RUGBY ANALYST:The fullback should be the key to unlocking any defence, with plenty of supporting runners, writes LIAM TOLAND
AS THE summer weeks sped towards pre-season I couldn’t help but immerse myself in all things non-rugby. Truth be told, I’m still exhausted from last season and I can’t begin to imagine what Paul O’Connell, Keith Earls, Jerry Flannery, John Muldoon, Jonny O’Connor and Co. must be feeling a whole season later and still no closer to fitness.
Most professional players will carry injuries from game to game, having long since conceded the fight for full fitness in their late teens. But, for many, a fresh season equals a fresh start. However, there are several who throughout their professional careers will be fettered by injury. Hopefully, O’Connell won’t fall into that category.
I have my own fitness battles (of the bulge) to contend with and I utilised my summer to tune out and freshen up by watching the GAA and the soccer World Cup. This all came to a crescendo with the arrival of the Tri-Nations and the All Blacks. They’re at it again and with it they have “reinvented” the first principle of rugby union, possession.
They do so by kicking to regain and when they do, they hold on to the ball and attack, attack, attack. The referee and new rules allow them to prize open untold gaps in the heretofore watertight defences.
This became farcical in Pretoria last Saturday with seven tries scored between South Africa and Australia, after 32 minutes.
Can we live in this environment?
Paddy goes to the vet with his goldfish, telling the vet, “I think it’s got epilepsy”, to which the vet retorts: “It seems calm enough to me”. Worryingly, Paddy replies, “I haven’t taken it out of the bowl yet”.
Little did Paddy know he described the conundrum facing Declan Kidney as we approach Rugby World Cup 2011. In the goldfish bowl of the Tri-Nations, Mils Muliaina, under Dan Carter, can wreak havoc. However, in our Northern Hemisphere bowl it just isn’t that simple. Billy Connolly once noted that in Scotland there’s nine months of terrible weather and then winter comes.
The dry weather and overall ball skills of the All Blacks is one thing, but up here in wet, windy and wintery Ireland it is another. Can we expect to follow the Tri-Nations as so many sheep will and employ the All Black tactics in the AIL, Magners League, Heineken Cup and Six Nations?
Regardless of the conditions, when Muliaina fields a poor return kick he does so in the knowledge that the other 14 players are not only tuned in to him, they can, in fact, add enormously to his break.
Considering our enviable natural skill set developed with the aid of our other sports, in particular GAA, it never ceases to amaze me how poor we are at inventing our own style and adding value to the ball. Some weeks back I strolled out to observe a pre-season Harlequins session in Limerick full of athleticism, running patterns and power.
However, it was immediately obvious our Irish players possess infinitely more football than any Harlequin. So why aren’t we tapping into this valuable resource the GAA have kindly given use by reinventing how we play the game?
Zinzan Brooke wasn’t the only number eight to drop goals.
Anthony Foley could also, but never did.
With Tommy Bowe and Shane Horgan about, why do we restart into the forwards?
During the soccer World Cup I tuned into Johnny Giles as he articulated the great challenge facing Irish football. The underage system is full of talented players who will make many more mistakes than the direct footballer by virtue of creative play. Subsequently, he will find himself substituted as young, ambitious coaches plump for the win.
The winning culture is stifling the development of footballers.
This applies too to our rugby players, as our professional coaches are honour-bound to win. So the time to influence our future internationals is in their youth.
Soccer can teach us much about off the ball running, support play and spatial awareness. Argentinian Lionel Messi is a master on the ball, but watch the activity off the ball, the unselfish running of those anticipating his pass.
Ireland have for many seasons built a winning culture around kicking and rucking, but in 2011 the most important player on the pitch will be the fullback. Many years ago I innocently enquired from a representative coach about our counterattack policy. He looked at me, looked at the manager and replied we don’t have a policy.
In other words, kick, kick, and kick.
Clearly we can’t abandon our heritage and core principles, but if our club, provincial and Irish fullbacks are to attack then they don’t require ruckers but ball-carriers and plenty of them. No more donkeys, please.
My hope for this upcoming season is the evolvement of an uncompromising, rugged front five full of ball-carriers. Their footballing ability is in their genes so it’s up to our coaches to bring it out. As the GAA season draws to a close don’t look to the Tri-Nations for inspiration, but stick with any Northern Hemisphere field sport as at least it’s in a similar goldfish bowl. Failing that, keep an eye on the Top 14 in France where the fullback is already leading the charge ably supported by the off-the-ball running by the remainder.
Over the previous seasons I have hinted at players to watch, players yet to become household names. With the importance of fullbacks this season and for many other reasons, my player to watch this season isn’t a backrow or even a fullback but the antithesis and no twinkletoes as he has already amassed 19 international caps in the frontrow.
He possesses that magical ingredient of adding value to the ball; can his set-piece follow?
I wonder with one Six Nations to go before RWC 2011 does Tony Buckley finally realise how important he is to Irish rugby?
