What is the fascination in Australian rugby where the scrumhalf’s default play near his own 22 is the aimless box kick down the blind side to an uncontested catcher? I honestly don’t get this.
And for something they use so often, why are they still rubbish at it?
It reminds me a lot of the classic house red down at your local, actually. No-one’s really sure where it came from, it’s been around way too long to get rid of now, and it rarely leaves anything other than a horrible taste in your mouth.
This all started on Friday night.
In the first ten minutes of the game against the Chiefs in Tauranga, Brumbies scrumhalf Ian Prior put up two box kicks, both from outside his 22, but neither of them getting much further up field than the halfway line.
Both kicks had plenty of height; that wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that apart from Prior, no-one knew they were coming. The result, as it so often is for Australian number nines, was the Chiefs got an uncontested catch both times, and both times they were rapidly back in Brumbies territory on the front foot.
It is just a dumb, nothing play. It’s the sort of play that makes you wonder why flat screen TVs don’t have something to protect them from hurled objects.
Fortunately, Prior put the box kick back in the rack for the rest of his night, and actually played quite well in his run-on debut. However, that wasn’t the last we’d see of the box kick, and the next time would have major consequences.
With a touch over three minutes left on the clock, and with the score locked at 22 apiece, replacement scrum half Nic White felt the urge.
From about 35m out from his own line, White peered up like a meerkat, spied an opportunity down the blind side, and unleashed the box kick. Into touch on the full.
The Chiefs fluffed the resulting lineout from their own throw, somehow got the ball back in the scrap, and worked about ten phases toward the posts with Aaron Cruden sitting back in the pocket.
From there, they worked another four phases to the corner while ignoring Cruden (or were they – was it a set play?), fired a couple of passes, and outside centre Jackson Willison duly dived low into the corner for the match-winning try. Cruden converted to give the Chiefs the 29-22 win.
In the aftermath of the game, White could be seen on his own, cursing to himself and generally looking for cans to kick into the gutter. He must know that an authoritative South African voice is going to approach him soon, calmly but ominously suggesting, “We need to do some work on your box kick…”
One of the best exponents of the box kick is Springbok number nine Fourie du Preez. But du Preez picked his moments far better than any of his Australian counterparts.
Usually, du Preez would wait until he had Bryan Habana stationed down the short side for the chase, and he’d weight the kick to perfectly coincide its landing for the arrival of Habana. Australian halfbacks rarely even have a chaser after their kicks, never mind them being well-weighted.
In Sydney on Saturday night, Sarel Pretorius proved that New South Wales haven’t quite been able to wash all the Luke Burgess out of the number nine jersey yet. Numerous times Pretorius was guilty of the pointless box kick, and it surely played a part in the less than flattering reaction from the Sydney Football Stadium crowd on full-time.
The classic – but far from the last – example came midway through the first half, when after the Western Force had piled up well over ten phases. The Waratahs had less than a quarter of the game’s possession to that point when Pretorius took the ball from a turnover and kicked it straight back to the Force. It was truly kicking for kicking’s sake.
Surprisingly, Brett Sheehan used the box kick quite effectively, by contrast. Like every modern-day scrumhalf before him and since at the Waratahs, Sheehan used to box kick himself (and supporters) crazy when he wore sky blue.
On Saturday night, however, Sheehan very cleverly saved it exclusively for when he had Alfie Mafi to his left down the short side, and the two of them timed their respective kick and chase to perfection all night. I never imagined ever saying this, but perhaps Australian scrumhalves can learn something from Brett Sheehan.
Will Genia used the box kick quite sparingly in Durban against the Sharks, considering the weather, and in general, this seems to be the way he plays for the Reds.
Yet for no obvious reason, he consistently morphs into a compulsive box-kicking monster when he dons a Wallaby jersey. I assume it’s just a default setting when the team is on the back foot, but whatever the case, Genia is just as guilty at the futile box kick to no-one as any other Australian nine Sometimes he’s the worst offender.
