- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Opinion
It is a recurring theme among my mates and family that nearly every game we watch together (or nowadays in a rugby-themed group chat from our own bubbles) that someone will say, ‘Why don’t they just stop box kicking?!’ in an exasperated tone, after which comes a wave of firm agreement: ‘I know, it’s ridiculous!’.
I have seen a variety of opinions on the box kick but I usually lack the in-depth of knowledge to form a full response as to why this has become so prevalent and why teams continue to use this tactic. So, I have decided to do a deep dive into what a box kick is, its purpose, its history and finally the Wallabies’ continued use of this tactic.
The purpose
The box kick is defined as a high over-the-shoulder kick used mostly by scrumhalves, which can be used on both attacking and defensive situations.
In an attacking situation this kick usually occurs when the team has a ruck or comes off a set play near the short side/blind side of the pitch.
It is generally taken outside of your own 22-metre area against teams with a good defensive set-up. The aim is to kick the ball around 20 to 30 metres in distance into a ten-by-ten-metre box near the touch line, generally aiming between the five to 15 metre lineout lines.
(Photo by MB Media/Getty Images)
A good kick should have about three or four seconds of hang time to allow your players to compete for the ball and put the opposition under pressure. This pressure should allow your team to either regain possession or force the opposing team into an error.
Box kicks can be made shorter or longer depending on what you are trying to achieve and the defensive set up of the opposing team.
A defensive box kick is taken to relieve pressure, generally from within your own 22. The aim of this kick is to get out of a defensive position and downfield as far as you can, without the opposition having an opportunity to attack, this means kicking it out instead of near the touch line.
A defensive box kick can also be used outside of your own 22, in which case the aim is to land it just in field and roll out into touch. Again, this is to relieve pressure.
Finally, for a box kick to be successful not only does the kick need to be accurate but the players on your own team need to be aware and ready to chase. After all the great rugby adage always rings true – a kick is only as good as its chase.
The history
With my tweed blazer on, pipe filled to the brim and my snooty attitude set to 100 per cent let’s dive into the history.
Now it doesn’t take a historian with the aforementioned outfit to realise that the box kick has rapidly gained prevalence in recent times with modern coaches consistently relying on it as a tactic in both attacking and defensive situations.
An analysis done by www.statsperform.com comparing the ratio of kicking types in every World Cup highlights just how much the use of this kick has grown. They defined the different kicking types as the bomb, the box, the chip, the cross pitch, the low, territorial and kick for touch.
At the inaugural World Cup in 1987 the box kick made up just five per cent of these kicking types with it staying relatively static in the World Cups up to 2003.
After then it began to rise rapidly with it making up a whopping 23 per cent of all kicking types at the most recent 2019 World Cup. Interestingly it seems to come at the expense mostly of territorial kicks, which made up roughly half of kicks in early World Cups and at the around a third of kicks at the most recent edition.
(Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
This then leads us to the obvious question of why.
Why use it more?
There are many reasons the box kick is used in the modern game, some of these being very specific to how a team want to play and also who they are playing, but in a generalist view there are a couple of main reasons the box kick has become a kick of choice.
First of all defences are better than they used to be. With the advances in sports science, tactics and statistical analysis breaking down modern defences, particularly of the top teams, is a very hard task. When you are caught in your own half or in the middle of the park and you are not making any ground a main tactic has always been to kick.
This used to be primarily focused on territory or even the old up-and-under kick, but as the defences are better and rush defence is so regularly used to create pressure passing out to the flyhalf or fullback to make these kicks can result in an error. When this error occurs, such as a charge down, it means that most of your team is in an offside position and have to scramble back to avoid a penalty or turnover. Additionally, passing back to the kicker loses some length on the kick itself.
Another advantage is due to the current interpretation of the ruck. Referees in the modern game allow players to essentially extend the ruck and form a human centipede (okay, forgive me for that image) at the back of the ruck to give the scrumhalf a clear advantage in the execution of this kick. This also means that most of your team should be onside to form an effective chase.
Finally, teams now use a highly statistical game these days and have dedicated teams of statisticians who have clearly identified the box kick as being an extremely useful tactic to generate an opportunity for your team. These tactics are built directly into the game plan of the top teams. Even if we get angry at the scrumhalves themselves they are usually just following what they have been told to do.
