After the mid-year internationals, I decided to focus my attention on the game from a different point of view.
For years, I’ve thought that the game could be presented under a dichotomous vision. Readings such as Northern Hemisphere vs Southern Hemisphere or Saxon Teams vs Latin Teams configured for me an ecosystem whose structure worked based on a polarization of roles, thus reissuing the school classification of predators and prey. I
think it is necessary to overcome this dichotomy to replace it with a more constructive or operational one, such as innovative teams vs. non-innovative Teams.
In principle, we could classify innovative teams as those that seek to develop a game platform that is sustainable over time, capable of standing on its own and affecting the activity of the ecosystem in which it is developed.
From this point of view, the greatest working capital of a team comes from its greater or lesser predisposition to innovate, and requires adapting to the complexity of the environment and combining elements of the game that already exist in a different or original way, thus obtaining greater efficiency, even by way of surprise.
Teams do not innovate or stop innovating overnight, but do so gradually, leaving behind an area of intense instability. This is the current situation in France, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, for example.
A concept extrapolated from biology called ´Coevolution´ could better explain this zone of instabilities as a field of interactions or direct pressures of the competitors among themselves that affect the process of improvement of the game.
Let’s look for example at this innovations put into play by France since 2019 and we can see that there have been two interesting movements in the team’s capabilities; they are related to a greater defensive effectiveness and an improvement in the scored/received tries ratio.
The increase in defensive activity produced by the arrival of Shaun Edwards made it possible to extend this restructuring to the disciplinary side, but also to the attack, which allowed France to lead its Grand Slam in Six Nations Rugby in 2022.
The table below shows the increasing metrics of France which, since 2019 and based on defensive efficiency, have managed to refresh the attack based on accuracy and speed.
The innovations made by Argentina, on the other hand, start from the basis of the most urgent problems that it needs to solve; those have to do with the high participation of players residing abroad, particularly in Europe. Under these conditions the Argentine coaches, with only three players based in the country, face a reality exactly opposite to those of Australia or New Zealand.
This context puts negative pressure on cohesion levels and conspires against the adjustment of game variables. But at the same time it is one of the greatest strengths of Los Pumas, and they have made progress despite the unfavorable logistical conditions in which they work.
The main innovation of Los Pumas began with the Jaguares in Super Rugby, and consisted of promoting unstructured play. Along this path they managed to surprise the Wallabies in TRC 2022 with three tries originating from turnovers won.
Another innovation is the relaunch of their kicking game. Table 2 shows that Argentina’s kicked possession has grown since 2019 to stabilise, going from the execution of defensive kicks to kicks that are contestable or destined for territorial gain.
The path to the 2023 Rugby World Cup will show how deep the innovations proposed by Argentina and France are, and how much they will influence the ecosystem that currently contains them.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Leaving aside some differences in the game, both AUS and ARG support the expansive game. Yes, it will attract spectators, for sure. Another infallible element for the good health of the show is the ´drama´. Without the amount of ascent and fall, the story never ends being a good story. Don't you believe so...? Without a doubt, it is a different TRC than here, and it looks fantastic to me :happy: :rugby:
ThugbyFan
Roar Guru
Spot on, Francisco. :happy: It's a pretty good RC this year. So far no-one has bolted with 3 wins away from the pack plus a couple of massive surprises has brought loads of interest over here in Australia. I noticed that my local rag the SMH, has 3 headline stories about this RC whereas normally its consigned to the bottom of page 47 by now with headline "AB win again!" Its a massive game for AB and Puma next week. I expect the winner of that match to take out the Championship for this year. Cannot see the WB nor South Africa winning enough games from here. So good luck Pumas. In Australia, the Pumas are rapidly becoming everyone's "second team" and nothing to do with the coach.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
How are you ThugbyFan...! I was surprised to read in specialized New Zealand media that AABB's defeat was due exclusively to his inability to handle the game, rather than the excellent execution of the Los Pumas game plan. Perhaps they are putting the pressure on NZLRugby and his coaching staff. After a shaky start to TRC2022, ARG put on some good rugby against AUS at Rd.#2, maximizing the momentum of the game as the Wallabies reabsorbed bruises. At this point, the signs of ARG's recovery were generally quite clear. The Pumas have had great control of the breakdown, even avoiding it by keeping the attackers on their feet to slow down the phase game. Rd.#4 awaits us to ratify what some think of as a simple disruption, while the Autumn Series will validate the changes against the northern hemisphere.
