During the second Bledisloe, I was intrigued by the fortunes of Marika Koroibete and Caleb Clarke.
While both are hard running and create mayhem, their styles of play in contact are completely different, largely due to their body shape and where the difference between the two is carried.
The Russians have a saying: you can tell where someone is from by which part of their body goes through the door first. An American will come through chest first, whereas a Russian will come through belly first.
Similarly, in Japanese martial arts there is this term ‘Ki‘, or life energy, which originates from the ‘Hara‘, about two inches below the belly button. In Russian martial arts, it’s located in the solar plexus or celiac plexus.
There is no scientific evidence that it exists, but it helps martial artists to understand where their centre of gravity is and how to improve their leverage and maximise their power.
Going back to the Russian saying, the reason the American’s chest comes through the door first is their centre of gravity is higher, usually in the chest. To see a good example, check out a classic boxing or wrestling stance.
Whereas the Russian and Japanese centre of gravity is lower, usually in the belly. A good example is a karate stance.
Marika Koroibete (Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Koroibete is like the classic Westerner, his centre of gravity is up in his chest. This is due to his build, mostly in his upper body and not having a lot in his caboose. I wonder if he skips leg day?
This means he tends to rely on upper body strength to get through contact. He does use leg drive but it’s usually upwards rather than through, which is why you often find him pinballing off players, rather than driving through them.
When his leg drive is effective, it’s due to him lowering his head to get more leverage.
His higher centre of gravity is also why the fold tackle works so well against him when he is close to the line.
Clarke is a Russian coming through the door – belly first.
Caleb Clarke (Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)
Even though he is taller and heavier than Koroibete, his centre of gravity is much lower. While he is big up top, most of his power and size is in his legs and caboose. This brings his centre of gravity closer to his Hara and power.
His running style is much lower to the ground than Koroibete, which gives him greater leg drive, allowing him to power through tackles like a wrecking ball and thus extremely difficult to bring down.
Almost the perfect weapon.
While being a pinball is fine in broken play with staggered defensive lines, Koroibete needs to add some more to his game, especially as defensive lines are so structured these days.
He needs to remember the legs and hips provide the power and use them more effectively in contact, lowering his centre of gravity in contact and driving through rather than up.
He also needs to look no further than Ngani Laumape for his template – he is a perfect combination of both.
His centre of gravity is higher than Clarke and lower than Koroibete, thus allowing Laumape to float between the wrecking ball and pinball. Although he favours upper-body power, he uses a combination of upper and lower-body strength to destroy his opponent.
Koroibete will never physically be a Clarke but if he mimics Laumape, he can take his game to another level.
frisky
Roar Rookie
Interesting article. Thanks, but there are more variations in the ideal winger. For me, the “Paekakriki Express”, Christian Cullen is the most exciting winger/full back to watch. Maybe I am just a speed junkie.
Tooly
Roar Rookie
. Clark has it all , speed , he steps , swerves and accelerates . His defence is pretty solid. Being fast he can recover if stepped. . Koreibeti takes time to gather pace . He runs straight and is not a good defender. . Knackers was better but didn’t cost the earth. . Speight was a complete winger. Rann maybe. . Semi Radradra is the best attacker. Ask Hodge. His defence is nothing brilliant either. . Johnny May will do me. . Kiwi mates want Laumapi running at OC , Hooper and Toomua,
Bodger
Roar Rookie
Allan Langer was a excellent tackler for a small guy and used a improvised technique where he hit the guy high and then tripped them with his legs. Geoff Toovey another fantastic tackler but he just had the perfect technique for a small guy and was super strong for his size. Endless list of forwards he put them back on their backsides. The Wallabies tackling technique was poor on the weekend.
Bodger
Roar Rookie
When you look at the greatest wingers and try scorers we’ve had in the game, there’s no case that big strong wingers are better than faster elusive wingers. Both are a compromise and neither are perfect. Look at Kolbe, most exciting winger in the game, excellent under the high ball even though he is 5ft nothing and Clarke would struggle defending against him and vice versa. That is the beauty of rugby.
Pauliasi Niusama
Guest
Interestingly, the two players (MK & CC) are of Fijian heritage. Their strength seems to be the greatest challenge to many Fijian players then compared to now. Let's hope to see a lot more players of this quality will be unveiled at this level.
Johnno
Guest
The Wallabies just forgot about their tackling technique. I think they just wanted bash instead of tackle (paraphrasing Mat Burke).
Lewis
Guest
Naiyaravoro plays for my hometown club, still catch the games online as much as I can. His running game is as strong as ever but the man can't tackle and tries to offload out the tackle too often when its not on. We love him but patience running a little thin, with him and alot of the team to be fair.
Stu
Roar Rookie
Not sure currently, but a year ago he was killing it over there, just like he was here, when he set that amazing SR season try scoring record.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Hope so at the moment he looks like he's practising his Limbo approach.
GoldenEye
Roar Rookie
Stu, I forgot about Naiyaravoro. Anyone know how he's gone in the UK?
Joe
Roar Rookie
Loved the article GE. Not sure whether MK can make the required adjustments this late in his career. The perfectly balanced winger Ive seen would be Rupeni Caucau at his peak. Some of his tries were freakish...balance of speed, power and legs powerful enough to change direction at top speed. Clarke reminds me of him and I think there will be a lot more highlights to come from him.
Joe
Roar Rookie
Noticed that too. Looks top heavy now. I think he was faster when playing for the Storm as well.
MaxP
Roar Rookie
Interesting piece Golden Eye. And certainly agree with your observations in general but would not necessarily have selected Marika as the case study. Generally I have been impressed with his body height and willingness to lower into contact when required. Some of the other Wallabies not so. The difference between Marika and Caleb is size, pure and simple. The bigger man can drive through contact at the hips and thighs with greater impact. And this, due to height, is the point at which most tacklers will make contact. Koroibete is shorter. Tacklers generally hit him at midriff to chest height. But all speculation on my part. I think a big difference between the teams is NZ are across the board lower and tend to explode in the two metres around the point of contact. We have a few too many who stay high or try fancy footwork
Stu
Roar Rookie
And yet Aussie rugby 'intelligence' is still adamant that Naiyarovoro the wrecking ball somehow doesn't cut it as a Test winger cos he's 'too big to turn around' :laughing: , so keep diminutive guys out there instead, even though NZ has made it work like it's evolutionary. Twice in a row.
GoldenEye
Roar Rookie
Yeah Marlin, I put that down as a once-off from Marika. Although he doesn't have the greatest hands unless he's reaching for a side-line try.
GoldenEye
Roar Rookie
Personally DA I prefer Catch-As-Catch-Can or Lancashire Wrestling over Cumberland and Westmorland Wrestling. It was mid 90's, disguised very well and most people just saw it as a good tackle.
Marlin
Roar Rookie
Marika would be better advised to learn how to catch a football before he goes into this advanced stuff. He dropped the ball at least 3 times in the Test
Double Agent
Guest
That sounds a lot like a Cumberland throw. Illegal for decades!!
GoldenEye
Roar Rookie
Thanks JD, I tend to watch the game from a Martial aspect. I remember watching my then boss play, he was a Black Belt in Jujutsu, he'd use modified Judo throws to bring opposition players down, usually making them available for easy turnovers. He wasn't a big guy, played centre, it worked more often than you'd think, but it did expose his back to rucking. It was also in the days when the Jerseys were looser so at times it acted like a Gi, a lot harder to do these days, which is why wrestling now takes precedence.
Corw
Roar Rookie
Ha, glad I wasn't drinking coffee reading this.