This is all well and good but at the end of the day though it comes down to execution. If your execution of the kick is not up to scratch or your chase isn’t good enough then all of the above reasons are moot. This generally is what it comes down to in the game.
If executed well it can relieve pressure and create an opportunity for your team to attack a retreating defence but if executed poorly it can lead to demoralising outcome for your team. We tend to only remember the demoralising outcomes as we see it as a case of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
The Wallabies
What everyone seems to talk about is the box kick being a chance for a 50-50 opportunity, but does it really? I couldn’t seem to find any major stats about the real successful outcomes of box kicks so I decided to do it myself.
I did a full analysis of every box kick in the Wallabies versus France series and have broken this down into clear outcomes.
While this analysis is by no means definitive it gives a good insight into the actual effectiveness of the box kick in real Test match situations.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
The box kick, as I defined for this analysis, is any over-the-shoulder type kick made by the halfback from the back of a ruck or maul. I measured the kicks per team, the distance, if it was from an attacking position or defensive position and finally if the outcome (within two phases) was either positive, neutral or negative. I also noted if the kick was contested in the air or if the chase was good.
In total over the series there were 35 box kicks in total from both teams with the average distance of the kicks being around 23 metres. Of these France kicked 21 times and the Wallabies 14. Some 27 kicks were from what I defined as defensive positions (30 metres from the teams own goal-line) with eight being from what I defined as attacking positions (further than 30 metres from own goal-line).
Okay, okay I hear you. These stats are all well and good but what does it mean?
First of all it took me a while to do so just give me a break, but here comes the good stuff.
Of all the kicks made in the series I found only eight to have had a positive outcome. That is a positive outcome percentage of just 22.85 per cent! When I add in the neutral kicks this rises to 45.71 per cent with a total of 16 being either positive or neutral. If I remove those that went directly into touch then that positive and neutral percentage drops to just 37.14 per cent.
For the Wallabies specifically only 21.42 per cent (three) of kicks were positive, 14.28 per cent (two) were neutral and a whopping 64.28 per cent (nine) were negative. Ruling out the three touch finders from the list only 35.71 per cent (five) were contested. Of these five two had positive outcomes, making the success rate of contested box kicks for the Wallabies 40 per cent.
With both teams combined there were only nine contested box kicks, but of those a total of five had positive outcomes for the kicking attacking team for a 55 per cent success rate.
Looking at these stats the picture is clear that currently, for the Wallabies at least, the box kick is not a 50/50 ball. It is not even 40/60. However, in general, if a box kick is contested the success ratio does appear to be around 50 per cent.
But it is important to also view these stats in context. As most box kicks are employed as an exit strategy it is important to remember that a lot of the time these kicks would have been touch finders anyway and considering most teams’ lineout operate at around 85-90 per cent efficiency it starts to look slightly better.
Also, due to modern rush defences kickers are now placed under a lot of pressure if it is passed from the ruck to the back-line kicker (usually the fullback or five-eighth).
Take an example from the third Test where Tate McDermott passed back to Noah Lolesio in the 22nd minute for a clearance – the French rushed up and charged this down and it is only by the saving grace of having Michael Hooper being a machine that we managed to not turn it over within our own 22.
(Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
Conclusion
The box kick is fast becoming a tool of choice for modern teams. Due to modern law interpretations the kick can be a safe option for clearing a position on the field.
However, the effectiveness of this for teams is up for debate. A lot comes down to execution and team communication for the kick to be effective.
For a kick to be around the 50/50 mark then it needs to be contested, or at the very least have a strong chasing line to hit the catcher immediately after they touch down. But not every team or player has the skill to consistently generate these positive outcomes.
Teams spending large sums of money on the most up-to-date technology, stats and strategic minds have decided that this is a tactic that has some worth, but it seems that there is a serious over-proliferation of this in the modern game.
The Wallabies do not use it as much as European teams tend to do but their effectiveness is also lower than most. Some serious thought needs to be put into teams’ skills, ability and alternative tactics to ensure that the best and most consistent outcomes are generated.
Like it or not though, the box kick is here to stay.
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.