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All Blacks provide lesson for world rugby

Former Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer believes the All Blacks have demonstrated the value, again, of quickly recycled ball at the tackle.

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Sportal.co.nz

Former Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer believes the All Blacks have demonstrated the value, again, of quickly recycled ball at the tackle.

Dwyer, in his column on heavensgame.com, said the All Blacks win over the Springboks at Eden Park last weekend was all the talk at ports of call on his European tour.

"For years now, I have been posing the question to anyone who will listen, 'Do you think quick recycle ball at the tackle contest will help your attack?' The response has always been, 'Of course'.

"My follow-up question, 'Why then do you deliberately slow your own ball down?', has been greeted with incredulity and perhaps some suspicion," he said.

Dwyer said teams were consistently guilty of failing to quickly clear their own phase ball to the point where halfbacks were spending time with the ball at their feet instead of clearing it.

"A couple of teams in the last year or so have made some progress away from this 'stop-start' game and moved towards a fluent attacking game.

"Those teams, South Africa and New Zealand, have clearly recognised the advantages of such an attack philosophy, and, importantly, the elements which are essential to successful execution of such a philosophy," he said.

Dwyer added that superior speed and fitness were not essential, rather the eyes and mind were important.

"Numbers , especially numbers of forwards, at the tackle contest is another necessary component. This quality was traditionally at the heart of All Black rugby but, until recently, had strangely disappeared from their play," he said.

However, the performance of the All Blacks, and of the New Zealand team at the Junior World Cup, had shown other countries they had been pursuing the wrong course and it was time to change tack.

'Continuous play' was also different from 'multiple phases of play' as practised by the Brumbies in their heyday.

Continuous play was distinguished by continuity of pressure, physical and mental on opposing defences, he said.

Low body position and good leg drive were key components in that approach.

Dwyer also noted the development of some key players. No.8 Keiran Read had added another dimension to the All Blacks pack while Tom Donnelly had delivered on the promise he showed last season.

Keven Mealamu looked more focused although Dwyer wasn't convinced about the All Blacks scrum, saying Tony Woodcock still had his left hand on the ground a lot of the time while Owen Franks had been guilty of slipping his bind several times.

Dwyer also noted the quality footwork across the All Blacks team and the way the side was able to take value from any half-breaks made to provide the drive needed to break through defences.

As for South Africa, Dwyer felt it faced some genuine selection issues and captain John Smit was well off the pace while he did not rate the three-quarter line selected for the game.

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