South Africa's Faf de Klerk scores points during the Springboks; victory over Scotland in Group B. Photo: AP/Daniel Cole
Everyone is now wondering why there is so much kicking in rugby union.
Well, here's a rough statistic for you: teams from about with the same ability, those who hit the ball more often than their opponents win about 75 percent of their games.
Forget about how a team kicks, whether it's into territory to get past defenses or to put pressure on the opposition. from linear outputs. When you boil it down, if you hit more shots in a game, you will generally win more than you lose.
It's not hard. If you are a head coach who is paid to win Test matches, you may be tempted to choose a game plan that results in an average of three wins out of four.
Look at the first game of the Rugby World Cup. France alone hit the ball 44 times. This is more than the total number of shots per game at the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. The All Blacks kicked the ball 39 times for a total of 83 shots. And this from two of the most skilled parties in the world. When we play, we must look at ourselves if we want to make it more interesting.
The eight first round games averaged 56.9 kicks taken per game, the highest since the 1995 World Cup in South Africa. Our game against Fiji had the fewest shots — 41 — but we had a little more possession than them (24-17) and won the game.
1309 shots in RWC
Against Fiji we at least tried to do this. play with a higher tempo and more time on the ball. This is what we are looking for. We feel like we're in good physical shape and we want to take teams to a pretty dark place and if we're hurting, we hope they're hurting a little more.
The positive for us was the result, the negative was the last 13 minutes, when we were confidently in the lead, but then found ourselves under severe pressure. This is what I need to address. If you go back to last autumn, Wales won comfortably against Australia but then collapsed. Similarly, in the game against England at Twickenham we should have won but failed to do so in the last quarter.
We led 32-14 against Fiji but could have lost the game in the last minute. Is it technical or psychological? This is an issue I'm addressing with the team this week. We as coaches must ensure that the messages we convey to players are clear and collective, and that they communicate with each other on the field to make the right decisions when they are under pressure.
Wales kicked 24 times and Fiji 17 in the World Cup match as Warren Gatland's side look to compete in the air. Photo: Getty Images/Adam PrettyIt wasn't the worst thing for the manager because if we had won comfortably we would have patted ourselves on the back. Instead, we were exposed in those final moments. Fiji continued to play and we should have been more active defensively. So while we are happy with the result, we know that there are some underlying issues that we need to work on and focus on.
The predominance of kicking in the game is due to the fact that there is now a really good balance between attack and defense in terms of risk and reward, and sometimes the advantage is not having the ball because the defense is so well organised.
When The attacking team is rewarded for their ability to play and has more confidence to play from deep and move the ball. When the defense dominates or gets more rewards, the balance changes and then teams end up playing a territorial game and kicking from their own half all the way to the halfway line.
And at the moment the game is focused on defense. Teams aren't prepared to play in their own territory or take the risk of going through two, three or four phases and then missing a penalty that kicks in when you're 22 and you're potentially under pressure for four or five minutes.
I asked our squad this question a couple of months ago. What's the best outcome — missing a holding or passing penalty and missing a pass?
We had a serious debate and I asked our analysts to look at the statistics. Surprisingly, the best option suggests that it is better to let the ball go and not give away a penalty by holding on to the ball.
The numbers showed that if you concede a penalty in your own half, on average you will not get the ball back a little over five minutes. In contrast, if you release the ball and your opponent makes a clean jackal, you will likely get the ball back in about three minutes.
In the opposition's half, if you let the ball go and it turns over, you tend to get the ball back even faster because teams tend to play about three phases and then kick it back.
Unfortunately, this is where the game is at the moment. If a player makes a small half-break and becomes slightly separated from his support, the tackle will cause the other player to be on top of him and a penalty for failure to release will be assessed.
Currently, current laws and their interpretations are more defensive-oriented, which influences the decisions made by coaches. I would have liked more attacking movement — and the consequences would have been fewer blows.
England have come under fire in recent weeks for their frequent strikes on the ball. Photo: Getty Images/David Rogers
Rugby is such a complex game with so many different laws, so football and rugby league are easier games to understand in terms of television spectacle. I can understand why people watching rugby for the first time would be confused and ask, “What is the punishment for?” On what basis was this decision made?
I'm not sure what the answer is to this question, but I think we have a responsibility to improve the spectacle. How can we make sure that our game is entertaining, that it grows the sport, and that people enjoy watching the excitement it creates?
But that's another discussion. International coaches are under so much pressure to win matches that it's not about having fun, it's about winning. The consequences of a loss are criticism and, ultimately, people lose their jobs.
It has not yet reached a situation, like in football, where a coach can be fired at the beginning of the season for the loss of the first three or four players. games. In rugby union, employers tend to be more lenient in giving head coaches more time. However, I can see that the situation will evolve as the demand for results becomes more and more and we may end up going down the football route.
You see this in football all the time when a player is captured and falls to the ground, feigning injury to win a penalty. Unfortunately, rugby is definitely heading in that direction. I already see in the game that if there are high tackles or any head contact that was not initially noticed by the referees, the players stay down. This gives the TMO time to review the incident while the player is being treated, which sometimes results in a fine, yellow or red card.
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