ThugbyFan
Roar Guru
G'day Francisco, your team played a beautiful game on Saturday with a focused defence and attacking every tackle ruck and forcing the AB to keep men there to defend their ball rather than fanning out in attack or defence. They played to their script and strengths; be strong, brave and brutal but clean and stick to a very good plan of keep it tight and take the penalties as a reward for great TEST rugby. The All Blacks played very well, although I thought they simply got frustrated with not getting their own way in the proceedings and gave away some pretty dumb penalties, which cost them the match. We Aussies saw this in the match at San Juan when the WB copped a flogging from this Puma team. A lot of people here simply put that loss down to a couple of missing forwards and a disfunctional fullback and two helpers having shockers and gifting tries from the excellent kicking game of the Puma. What people didn't admit was the Puma absolutely owned the breakdowns and backed up their tight defence with a brilliantly thought-out and executed kicking plan against the WB back 3. Make no mistake, this Puma team is on the way up. I don't know who won the Man of the Match award as I couldn't take listening to Keiren Read's bile. It likely went to Pablo Matera though I was more impressed with captain Julian Montoya. Both of those blokes played a blinder. The #6 J.Gonzales was not far behind those two. In next year's world cup, let's hope we see a repeat of the RWC2015, with the 4 big guns from South of the equator fighting out the semi-finals while the NH big-money unions gnash their teeth about "those upstart Southerners". :silly:
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Thank you Decoy...! We celebrate a lot and without a doubt it is the result of work and effort. The location of our country makes the logistics of access to Tier1 competitions very expensive. But here we are. The analysis is simple and forceful. NZL penalties at the breakdown accounted for 71% of total penalties versus ARG's 33%. That made the difference in scoring through Emiliano Boffelli's boot. The rest was a very solid defense, capable of slowing down NZL's ultra-fast balls.
Decoy
Roar Rookie
Congratulations Francisco, Los Pumas deserved the victory. Too much emphasis put on the ABs current slump, and too little credit given to the winners. To turn that game around after half-time was a massive achievement, given the ABs dominance on stats at that stage. Defence, and superior execution at breakdown by an amazing back row did the job. Your team has grown steadily over the past two years, in spite of huge challenges around player availability. Hamilton will be a real test, for both teams; one playing for their lives, the other going for a first 'series' win over the ABs at home. Imagine that - two consecutive wins in NZ.
Francisco Roldan
Roar Rookie
Hello Decoy, nice to greet you...! I spent a good time celebrating the victory of Los Pumas with my friends and mainly with my children, currently club players. It was a special moment that somehow reinforces the "Co-Evolution" hypothesis we were talking about, where a team improves based on the weaknesses of its opponents, with whom it shares spaces. The ARG defense became the best attack against the All Blacks, who turned out to be demonized by the wave of indiscipline.
Big A
Roar Rookie
"selectively blind narcissist with a whistle thrown into the mix" - pure poetry
Decoy
Roar Rookie
Interesting conceptual article Francisco. You propose two divergent concepts, innovation and coevolution, as the basis for change/improvement in rugby. The first represents linear causality and the second circular causality, so the latter would be more congruent with your ecosystemic approach. The change/innovation we see in teams is the outcome an interactional (competitive) process where how they play works for a while, and then no longer, as other teams adapt to them, and then they have to evolve to regain ascendency. That's co-evolution. The ABs recent travails come to mind. The beauty of rugby lies in its complexity - there are so many variables at play and to be dominant you have to be good at most of them and be able to adapt within a game, on the hoof. The variables (say, defence, attack, physicality, strategy, structure) in rugby have not really changed much, but teams have to adapt/evolve their ability to execute these in the moment, and adapt that over 80 minutes. Chess and Go come to mind, as conceptually equally complex. In spite of the suits at WR, rugby remains unchanged in its infinite complexity; 15 oddly and variously shaped guys face a similar mob, with one weirdly shaped ball that can bounce anywhere, and a selectively blind narcissist with a whistle thrown into the mix. No wonder we're addicted.