Attack wins games, defence wins championships. It’s an old sports cliché but the reason why it has been used often, and for so long, is that this saying remains accurate more often than not.
It is too early in the season to start talking about winning any trophies but the defence shown by Havelock Sports Club and the Navy Sports Club on Sunday evening evokes trophy winning thoughts.
Teams with great attacking weapons can sometimes have an off day and it is on these very days that the defence will come to the rescue. So what makes a great defence?
There are too many defensive areas to cover for just one article to do justice to a great defence. Re-starts have their own defensive co-ordination as do line outs and scrums. Then the mid-field scrums need a different defensive set up to a scrum near the side line, even a scrum on the right hand side presents a different defensive picture to a scrum on the left of the field. What about defending against a counter attack or turn over ball? And defending on the try line requires a different alignment to defending at the halfway. How do you defend as a team in extreme weather conditions or under lights at night. And what is success for a defence? Is it holding out against the attack or is it getting the ball back?
A good coaching team will know the answers to all of these questions and more but for this column let us just talk about one facet of defence. Let us concentrate on ruck defence during phase play which is the time when the ball is in play after a restart or a set piece and the next restart or set piece.
From the sidelines by Paul Michael Toia
Paul is a rugby tragic born and bred in New Zealand.
During phase play the key to any defence lies in the relationship between the tackle and the advantage line. The advantage line, or gain line as it is also known, is an imaginary line that can be drawn from sideline to sideline through the mid-point of the set piece or breakdown. The importance of the advantage line is that players who want to join any contest that has become a ruck or a maul after a tackle, need to enter from their own side of that contest as there is now an off-side line. It sounds complicated but in real terms it means that to support your team mate you must enter the ruck or maul with your back to your own try line. If your back is to the sideline or the oppositions try line you win be penalized. There are exceptions to this rule but that is a simplistic version of the advantage line. If your defence has tackled the ball carrier before they have reached the advantage line, all of your team are running forward to enter the contest. While the opposition must run back to their side of the contest, turn and come forward to join the fray. That extra step or two and the resulting half a second advantage you have over a retreating team makes all of the difference. It is commonly called winning the gain line.
With the extra time you have over the opposition your team can set a strong defensive line, communicate with each other, maybe even put pressure on the opposition’s ball. At best they can steal the ball, if that is not possible maybe just slow the ball down to buy more time. The decision to go for the steal, slow the ball down or leave the tackled player to return to the defensive line is a split second decision that is made every time a tackle is made. If you steal the ball that is great, but if you fight for the ball and it does not go your way that is one less defender you have in the defensive line. This is called committing numbers to the breakdown and plays a huge part in what happens in the next play.
Next your team needs to set a defensive line at that breakdown. That defensive line starts when the first player arrives that does not commit to the breakdown. His responsibility is to make sure no ball carrier can run between him and the breakdown. His next job is to communicate to his team mates what he is taking responsibility for. The next player to arrive must connect with the first arriving player and he is responsible for the attacking half back. If the half back runs he must move forward to tackle the half back. If the half back passes he must also push up and towards the ball watching for an inside runner or to help the next defender in the line. The third arriving defender is to be responsible for the first receiver. The first receiver is the man who the halfback is passing to but this defender has an important job as he communicates to the team when the defensive line should advance. This third defender must watch the ball at the back of the ruck and when he sees the half back pick the ball up he must communicate this to all the defenders both verbally and physically. Sometimes this defender is called lead because of this role and some teams call this the heart of their defence because nobody wants a broken heart.
Obviously the attack can go either side of the ruck so this system is in place on both sides of the ruck. Sometimes the heart of the defence consists of four players but outside these defenders their team mates are numbering off against on coming attackers. Communication in all of these roles is essential so players can trust the defenders on their inside and outside. Remember the defensive line must move up together and know exactly who they are responsible for.
When you watch Havelock Sports Club or Navy Sports Club play you can marvel at their defensive system. Both of these clubs consistently put defensive pressure on the opposition attack. For that to happen each player needs to know their responsibilities and be able to read the attacking picture that is presented, communicate the defensive pattern they are to employ to their team mates, and then execute that pattern with accuracy.
If it seems like an excessive amount of information to compute on the run it is because it is. But that is only one small part in the job for a defensive coach and his players. Defensively there is so much more to talk about but for now we should watch games of rugby live and see if you we can recognise the roles of the defensive players.
