Bless the French, they are certainly not the most consistent team in the world but they are exciting for the fact that they can play extraordinary rugby and beat anybody on their day.
What makes it more exciting is that when it happens it is usually a result of the players deciding to do whatever they want. It is an attitude that I think that Australian playmakers may need to adopt at the moment.
This is in relation to the lack of an effective tactical kicking game by the Wallabies, highlighted with the series loss against England. But back to French ethics in a while we talk about kicking.
Many have written on the kicking issue recently, not least World Cup Test winning Wallabies, John Connolly.
In his recent article Connelly made the following quote, which I think gets to the crux of the problem.
“…we were obsessed with playing with ball in hand. It’s hard not to fall into the temptation, because the demand from the Australian public is to see attacking rugby. It looks appealing, but it doesn’t always win games. You need to have a really strong tactical kicking game to win Test matches.”
The problem being that Australian rugby is yet again demonstrating its lack of confidence in the face of commercial pressure from league and to a lesser extent AFL. It seems that Michael Cheika is solidly caught up in that mindset, being emphatic recently on Rugby 360 that this is the “sort of footy that Australians want us to play” and that the Wallabies won’t be deviating from that path, rather they will learn to play their existing style better.
There are three problems with Cheika’s reasoning.
The first, as pointed out on Rugby 360, this confected version of ‘Australian running rugby’ involves grinding away for 15 or so phases in attack, which sometimes results in a try but more often leads to an inevitable turnover or dropped ball. They certainly don’t do that in rugby league, after six plays the ball gets booted away out of necessity.
Secondly, the All Blacks have over four million likes on their Facebook page, six times the number that the Wallabies do at just over 670,000, and they kick more than any other team.
Third, there is nothing that an Australian sports fan finds less entertaining than losing, so winning rugby should always take precedence over notions of what is entertaining. The Wallabies are not training to be the Harlem Globetrotters – or in their case in recent times more like the Washington Generals – they are training to be World Champions.
While Cheika coached his teams to play ball in hand at the Waratahs, I suspect that this may be reinforced with a bit of ‘tail wagging the dog’, with the business heads at the ARU putting pressure on him to change the Wallabies game to suit their idea of what Aussie rugby fans want.
So since he may not be able to coach the team exactly the way he wants to, this brings us back to Australian playmakers and the French.
We have five playmakers in serious contention for the Rugby Championship: Bernard Foley, Quade Cooper, Matt Giteau, Matt Toomua and Christian Lealiifano. Two and possibly three of them will be playing each game.
I reckon that if these guys think that they need to kick to win games, they should bloody well let Cheika know it. Cheika has been a great coach but he isn’t an expert in back play. In contrast Matt Giteau has been a professional rugby player for only one year less than Michael Cheika has been a rugby coach and is rated as one of the best in the world.
And none of the other playmakers are newbies either, Cooper has played in two World Cups and the other three are professional players in their mid to late 20s.
All of these guys need to be like Frenchmen on the matter of the kicking game and let Cheika know that they expect to be listened to. There is of course the risk that he plays them off over selections, but if he has any brains which we all know he has he will realise that he needs the playmakers more than they need him and will come around.
It isn’t him putting in the blood, sweat and tears on the line, nor is it them who have to stand in front of 50,000 plus people having just lost to the All Blacks again. It is the players. They have a right to have a say in how the team plays the game to win.
Nigel
Guest
Kicking your team into a position where we can pressure the opposition is what rugby is about....holding the ball and runing it is what Cheika wants and it is not clever rugby, it will not win us test matches. It is a combination of ball in hand and a good boot that will give us victory, the ability to turn a team around, Ford and Farrell were masters of this, Cheika must allow our kickers the same latitude.....
JinNorwich
Guest
All this talk of needing good, accurate, tactical kickers while Nic White and Jesse Mogg are languishing in the Languedoc, having been continually overlooked for Wallaby selection.
Dubaikiwi
Guest
Have you been approached for the Perth coaching role yet?