Richard Kingi did his bit for the box kickers union too. With the first half done on Sunday, and with the referee just waiting to blow time at the Stockade, the Rebels had maintained possession for seven or eight phases.
Suddenly, Kingi pushed Cooper Vuna away and promptly kicked over the ruck and covering Cheetahs defenders. The Cheetahs calmly picked up possession again, and booted the ball out of play.
The Rebels were down by ten points at the time, but had finished the first half well. They were even making their way into the Cheetahs territory gradually. But Kingi killed off any chance of even snaring a drop goal, let alone a possibly kickable penalty. When you’re controlling the play in this scenario, why would you give the ball away?
I go back to my opening statement: I just don’t get it. If our players talk about wanting to ‘play some rugby’ so regularly, why is the opportunity to do so handed away so often?
As I said up the top, the box kick can be a good option when executed well. However, it happens so rarely in Australian rugby these days that maybe the best option is to just leave it in the dressing room.
And either way, if we can all see it’s not working, why can’t the coaches see it as well?
Philip Derriman
Guest
He's done it before with the same result. The following is from a 2012 Roar report by Brett McKay on a Brumbies-Chiefs game: 'With a touch over three minutes left on the clock, and with the score locked at 22 apiece, replacement scrum half Nic White felt the urge. From about 35m out from his own line, White peered up like a meerkat, spied an opportunity down the blind side, and unleashed the box kick. Into touch on the full. The Chiefs fluffed the resulting lineout from their own throw, somehow got the ball back in the scrap, and worked about ten phases toward the posts with Aaron Cruden sitting back in the pocket. From there, they worked another four phases to the corner while ignoring Cruden (or were they – was it a set play?), fired a couple of passes, and outside centre Jackson Willison duly dived low into the corner for the match-winning try. Cruden converted to give the Chiefs the 29-22 win.'
Whits
Guest
Box kick: most useless tactic employed in the game. More of a look-at-me move from the #9. It's generally employed randomly, therefore, draws parallels with a #9 with a large ego, or who is bored, could not be bothered, or, feels like a good old pretty boy prance down the field after employing an aimless move. I have only ever seen 1 out of thousands ever work tactically. By the Welsh halfback - is it Mike Phillips? It needs to be coached out of the game.
gatesy
Roar Guru
Can anyone define what the box is? It's not a silly question, but more of a reflection on the fact that people tend to be a bit aimless in the way that they play the game. When I coached junior teams, (admittedly a long time ago) I took the view that I didn't need under 9's or under 10's to have to think too deeply, because, after all we were there to have fun and learn the fundamentals of the game. So what we did, (and I still think it's valid) was to turn everything into a "move". If I wanted the forwards to pile into a ruck, we had a name for it (eg "hammer") and if I wanted a clean out, we gave it a name, etc, so that (assuming the guys could hear me from the sideline) I called moves during the game and the players mostly responded, since we had sort of rehearsed them at training. As the boys get older, they hopefully learn to do that instinctively on the field and they start to call the "moves" themselves. What you do then is to encourage them to think about why they did those moves, so that they can then "think their way through a game" - which is my main philosophy, since I have always maintained that Rugby is a simple game that people complicate, unnecessarily - ergo, the box kick!
gatesy
Roar Guru
Bob, to be fair, I haven't coached for a while, but when I did, the short answer is the "no mistakes" drills that we used to do - ad nauseum - they are repetitive and boring, but the players all understand what they are meant to achieve - when you are coaching professionals, you have the luxury of time and the fact that they are naturally skilled - but when you are coaching amateurs, who only have an hour and a half two nights a week, weather and injuries permitting, you have to be spot on with your drills. You have to appreciate and respect that your players might have come from all sorts of different backgrounds - private schools where they were probably well coached, clubs where the level of coaching might be up and down, and blokes who have come over from League with all of the wrong ideas, and blokes who are just having a go and a bit of fun - in that scenario, you have to drill - I think that some of the professional coaches could take a leaf out of that book and give it a bit of a smell!
