The grubber kick is done quite regularly by the Springboks - with De Allende the main kicker - but you never see anything he es in matches so I am not surprised by that fact.
In the recent WC one of De Allende' kicks ended up in scoring of a try. leading to us being lectued as to why instead of he kick he should have passed.
In conclusion grubber
kicks has a definite place in attacking rubb y - but should not be over-used sie in such cases it becomes repetitive and predictable
44,034 posts
France discovered how dangerous a grubber kick could be against a flat defense, when they beat NZ in my candidate for the greatest game in RWC history. Italy use the same tactic, to devastating effect last weekend against Scotland could this be the tactic that tilts the balance against dominant defenses?
And one crucial rule change makes this tactic more relevant. If the grubber is designed to reach in in goal area, in many cases the attacking team has an equal shot at grounding the ball. But if not, they get the ball returned to them with the goal line drop out in a good attacking position The old short kick, with a chance for kicking team to retain possession, is too dangerous.