As we have been talking about the Boks tactics and you have been debating sticking with traditional SA rugby culture in designing your tactics and picking your players this article should be of interest. The ABs have a core culture but always evolve what they are doing. The changes lately center around speed, getting the ball from the pack and out to the backs as fast as possible. How do you think the selected Bok team will do against this approach?
Evolve or die - AllBlacks ready fornext stage ofdevelopment
JAMES MORTIMER 12.AUG.2013GETTY IMAGES
One of the most ominous statements from All Blacks coach Steve Hansen last year was that if the World Champions focused on themselves and played the game they wanted to play, the team felt that no-one could stay with them and match them when operating at fifth gear.
Ireland found this out in Hamilton, the Springboks, Pumas and Wallabies all discovered this throughout various stages of The Investec Rugby Championship, while the tone continued in Edinburgh, Rome and Cardiff.
While studying the opposition and being wary of what tactics might be thrown at them through the season, the All Blacks continued a pattern that has been a constant in recent years, corresponding with their position at the top of the world’s rugby standings – let us not so much worry about the chasing pack, but ensure that we continue to strive to develop and evolve.
Sir Graham Henry used to suggest that each season the All Blacks would need to find approximately 10-15% improvement in them to remain at the summit, and head coach Steve Hansen took this concept and moulded it into his own, deciding he would add a decisive element to the World Champions arsenal.
Speed.
As a consequence, the All Blacks, still honouring many of the systems that had been in place for years, were able to evolve their game, leading to the emergence and rise of Aaron Smith, with a pass that broke modern convention.
Gone was the patient surveying of the situation from the back of the ruck, absent was the almost now standard ‘one, two’ step that many halfbacks had introduced to their play before passing the ball, a stutter step that was designed to give a little bit of precious distance to a number nine before the inevitable rush of opposition pillars from the ruck.
With this the All Blacks forwards altered their game, not so much looking to create chaos at the ruck as much as form a crescent of protection around the likes of Smith to allow the phases to quickly mount up and the pace of the contest to increase to a tempo where the World Champions backed themselves to run anyone off their feet.
Such evolution is now part and parcel of rugby, and the sides that have introduced certain tactics - think the Springboks suffocation tactics of 2009, the Reds dynamism of 2011 and of late the Chiefs ability to defend and then attack of scraps – are more often than not the ones that have become the leaders of the pack.
What to expect this year as the All Blacks strive to remain number one?
It is anyone’s guess, but on early showings the brilliant kicking game that was on display in Christchurch during the second Test of the Steinlager Series could be a pointer.
As the All Blacks look to grow – their great rivals, one with a new coach and another bringing in nearly a dozen overseas based players to bolster his squad, will no doubt look to add a few strings of their own to their tactical bows.
