Watching the recent 7s tournament in Seville I was interested to see how many tries were scored because of missed high tackles. Back in the day one was taught to go low and a high tackle, particularly a missed high tackle , brought the wrath of the coach.
But in modern rugby with the offload being the one weapon that busts sterile phase play, the ball and all tackle is almost the norm. For some players it’s pretty much the only way they tackle.
This is all well and good but a tackle in space, particularly in the defender’s 22 simply has to be made…stopping the offload isn’t as relevant. So why do we have so many players going high, missing the tackle and quite often being forgiven. These are crucial execution failures often resulting in 7 points.
To me this suggests poor preparation, the player not being able to decide the need of the moment. A player in space has to be taken low, from the inside….using the touchline as an aid. Going high seems to go hand in hand with over commitment…being beaten with an inside step.
I’m guessing a lot of players just aren’t comfortable going low these days, it’s a much more committed physical act….you either make the tackle or you look foolish. Uncomfortable, but that’s question the tackler has to answer.
