Six Nations 2017
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I just watched some highlights on stuff. What I don't understand is why weren't italy just attacking the halfback seeing there was no ruck instead they just jumped around behind the tackle area getting in the way. Also wouldn't most captains just say alright halfback fuck off its time to pick and go 80m down field and see if they still don't want to contest.
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@Magpie_in_aus said in Six Nations 2017:
I just watched some highlights on stuff. What I don't understand is why weren't italy just attacking the halfback seeing there was no ruck instead they just jumped around behind the tackle area getting in the way. Also wouldn't most captains just say alright halfback fuck off its time to pick and go 80m down field and see if they still don't want to contest.
Wasn't that what teams did to the Chiefs sometimes when they used the tactic?
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Holy shit, a NZ news site posted some actual rugby analysis:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/89831868/how-italys-offside-tackle-tactics-caught-england-off-guard-and-how-to-counter-itSure, it took a game on the other side of the planet to get them to do it but baby steps.
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@Bones said in Six Nations 2017:
For those wondering why they didn't sack the scrum half or can't charge the kick... You still can't join the ruck from the side or encroach within a metre.
Yep, and the WR refs have decided that it is against the spirit of the game to smash the half back after he has removed the ball
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@Crucial Which is strange because they've been exposed to halfbacks enough to know better.
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@antipodean said in Six Nations 2017:
@Crucial Which is strange because they've been exposed to halfbacks enough to know better.
But they have an affinity. The are both hated by everyone else on the field.
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I rewatched the crusaders game after this to check how often offside is awarded when there is no ruck. Glenn Jackson was constantly marshalling an offside line for the defense even though it was tackle only.
I think it's too difficult for a ref to make the ruck no ruck call and check offside at the same time so I expect a change will be coming.
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@antipodean he wasn't calling anything yet saying take a step or pointing out the midfield being in front of the tackle. I suspect this happens a lot and for most refs the default breakdown is a ruck and they have therefore enforced an offside line erroneously.
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The likes of Matt Dawson calling for a law change miss the point completely. The real story here is how sloooow England were to adapt. When they did adapt (intermittently, it has to be noted - wtf? Did they just keep forgetting what the appropriate countermeasures were?) it was oneway traffic. At the risk of sounding like Abe Simpson, this reminds me of a time.... way back in the early 90s I played in the Northampton Business Sevens for my then employer. We were a team of predominantly fatties from various Beds and Northants junior clubs, and definitely not going to terrify anyone by spreading the ball wide. In one of our games we found ourselves playing against a bunch of young tyros from Saints, contemporaries and mates of Dawson. Having been fairly comprehensively outplayed in the first half, at halftime we decided to play to our strengths and scored twice thereafter from a long series of pick and drives up the centre. I'm pretty sure someone in the crowd suggested that our tactics were against the spirit of sevens, but I responded with my characteristic wit ("Fuck off", I quipped merrily).
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@mooshld said in Six Nations 2017:
I rewatched the crusaders game after this to check how often offside is awarded when there is no ruck. Glenn Jackson was constantly marshalling an offside line for the defense even though it was tackle only.
I think it's too difficult for a ref to make the ruck no ruck call and check offside at the same time so I expect a change will be coming.
It's not too difficult. That's exactly what Poite was doing and I don't think I saw him get the call wrong at all.
What you do need to do though is prepare the ref for the tactic (which Italy did) or he will assume every tackle draws an offside line (like Jackson) so he can get on with the rest of his job.
Preparing the ref also means that the ARs in in on it as well and won't be screming offside into their mikes when it isn't (not that they ever police the offside line anyway) -
What amused me also was when one of my real offside bugbears, 'the pillar', was called against England in that no try ruling as obstruction.
Fine for Eddie to complain that what Italy did 'wasn't rugby', but where does he draw the line? He is happy to coach for players to stand unbound in front of the hindmost foot at a breakdown (like every other coach) and that, unlike Italy's ploy, is actually illegal but ignored by most refs.
Italy only got away with the tactic for so long because the England on field leadership was poor and unable to react. Also raises a question about EJ as well as it was pretty obvious that he didn't pass the message on what to do until half time when he could have done so earlier through a water carrier.
Eddie was mainly pissed off because he took this game as a tailormade training run for him to try combinations and moves. Italy caught him out, disrupted what he was trying to do in his grand plan and made his onfield leaders look stupid all in one go. -
The online huffing and puffing from various specimens of "Twickenham man" that they had been denied the free-flowing rugby spectacle that they had shown up to watch is a bit rich also. Damn, I wish that I could remember how to link in an "Are you not entertained?" meme. Anyone of that ilk who says that they went to Twickenham yesterday expecting anything other than a record score slaughter is fibbing. Fair play to Italy for not meekly following that script. It wasn't pretty, but I for one actually found it entertaining. Plus it was a toe up the backside in advance of what I expect to be a very interesting Calcutta Cup match in a fortnight's time.
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@Disgusted-of-TW said in Six Nations 2017:
The likes of Matt Dawson calling for a law change miss the point completely. The real story here is how sloooow England were to adapt. When they did adapt (intermittently, it has to be noted - wtf? Did they just keep forgetting what the appropriate countermeasures were?) it was oneway traffic. At the risk of sounding like Abe Simpson, this reminds me of a time.... way back in the early 90s I played in the Northampton Business Sevens for my then employer. We were a team of predominantly fatties from various Beds and Northants junior clubs, and definitely not going to terrify anyone by spreading the ball wide. In one of our games we found ourselves playing against a bunch of young tyros from Saints, contemporaries and mates of Dawson. Having been fairly comprehensively outplayed in the first half, at halftime we decided to play to our strengths and scored twice thereafter from a long series of pick and drives up the centre. I'm pretty sure someone in the crowd suggested that our tactics were against the spirit of sevens, but I responded with my characteristic wit ("Fuck off", I quipped merrily).
Reminds of the time ...
... we scored from a 50m rolling maul on our piss trip to the Honolulu Sevens ... -
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@booboo said in Six Nations 2017:
Re the offside line at the tackle didn't we try that with the ELVs? Got kiboshed IIRC
No, can't recall that.
Chiefs have been the team to try it out the most but to start with it failed on not making the ref aware. Then they tried the tactic of yelling out 'no ruck' and sending players up, that kind worked a little at times.
The big difference was that when the Chiefs did it they usually just sent one player up to stand 1 metre away from the halfback and cut off one side, then send another (usually Messam IIRC) up to make a tackle on the other side, therefore pinning the opposition well behind the gainline and behind their forward pack.
what Italy did was to send a swarm up to encircle the halfback and give him fuck all options. It was designed purely to disrupt.
