Anyone who goes to watch a rugby game in Australia will be familiar with the loud and often aggressive voices from the stands urging players to stop kicking.
This cultural phenomenon can be witnessed at club and school games, no matter the age group or level of representation.
It would appear that to kick a rugby ball is un-Australian.
In my work as a rugby analyst, I often measure schools and club games to better understand what it takes to win at any level.
It is during such work that I will often stand pitch-side among parents while coding the game on my phone.
I can therefore attest with certainty that kicking in open play is not something you see often, apart from when teams kick to get out of their own 22, otherwise known as ‘kicking to get out of shit’.
It is very rare for players in the community game in Australia to kick tactically or ‘with momentum’, and players who do so risk a bollocking from the sideline.
Circa 1999 the game of rugby changed dramatically when rucking was outlawed, giving birth to the ‘jackal’.
By 2009 players like Heinrich Brussouw would make jackling, or ‘fetching’ an art form – something that can truly alter the course of games. Jackling meant that every single ruck became contested and more risky.
In short, it suddenly was no longer ‘smart’ to play multiple-phase rugby if scoring points, or winning games- was the end-goal.
Indeed in under 12 to under 16 boys rugby, 62% of possession is lost to turnovers or penalties at ruck time, while 28% is lost to errors and only 10% of possession is ‘surrendered’ for the sake of territory.
This is from data over eight years and comprises close to 300 schools and club games in this age bracket.
Carter Gordon and Quade during the Australian Wallabies training session. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
By comparison in the elite men’s game, around 18% of the ball will be lost to penalties and turnovers, while 36% is lost to error and 46% is surrendered for territory.
Teams like France, England and the Springboks surrender close to 60% of possession for territory by kicking, partly to reduce risk by entering less rucks, and partly to pressure opponents into making errors upfield.
My data shows that to win a rugby game at the elite level, you have to be able to manage territory.
Hence kicking is such a big part of the game. Kicking more than your opponent correlates strongly with winning outcomes at an elite level.
In games measured in 2023/24 for example the winning team in international rugby out-kicked their opponent 81% of the time.
At a junior level, territory is not as important because defences are not as organized and because you can still reliably aim to score from anywhere.
At this level, by contrast, 72% of winning teams pass the ball more than their opponents, while 91% of winning teams register more three-pass sequences than their opponents.
But while kicking is of less importance to a winning outcome, it’s still vitally important for skills development that players are encouraged to kick.
Firstly, kicking is a great way to exploit space. Many junior teams do not even use a full back from phase three onwards because the likelihood of being kicked at is so low.
The result is bucketloads of space at the back that one can only reliably reach by kicking to it.
Most coaches are incredibly vocal about players seeing space and playing to space, yet the selfsame coaches do not encourage kicking to space.
Secondly, kicking is a good tool to create unstructured play. It’s not always easy to attack from the back if you are isolated and under pressure.
At the junior level, very few players are able to make good decisions when attacking from kicks. This is why many kicks, even if poorly executed can have very good outcomes for the kicking team.
Lastly, it’s about skills development. For every kick that goes in the air, one or two or more players have to try and field it, and even more players have to support the fielder.
Carter Gordon of Australia kicks the ball. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
In the process, multiple skills are being developed – skills that will be required more and more as players grow older and defensive organization improves.
I often try to explain to junior coaches that ball-in-hand running and carrying into rucks is like having a good forehand in tennis, while a good kicking game is your backhand.
You need both on attack and defence.
No tennis coach would work with a player and not develop his or her backhand, just as no rugby coach should ever discourage players from kicking a rugby ball.
It’s every bit as important as learning to scrum and jumping in a lineout, yet we don’t hear anybody shouting from the sideline if a front row hits the scrum.
Talking about other sports – it’s remarkable that a nation like Australia, so adept at Test cricket, with all its nuance and three-dimensional strategising, can be so reluctant to have players develop their kicking game in rugby union.
There is ample evidence to suggest that you can no longer win at senior level without the ability to kick well and attack well from kicks.