Lorry
Guest
But geez, a torpedo punt looks great in aussie rules doesn't it?!! they dont do it enough,,,,
nomis
Guest
The IRB are looking at the issue of scoring currently.
Ballboy
Guest
Spot on Brett. As the saying goes, you can't win without the ball in hand. Possesion is nine tenth's of the game and a bomb is no better than a 50 / 50. And that's only if the number 9 executes the kick correctly. On the other hand it does say sonething about the defensive capabilities of most teams. The opposition feeling incapable of breaking the line and trying to inch up field as they back their own defensive line should the box kick not work as they anticipated or hoped. Maybe the IRU needs to look at lowering the points awarded for a penalty kick so that yeams aren't so scared to infringe in their own half. Personally, I think the points awarded should be on a sliding scale. 2 points for the first three shots at goal, 3 for the next 3 and 4 thereafter...or something like that. we need to encourage teams to feel they can run the ball without fear of a losing 3/5's of a try anywhere in their own half..or even 10 metres into the 'attacking' zone. A restriction on the amount of kick in a game is alos something that should be looked at. that would see a lot more running rugby as teams woud have to evaluate the temerity of kicking possesion away. There's your next two posts.
Who Needs Melon
Guest
Thanks for the response Brett. And on re-reading my post, apologies for my appalling spelling and grammar.
Brett McKay
Expert
cheers Thelma, glad you made it all the way through them..
ThelmaWrites
Guest
Great article, Brett, and the edifying discussion through the thread is a breath of fresh air! Kudos to all! :-)
ThelmaWrites
Guest
Great article, Brett, and the edifying discussion is a breath of fresh air! Kudos!
Brett McKay
Expert
great post Gary - can I guess that you got angrier as you typed that??
Brett McKay
Expert
David, you might be interested in this Jake White presser then, from week one.. ;-) http://bmcsport.com.au/jake-white-post-match-press-conference-v-western-force/
ohtani's jacket
Guest
They were clearing kicks, but one of them forced the Wallabies to take it into touch right on their own goal line and the All Blacks scored from a lineout move.
dc
Guest
Box kicking, unless stuck well in your own 22, is lame, defensive, risk-free, negative rugby. If you do it at the halfway mark, you should be slapped down, because it shows your pigs are too tired to execute some phase play, or you dont believe your backs can do something with the ball!
Bakkies
Guest
I remember the game in Paris where Burgess tried to pass to Giteau from the goal line went out over Giteau's head. Australia conceded a 5metre scrum, France tore us a new one and got the pen try. Plus I think one of our forwards got carded, wouldn't have happened had Burgess just kicked the thing out
Bakkies
Guest
Laziness. That's what it is. Mind you it's no easy to run around a ruck to chase for a blind winger. Australian teams don't play ball in hand well either. The Brumbies did it well because they ran from depth, cleaned out the breakdown and used switches, decoys and angles
Bob
Guest
Gatesy - I love your comments about effective kicking - although I think the effective stab/faster-grubber kick is more prevalent in league than in union. Out of interest - how much do your teams train with the ball in hand? I tend to think that a lot of the poor execution and decision making comes from players who don't spend enough time practising at pace with a ball in their hand and an active defence (not just a line of blokes with pads). Then again, I haven't played for some time, so I'm completely unfamiliar with modern coaching methods, to be honest.
Bob
Guest
Interesting. I missed seeing that test match - how do you recall the kick being used in a manner that led to the tries? Or was it simply a matter of relieving pressure on the first five?
ohtani's jacket
Guest
The box kick helped the All Blacks beat the Wallabies at Eden Park in 2008 when they were under all sorts of pressure after dropping two straight. The All Blacks had been struggling with kickoffs at the time and Cowan and Ellis' poor delivery had put Carter under pressure. They devised a tactic where Ali Williams caught the kickoff and took the ball into contact and Cowan box kicked. Led to two early tries and a big win.