The offload, and how to produce Australian rugby at the level of NZ

Couldn't agree more with Richard Haynes. insightful observation and analysis. It seems so obvious that offloading makes a shambles of defence as against the easy defence to head down bashing forward. May as well try it, even as unstructured as the exciting Argentinians. You can't win unless you are prepared to lose and we can't win by continually doing the same thing and hoping it will work for a change. So time to embrace the offload.

That's an interesting point. Ever thought of putting that into an article? Be a good discussion I reckon

I wonder if the increase in NZ skill we see is the fruits of the NZ system whereby kids are graded in size rather than age. It makes sense as the bigger kids have to develop skills rather than the barrage approach, and also the smaller more athletically gifted kid may stick with rugby whilst they develop strength and size later.

Yep. There are a lot of factors, but the single biggest difference is the (ability to) offload. While the solution is not just a matter of the Wallabies passing more or trying to keep the ball alive, they do need a. the skills to be able to offload, b. the mentality to always be looking for support and the offload opportunity (i.e. by drawing in defenders first, so as to create space for support players), c. to always be running in support of the ball carrier, should they offload. All other facets of the game need to be good too though, for the offload to make any difference. That is, we can't neglect all other facets of the game and expect the offload to make a difference. But I agree with the article, when all other things are roughly equal: line outs, scrums, kicking, defence, skills, etc. it's the offload (for forwards and backs) that will create the biggest difference. And the NZ teams are head and shoulders above the rest ATM.

Yeah the softness, timing and accuracy of the mostly short passes being made under pressure was impressive. I recall last year in the game the ABs lost in Australia, the ABs were popping passes but the receiver invariably went into contact and the ball turned over. The ABs have obviously got better at it and trust each other so Australia were chasing ghosts in the weekend.

The secret to the offload whether at pace or in the tackle is timing - and the conviction to pass into space. Players not so proficient in the offload should be forced to watch netball (no, not perving at the netballers' long legs!!) and observe how the girls pass the netball into space to befuddle the markers and opposition, in a very congested netball court. I am always impressed by the high-speed netball warm-up drills, and by the heads-up play to pass the ball into space just fast enough to beat the marker and for the team-mate to run onto. It's not always apparent watching netball on TV but watching it live drives it home. Btw, I'm a netball dad with 2 daughters playing premier netball, so I get to watch netball on Saturday mornings (College premiers) and in the afternoons for club matches.

At an elite level there is definitely a private school bias. Look at the Suer rugby teams and how many contracted players went to Private as opposed to public schools. I think where the problem lies is that the ARU has never made a concerted effort to go beyond this base and attract more people to the game at Junior level. Look at how the Schoobpys teams are selected. It's GPS vs CAS vs CHS. That's leaving a whole lot of eligible players out of the loop and that's the pathway we have to the professional level.. Where I grew up on Sydney's Northern beaches, there were league schools and union schools. I went to a league school and we never played rugby and that was true for 2/3 of the schools in the area. The ARU needs to engage these schools and also the suburban juniors. What really upsets me is that we would probably have similar levels of islander migration as NZ but how many of these guys go on to play super rugby. Not many - they all play league and it's something we can't afford to ignore. With AFL and Soccer making huge inroads into the private school system we can't afford to not tap into these bases. Sadly it seems the ARU is so hopeless inept, nothing will change.

they were not even close to destroying the NRL. i do not know where you get your erroneous info from

you are deluded MIlan

Richard,i have been thinking the same thing for quite a while. the forwards work with the backs, linking passes, supporting and offloading

The success of the current All Blacks can be traced directly back to a seismic change in the NZRU attitude to how coaches were treated - especially those who failed to deliver - in 2007 when Graham Henry & Co were retained despite failure in RWC'07. Prior to this, the coaches for RWC'91, '95, '99 and '03 were given their marching orders. Fortunately for us, the post-RWC'07 NZRU review and coach selection were not influenced by the public howling for blood, and the decision to retain Henry & Co was a masterstroke of patience and foresight. For their part, Henry, Hansen, Smith etc went about building a new culture within the All Blacks with players taking on more responsibilities for their behaviour within and without the All Blacks environment. The "no-d1ckheads" policy was a natural evolution from this process, backed by self-policing by player management group comprising senior players. In effect, peer pressure played and has played a significant role in the discipline and support for players, in their personal and professional lives. It's said anecdotally that it's harder to leave the All Blacks than to get in, such is the fierce loyalty within the group. Watch any All Blacks practice before a Test and you'll notice very little coaching, with the players taking charge of training and constructing specific game-plans to suit the opposition. The rest, as they say, is history...since 2008, the All Blacks have played (up to Bledisloe1-2016) 113 Tests for 99 wins, 12 losses and 2 draws, with the worst year being 2009 with 10 wins and 4 losses.

Yes, that makes sense. I'm just a bit worried that passing in traffic and offloading is actually discouraged in Australia. And once you learn not to dot it, it's even harder to learn.

Absolutely, by forcing a restart behind the existing defence at pace leaves no time to reorganise the new defence so you're scrambling backwards. Same with the chip through and regathering, the up and under and challenge, and the wide kick to the wings. Same with the simple sidestep or overlap. They're all just different versions of restarting play by forcing a defence to regroup somewhere else. Main point is there's a difference between arriving at those options through persisting with the current methods and finding they're not enough, than just deciding one day...'lets do more offloading'. Or 'let's do more kicking' without having exhausted the standard options first. It's a matter of building on an already existing set of well worked and at times successful options...building up a repository, rather than going straight from A to G if you get my meaning.

Yes true, Aussie rugby needs to make changes at grass roots level, so wallabys can't pass can't catch can't kick , give mick Byrne a year or two and it will be a different team

Richard Haynes, Watch some old footage and then make up your mind. As I remember three would be a maximum and mostly one or two- remember that it was a true contest for the ball then and the play would often run from one side of the field to the other.

I dont agree that rugby is a private school thing. Ive spent many years around the Brisbane club scene and have found the juniors to be mainly working class. The school rugby comps may only be private school but not club rugby. I see lots of juniors go to league due to U20 contracts and I think that would be a good place to start.

lots of truth there ken and it shows how much time and work will be needed to turn it around.