It is therefore paramount that we embrace this part of the game and become the best at it.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
They didn't kick it away. There were phase after phase of complex attack, always gaining in sophistication but with flow unlike league so it was like waed building a crescendo. They would either break through or a mistake would lead to changing hand. The ruck is not the interesting part of the contest and the risk of losing the ball aren't interesting now. What's interesting is a team losing all it's skill and brilliance to break through the opposition which is what happened then.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
So it was more like league where the attackers got a few goes to score then kicked the ball away if nothing happened. Can't of been a great contest to watch as no risk of losing the ball.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
It's very simple. In the late 90s multi-phase running was safe because there was less risk of turnovers as described in the article. In one moment the whole system was changed in 1999 to make multi-phase running too risky because of the danger of turnovers. The result was that licking rugby took over and had dominated ever since. Younger audiences now never even knew what was possible. Everything since 1999 had been a pale shadow of what's possible.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
What were the crowds like in the late 90s and what changed. I have articles on this around the drop in crowds from 2005 to today. in 2005 SR crowds were about 2.5 times the size of European club rugby today T14 is the biggest competition. Saders played a friendly in Europe that has been bigger attendance than who knows when in SR game (2022 final was only 36k). Each European competition outside of the Challenge Cup has already got atleast 1 game higher than it this season and we are not even to the playoffs. 10 of the 16 teams currently in the URC have higher attendances than last year with teams like the Bulls setting their highest ever proessional attendance with 51k. Maybe sell the Union right
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Why was the late 90s better than the 70s. Can you definite late 90s. I would say that 2021-2023 has been the most engaging time for rugby as there were 5 teams all beating each other which was not the case at previous times. Or was it just professional was so much better than non-professional. There was less ball in time play and more scrums and lineouts than now so how was it better. You mean that it was hard to lose the ball so teams when ages with no contests for ages. The contest every 5 seconds engages fans alot more and we are seeing SA crowds coming back now they are being fed rugby more akin to SR 12s than SR15 or SRP ever was. SA crowds dropped the more they moved away from their traditional play.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
It was because they hadn't made jackling legal killing running rugby. Those of us who saw the late 90s were the luckiest ever to live.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
KP the 90s was not the greatest period it was just that you suddenly had players who only knew how to attack and got alot better at it as they started doing it full time. Current u20s are more organized defensively than test sides in the late 90s. Growing viewership has also been observed in rugby’s emerging markets like Germany (15.2m VH), Italy (16.1m VH) and USA (11.1m VH) where rugby’s popularity is soaring with a +27, +70 and +136 per cent respectively versus RWC 2015. France WC was up 19% on the Japan figures and 30% on England so in 8 years there has been a 30% growth. Germany got more viewers than Japan and USA and just less than Italy. Eight of the 11 markets[1] surveyed saw strong viewership growth since 2015 I wonder if 2 of those markets is Oz and NZ.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Agree though the Bulls are trying to be more forwards based. But the Benetton game in the Rainbow cup final when the Bulls were kicked around the field by Benetton, and the Bulls physically was neutered so badly it was a big wake up call. If you take the Shak's Bosch is a good example of a SRP 10 where as Masuku has a much more rounded game including a far better kicking game.
Super Hans
Roar Rookie
Teams who kick more might have better kickers though.
Wrecked 'em
Roar Rookie
While we're on the subject of kicking, can we throw in goal kicking too ? In Aust I sometimes get the impression it's almost an afterthought. The number of times our kickers miss vital points from very kickable positions can be infuriating - especially conversions which are 40% the value of a try.
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
I know, only on video.
piru
Roar Rookie
Yes most of us are under 20 and never saw the 90s
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Oh no, this was something quite different. This changed it from contested to hyper-contested to the point where the ball couldn't be safely run. Overnight this changed the game from gorgeous, flowing rugby into massive kicking duels to avoid the risk of turnovers. Those of us who saw the late 90s at least have the memories though.
piru
Roar Rookie
Jackling meant that every single ruck became contested and more risky. Every single ruck has always been a contest, it's in fact the very essence of the game. The fact is, if your support gets there quickly and accurately, you're in little danger of turning the ball over, this isn't any different than it was during the rucking days (just a few less bloody stripes to show for it at full time).
piru
Roar Rookie
Perhaps we just weren't Australiaing hard enough?
kingplaymaker
Roar Guru
Not really. The late 90s were the greatest period in rugby history with gorgeous, complex multi-phase play. This of course spooked the northern hemisphere with their boot and bash play and so they devised 'jackling' which made turnovers far too easy and wide-flowing running rugby impossible. As the north knows little better maybe anything suffices, although Clive Woodward savaged the last RWC as kicking rubbish. But in Australia and New Zealand where there is competition and fans have alternatives serving up 'jackling/penalty/kicking' rugby is destroying the game.
soapit
Roar Guru
Yes for sure, it's a tricky one to keep a decent contest of possession but also make hacking the ball your best chance for points (even if that involves kicking with the sun of getting possession in better territory)
numpty
Roar Rookie
And how do you see the high possession teams in relation to your stats? A team like Ireland, Leinster, the reds... Is it a matter of kicking "enough"? Do their high phase count possessions lead to more risk than reward? And how do you see that shift? I feel like the refs interpretation at the breakdown changed a couple of years ago making it a bit less risky for attacking teams to hold the ball.
numpty
Roar Rookie
Yes, I thought about the half time stat also. As always, you've already looked into it, keep up the good work.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Um ..SA teams in the URC arguably the most enterprising .