Northern hemisphere rugby – what’s gone wrong?
The World Cup has thrown up four matches that have pitted the best of the southern hemisphere against their counterparts from the north. Significantly, teams from the south have won all four games. In the case of England’s humiliation against South Africa and with the All Black-Italy game resembling an exhibition match, the gap between the two hemispheres has started to look more like a chasm. And, with teams from the Six Nations even struggling to put away the likes of USA, Romania and Namibia, the question is - what has happened to northern hemisphere rugby?
The contrast in the styles of play has been marked. I don’t want to make sweeping generalizations, but the attacking play of the European teams has been ponderous to say the least. Backlines appear to be too flat and cannot generate any dynamism unless they are presented with quick ball. There also seems to be little imagination, subtlety or variation in backline moves. Accuracy of passing is another area letting down our friends in the north.
On the other hand, the All Blacks and Australia in particular have no difficulty in putting pace on the ball and have been equally effective at running direct at the opposition or attacking wide areas. The reason for this is that their running off the ball has been streets ahead of what the northern hemisphere countries are doing. Their players are at full speed when they get the ball, which means they must have started from very deep, unlike the European players who are waiting for the ball and waiting for the game to come to them.
International rugby is continually evolving and the World Cup has already shown some interesting developments where the game might be heading in the future. First, the scrum is becoming less and less relevant in deciding the outcome of matches. Ireland shoved Georgia all over the park, but it didn’t really matter much in the wider context of the game, as they were very lucky to come away with a win. Also, the only sector of the play where England had the upper hand on the Springboks was in the scrummage. Fat lot of good it did them as they crashed to a 36-0 defeat.
Another key issue has been the kicking game. With defences getting stronger all the time, making use of a variety of kicks is fast becoming a way to get in behind the opposition. The up-and-under has definitely come back into vogue and I’ve never seen as many teams using grubber kicks or chipping over opposition backlines.
Also, the rugby truism that a kick is only as good as its chase was underlined spectacularly in Argentina’s win against France. Good kicking now seems to be about clearing long from your twenty-two, finding a way of winning the ball back further down the field, or putting an individual player in the opposition under real pressure. The overall kicking strategy of southern hemisphere nations – expertly utilized by the likes of Dan Carter, Butch James and Chris Latham – has been streets ahead of that deployed by the north.
It’s unquestionably easier to list the areas where the northern hemisphere are struggling for form than to state exactly why this is the case, but I think there is one fundamental reason. That is, the timing of the World Cup itself.
Playing the tournament in the autumn really is a huge advantage for the Tri-Nations, and I don’t understand why the World Cup doesn’t alternate every four years between June and October. After all, in 1995 it was played in June, but the last three World Cups have been pushed back three months later in the rugby calendar.
For all the benefits of doing conditioning work and changes in the players’ body shape, there is no substitute for playing rugby. It is the battle-hardened teams that are performing much more fluently as a result. And when the level of competition during the summer months is Super 14 or Tri-Nations, you have the ideal preparation for an intense month of Test rugby.
This makes England’s triumph in 2003 all the more special, (although Clive Woodward did take his squad to play – and win - in New Zealand and Australia prior to the tournament). In contrast, this time around a number of English players were rested in the summer and the squad were recently given ten days off training. It’s no wonder they look sluggish and lacking in any cohesion.
At the end of the day, the timing of the World Cup can only go a little way explaining the current gulf between the two hemispheres. Rugby is all about making right decisions at the right times and the players in the north haven’t being doing that nearly enough.
For the last couple of years the southern hemisphere teams seem to be less concerned about focusing on defence and getting their players bigger, but rather working out ways to beat the opposition defence. Their players are more alive to what is happening in front of them and anticipating what might happen. Their support play has been tremendous to watch.
Strategies and team selection are based on creating openings instead of stopping the opposition play. England opted for experience over creativity and are paying the price of leaving out James Haskell and Toby Flood. At least in Scotland, we have more ball players now than at any time since the last World Cup, and Rory Lamont’s recent displays show the benefits of picking players that will threaten opposition defence.
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