for the title.
mattamkII
Guest
Is there a back (boom boom) up in the squad? a real one?
mattamkII
Guest
yep he modern interpretation is like Jerry says: Tackler gets to feet and gets hold of the ball prior to ruck forms - all fine. Now where this gets tricky in the modern game is the arriving support players. Trying to clear out a ruck the old way is near on impossible which is why we are in the situation today where guys missile themselves into or headlock the guy trying to pilfer the ball.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Pocock missed training with a tight back and his place against Ireland won't be confirmed until the morning of the match.
Sylvester
Guest
Jason8: Might be time to put your tin foil hat on...
Ben S
Roar Guru
Incidentally, Wales handled Pocock very well last season too, VC.
WQ
Guest
Excellent observation VC and Wales are not the first ones to do it, I believe if you watch Australia vs All Blacks over the past few matches you will notice McCaw making a lot of first up tackles as well. Dingo Deans is obviously on the same page!
stuff happens
Guest
Yep Andrew Hore is an excellent fetcher as is Bismark who made a couple of crucial turnovers when he came on against Wales.
jason8
Guest
Uh... you may find that any part of the game where somebody gets an edge over NZ ala Pocock/Brussouw the rules get changed all off a sudden to work against them. SA's 2009 approach is a case in point - it was an interesting take on using the rules to suit them but it was all too much to see someone beating NZ in a way that was not considered aesthetic.
B-Rock
Roar Guru
Didnt we try this with mixed success when Waugh and Smith (2 of the top 3 opensides in the world at the time) were in their primes a few years back? Tended to get in each others way from memory. I think this strategy relies on having very strong ball runners at 8 and possibly 4/5 - I think at the time of the Smith/Waugh tag team experiment we were a bit light on in this dept. Need to maintain that balance in terms of go-forward and the lineout with dominating the breakdown. Pretty rare that a team will be lucky enough to have two world class 7s and a top ball running 8 all at once
B-Rock
Roar Guru
Great article, and fantastic to see opensides returning to the fore. The laws need to balance the need for an attacking game built on probability and speed of recycling the ball while maintaining a contest at the breakdown. Very difficult to achieve but is part of what makes rugby brilliant. In terms of squad selections, my view was always that if you a young fit superstar openside (Pocock, McCaw, Brussow, etc) you intend to play them 80mins so dont need a replacement. Unless you have two exceptional 7s (Smith/Waugh 5 years ago) you dont need one on the bench so just bring in a replacement if injuries to the first choice 7 occur. Cant wait for the next round of pool games this weekend.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
Jerry - found it. 16.4(b) Players must not handle the ball in a ruck except after a tackle if they are on their feet and have their hands on the ball before the ruck is formed. Sanction: Penalty kick my interpretation is more on the lines of Hoys, but again its probably to hard to rule this at test level due to the pace, and its probably not how its been ruled lately. What do you think?
Jiggles
Roar Guru
I noticed that too VC. it requires that the support play for the ball carrier be with their man so to not allow the fetcher to get back to his feet for the contest. if its done right its a great tactic and Wales where pretty spot on.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
I don't thats technically correct Jerry. When I get time I'll find the law but I'm pretty sure by the book you can only pilfer after the tackled player has made his choice at playing the ball, and before the ruck is formed. Even if you have the ball in your hands as a defending fetcher and the ruck forms around you, it is now illegal to play the ball. of course its not been ruled like that, but thats a different story all together.
Nat
Guest
Thanks Jerry, that's the most clear and concise explanation of rucks that I've ever seen. I've often wondered why refs turn a blind eye to the winning team handling the ball in the ruck as it is clearly against the rules. In the old days refs insisted on rucking the ball with your feet, but it was a bit dangerous with bodies lying all around the ball and these days they don't go for rucking bodies with feet. Ahh those were the days. I remember, pre-blood-bin days, looking through a thin veil of blood, any unprotected heads at the bottom of the ruck, being the same size and shape as the ball, would often get the same rucking treatment.
Viscount Crouchback
Guest
Wales played Brussow brilliantly. If you watch the game carefully, you'll see that they specifically targeted him when they were ball carrying so that he became the tackler rather than the first man in after the tackle. He ended up making 20+ tackles and spending most of the match having to tackle people and roll away from the ruck rather than watch his mate tackle and then dive into it. It was very smart rugby by Wales. I wouldn't be surprised to see teams try the same tactic with Pocock.
sixo_clock
Roar Guru
The ability to pilfer is so vital within the Laws of todays game that I really would like to have both 6 and 7 as beefy, quick, mobile, breakdown attacking thieves. An extra big bloke at 6 does have its advantages but possession is the name of the game and stolen ball is a great attacking platform especially for those sides who like scoring tries. George Smith and BamBam in tandem would be awesome to watch.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
McCaw didn't have a high profile match because of the nature of that particular game. I don't believe he's out of form, though. He is a little unlucky in one respect. After years of being invisible to referees everywhere, he started to get noticed as the Cup drew closer. Almost to demonstrate they aren't playing favourites, officials began to penalize McCaw. I think he's been adjusting his game to cope with this new attention, and is just working out the right balance. If he'd been playing with Wayne Barnes as referee, I don't doubt he'd have made an impact. I don't mean taking Barnes out as revenge for 2007. As it is, the referees in most of the other games came down hard on the breakdown so McCaw probably played that first game the right way.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Now that Sheridan has been ruled out of the tournament, it's interesting to hear some calling for Johnson to select open side flanker Fourie as back-up. Moody remains a worry and won't be in the team against Georgia. England have four props in the squad so don't immediately need another. If one of those got injured then there would still be an opportunity to call up another later. Fourie isn't in the same class as McCaw, Pocock, Brüssow or Warburton and I'm not sure Johnson would pick him for the starting XV even if Moody was out. I suspect he'll hold back on naming a replacement until he sees what damage England sustain against Georgia.
Who Needs Melon
Guest
Yep, great article. A timely and interesting topic. We all wondered at the devaluing of the fetcher implied by some coaches selections. But reports of the demise of the fetcher seem to have been a bit premature. Good news for some. Although we'll be in a bit of strife if Pocock is injured.
Jerry
Guest
There's two things that explain that - Firstly, as you note, there are players who have their hands on the ball illegally. They may have started out handling it legally, but then go off their feet and must release and refs will often give them a chance to do so. Or they may have started playing the ball a split second after the ref determined it was a ruck - it would be a bit harsh to ping them outright when it's a matter of split second timing and predicting how the ref has seen it, so he'll often give them a chance to release. Secondly, the way the ruck is reffed these days, the ref will often essentially decide who's won the ball (by pushing the other team off it) and tell the other team to release. The ball is then often actually played back by the hands of the team who the ref has determined won the ruck. This isn't actually supported by the laws of the game but it does happen fairly frequently. I'm ambivalent about it - it's a bit of a rort, but makes for a better flowing game and less rucks being blown up as unplayable.