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I write this article on how to pick the best forward pack as an old grey nomad who has long been out of the loop and seen little rugby in recent times.
Here are some idle thoughts on just some of the considerations involved in picking the pack.
All coaches have their views on how they would like to see the game played and what would be the necessary ingredients. In an ideal world they would have the cattle to put their plans into place.
All too often this, unfortunately, is not the case. That presents the coach with choices, e.g., do you adapt your preferred plans to suit the available cattle or do you persevere with your planned approach by trying to shape the existing cattle in the desired way – because your plan is so good.
The retirement of a superstar has often been the trigger point. All coaches can list an endless number of desirable attributes, aptitudes and skills that are ideally required for the pack.
I have a personal bias for things like mental and physical strength, brains and controllable aggression. I would simply like to raise a few of the other factors that influence the selection of rugby forwards.
One of the most critical decisions a coach can make is to determine the priorities he places on the competing demands from the different parts of the play – like the set plays (scrums, lineouts and the ruck/maul).
Then there are other factors for consideration too, e.g., mobility, the work off the ball and defence. These decisions should come under the guise of making the most of what you are good at and covering up what you are not so good at.
Take the old chestnut – do you pick a great tighthead scrummager at the expense of another’s mobility around the park? I would if there was no other satisfactorily competent tighthead and I could cover up the mobility requirements through good mobility of the rest of the pack.
Whatever, covering up a weakness at tighthead is indeed a very high priority – just how high leads to one of those critical selection choices.
Another factor to consider in selecting the players to meet your priorities and plans is the quality of the decisions they make. Get it wrong and the need for urgent remedial action before the situation becomes serious and deteriorates can sometimes be impossible to address.
I think we can all recall instances when a self-destructive mindset has taken charge and good decision making has flown out the window. Cases in point – Wallabies’ quarter final in the 2007 World Cup and the Ireland pool game in the 2011 World Cup.
The ruck/maul, in essence, is not a breakdown and it is not part of phase play. It is a set play with the differing aims specifying the performance of a variety of set roles – the rules for the execution of each role having been already established.
The key difference with the scrum is that the roles are not performed by the same players playing the same parts.
That different players are better suited to one particular function rather than to another is the tricky part in selection choices and priorities.
Mobility, an understanding of the team patterns and the nous to ‘read’ play, for example, all contribute to a player’s work off the ball and to his defensive work. This is more than just tackling technique. Once more we are looking at priorities in selection.
There are of course the imponderables in selection.
For example, will a coach select on his assessment that a particular player is likely to perform better when playing in better company and/or at a higher level? A lot of squad work would no doubt help in resolving this issue, but I doubt it is the full answer.
Also, does a coach back his judgment and select a player simply on the basis that the player has enormous potential that will be realised after the coach himself has been teaching said player for a while?
All rugby followers will have their own views on selecting a forward pack. This has been just some of my own personal bias showing – stating the bleeding obvious – get the competing priorities and the consequential selections right, as we do not have a surfeit of the ‘right’ players to pick from.
What is really important to all of us is that, with England and Wales in our pool, our pack performs.
Otherwise, we go home early.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.