Why the Canes are still the turnover kings

Turnover ball has been the attacking lifeblood of New Zealand teams for as long as anyone can remember – no one quite does it quite like the sides from the ‘Shaky Isles’.

They know how to create turnover ball, and they know how use it when they get it better than anyone.

The crème de la crème on the turnover counter within the New Zealand conference are the Hurricanes, and they reinforced their dominance in the first New Zealand-Australia clash of the season, on Saturday evening at AAMI Park.

The Canes have so many threats in a broken field that it is guaranteed to give defensive coaches sleepless nights – start with the Barrett brothers scanning the field from the back, then check out TJ Perenara’s tapped penalties, move on to prod your beard about the mega-tonnage of power and speed on the edge in the shape of Ben Lam and Julian Savea. Julian’s brother, Ardie, wasn’t even playing, so I guess Dave Wessels could count his blessings on that score.

The first item on a coach’s menu with a New Zealand side in opposition is, therefore, ball control. Control the ball you get, keep it for as long as you productively can. Ireland are the best in the world at doing that, and it is what currently makes them the All Blacks’ most dangerous foes.

The Melbourne Rebels failed miserably in all aspects. They only built 58 rucks in the course of the match – approximately half of Ireland’s average in the past year – and they lost ten per cent of those they did set up. It took them until the 74th minute of the game to move past fourth phase on attack. They gave the ball up far too easily, and the Canes turned all the crumbs that fell off the table into a banquet. Seven tries cost the men from Wellington only 11 phases’ worth of build-up play.

In the course of the unfolding disaster, the Wallaby claims of promising fringe players such as Jack Maddocks, Billy Meakes, Richard Hardwick and Jack Debreczeni were left choking in the dust of Kiwi chariot wheels.

The Rebels made a succession of poor decisions about what to do in and around contact situations, and the pattern was set early in the game (0:07 on the reel):

The highlights show the end of the play, after the turnover has been won only a few metres from the Rebels goal-line. From our point of view, what led up to the turnover is of more interest:

After receiving a pass from Tom English in-goal, fullback Jack Maddocks decides to run the ball out instead of looking for touch. The Canes had already flagged up their intent to hold up the ball-carrier early in the match, aiming for the choke turnover, but Maddocks enters contact far too high against number eight Gareth Evans and number five Sam Lousi, and is promptly stripped of the ball by Evans:

One phase later, Ben Lam is over in the corner. One phase, one try.

The assistant referee got Maddocks off the hook a couple of minutes later, with an interception by Beauden Barrett being called back, wrongly, for offside:

A screenshot shows all of the Canes’ defensive line onside as Will Genia goes to lift the ball from the base:

The ball is in Genia’s hands, off the ground, and Ngani Laumape has not jumped ahead of his mates.

Maddocks had problems with his presentation of the ball throughout the game. Towards the end of the first half, he was unable to assist the cleanouts of Reece Hodge and Meakes on Canes captain Perenara, by moving his body after the tackle:

Gareth Evans kicked the turnover ball all the way down to the Rebels five-metre line, and the Canes scored their third try of the game from that position (1:43 on the reel). With Debreczeni having previously failed to field a high kick, allowing Ben Lam to scoot away and score his second try of the game (1:15), that made it three tries in five phases.

Things did not change for the better in the second half, in fact they got a whole lot worse for Melbourne. In the 46th minute, Marika Koroibete had the ball ripped away after a move from lineout, and the Kiwis scored again when Perenara took a tapped penalty from the resulting scrum win:

The finish to this move (by Evans) can be seen on the reel at 2:09. Four tries, seven phases.

Most of the Rebels’ issues arose from either poor execution of the offload, or misjudgements about when to offload and when to keep the ball:

This is Debereczeni, doing the first part well (making the break), then falling down on the second – offloading to Maddocks in contact.

Matt Phillip takes the ball forward on a good run, but he is never going to be in a position to give the offload. However, this does not stop Meakes running straight past the ball expecting it!

If you understand that your priority is to control the football, that in turn means you have to commit to a higher proportion of rucks and fewer speculative offloads. The mission statement is clear: only offload (or expect the offload) when the odds are definitely in your favour.

Meakes’ absence-without-leave gives Evans a clear shot at the ball on the deck, earning the Canes another turnover penalty.

Replacement flanker Richard Hardwick is standing at first receiver and makes a ‘hospital pass’ Angus Cottrell is never likely to be able to catch, and the turnover ball encourages the Canes the counter down the left-hand side of the field. The move was finished outstandingly well by Laumape on the right next phase (reel at 2:47). Five tries, nine phases.

The Rebels went on making mistakes in contact, and the Canes went on capitalizing on them – immediately. When Maddocks lost the ball during placement once again in the 70th minute, Debreczeni was in a support position well ahead of the ball-carrier, leading to another error and turnover of possession.

The Canes duly converted the opportunity in one single phase (3:40 on the reel). Six tries, ten phases.

The denouement to the game was entirely appropriate (and symbolic), with the Rebels giving up the ball deep in their own end more on a hope and a prayer than in a favourable situation they had manufactured for themselves:

Debreczeni chips, Meakes and Maddocks are shouldered out of the road (legally), the ball is tipped back to Barrett and Lam scores (3:55 on the reel). Seven tries, 11 phases. End of story.

Summary
The Rebels’ gameplan contained some fairly serious errors of judgement, and that is fundamentally the responsibility of their young head coach, Wessels.

Especially with the jumbo back five Wessels selected, featuring Lopeti Timani at six and Angus Cottrell at seven and two natural ‘grunt’ second rows, the ball had to be kept much closer to the Melbourne forwards than it was, with more plays off nine more recycles and fewer offloads.

Instead, they played the game without due care and attention in the contact area and they suffered the consequences in graphic and repeated detail. They offloaded when the offload wasn’t on and their work through and around the tackle was consistently ordinary.

As a result, they gave up a stream of turnover possession against the team in the tournament best-equipped to exploit it. In the process, the Wallaby aspirations of promising players like Maddocks, Meakes, Hardwick and Debreczeni took a painful, if educational hit. Their skill-sets and decision-making all need improvement if international rugby is to become a reality for them.

A young, switched-on coach like Dave Wessels will also take lessons on board about how to approach games against the top New Zealand Super Rugby sides in future.

Despite their profligacy, the Rebels were still well in the game at half-time, and their defence was generally effective in structured play. When Crusaders swing into town in Round 12, there will probably be more method, and considerably less madness in Melbourne.