OJP
Guest
Sydney Swans made a big deal a few years ago about getting tackling tips from the League boys; figuring that they played on the smallest ground (SCG) and there would be lots of opportunity to 'lay the tackle' as they say. On a related note, I was interested to see Highlanders Fullback B Smith take an 'afl style hanging mark' vs the Chiefs in the last game before the finals. I'd never seen that before in a rugby match and wondered if there were rules around this sort of contest. He was clearly going for the ball, but like the AFL 'pack mark' he backed up a step or two, then one, two, launched into the air, knees in the back of the poor bloke 'caught in front' and took the mark. Also agree with Hookie's original point; you'd reckon the Force / Rebels especially could find someone who knows a thing or two about kicking a ball and / or teaching blokes how to kick a ball.
Boz the Younger
Guest
Yup :-)
mania
Guest
thanks Boz, its such a simple game tho. people over complicate it toddBlackadder described it best. you run, get knocked down, getup and run again
Jack
Guest
Oh poor guys.. They wern`t paid whilst representing their country in a world cup ... Oh dear
Jack
Guest
Good, he can stay there one hopes.. The petulant child that he is...
Boz the Younger
Guest
It's more about taking a kicking opportunity when it arises, rather than slavishly sticking to the script of ball in hand for 15 phases only to lose it. Our playmakers are all capable off accurately whacking a smart little kick to the corner ala George Ford, to force an opposition lineout near their try line and open up play off the inevitable kick return. One of the Brumbies tries against the Force came off a lovely little kick exchange by Christian Leliifano ending in a bomb and jarring tackle for the turnover. And Dane Haylett-Petty almost manufactured a Force try with that 50 Metre kick into the Brumbies 22, unfortunately Godwin chased it from offside. They shouldn't just hold onto the ball because Cheika tells them too.
Markus
Guest
Rugby made some big inroads during the 90s on the back of a golden era Wallabies team and the ongoing battle between the ARL and Super League which split fan base and turned many lifetime fans away for a significant period. Since then the NRL has re-established dominance and the AFL has just continued to grow, and both have had far greater resources at their disposal to invest in junior development and recruitment.
Boz the Younger
Guest
That is the sort of explanation that we need to see coming from commentators during games. People will enjoy the kicking game more if they understand it.
Jerry
Guest
Well, the idea that the players are gonna 'do what they want' and implement a tight structured territory based kicking game is kind of fanciful. That sort of game doesn't happen off the cuff, it's a result of practice, practice and more practice. The French flair is kind of intrinsic in their 'doing what they want' and over-ruling the coach.
John R
Roar Guru
Onto something there mate. 'Next door' might actually be the crux of why there isn't more cross over. Our guys train / are housed in rectangular fields. Where the AFL boys are in the ovals. I see stories in the media all the time of the NRL/Rugby coaches sharing ideas, and I wonder how much of that is because they are on the same field all the time / share facilities? I'm sure there'd be more cross over if the AFL/Rugby guys were literally in each others faces more. Having been to an AFL game a couple of weeks back, I'm sure they could get some tips on tackling techniques too.
Boz the Younger
Guest
Agreed that this should have been looked at a long time ago, but thankfully their new skills coach is an ex AFL man.
Boz the Younger
Guest
Thanks Antonio, I was busy rolling my eyes and shrugging my shoulders at posters missing the point, but thankfully you and a few others "get it". I agree that playmakers disobeying the coach is the last resort, but they do need to collectively assert themselves. They know more about backline play and are ultimately more valuable to Australian rugby than he is.
richard
Guest
Try watching it again.Kaino is behind McCaw,and even has to reach behind him to claim the ball.No forward pass,except in your head.
mania
Guest
unfortunately ralph he wants to be a hurricane
Hookie
Guest
The Kicking Game. Players from which football code can punt a football 50-60 metres with considerable accuracy?.....ALF.... And where are these players? Next door. So why, oh why, do we have to look any further. Employ a local lad, get the best. I'm incredulous that this does not happen with regular kicking training for all the backs, not just the 5/8. We should be using all resources from where ever and what ever.
Bakkies
Guest
'That pass wasn’t forward,.The pass out of hand went backwards.If it drifts forward in flight,it isn’t forwards.Learn the rules.' I know Kiwis disregard the law or apply it differently. Pass out of the hands was blatantly forward to a player who was in front of the ball.
ScrumJunkie
Guest
It's correct, he won at least one test at a world cup...