Historically, when a man touched your ball at the base of a ruck he was met with outright violence. This was accepted by the errant openside. Evidence of same was found in the post-match showers: rake marks were, to many, a thing of, well, hardly beauty but certainly pride.
Opposing opensides would gaze inquisitively at the many tram-track red marks from head to toe. How our skin ever recovered, I’ll never know, but Vaseline was a true friend.
That was all before the cameras arrived, and certainly long before the television match official (TMO).
The Australian opensides David Pocock and Michael Hooper will have a massive effect on tomorrow's final. The All Blacks will compromise tactically, but how will they shift them?
The greatest team of the modern era, whether consciously or otherwise, adjusted hugely 12 weeks ago to protect their ball when the Wallaby twin terrors found their rhythm. The All Blacks narrowed their attack, reduced the potential isolation of ball-carriers by offloading before contact, stayed off the deck and played well behind the gainline. All these tactics are within their game, but it made them awkward, even unnatural, and slightly negative. Pocock and Hooper rendered the greatest player of all time, Richie McCaw, powerless.
So how do they do it? First, their lines of running. Australia's restarts are predetermined. As in American football, the kicker is out front, with a perfect chasing line spread across the field. From a rolling start on their 10-metre line, they all cross the halfway line as Bernard Foley connects with the ball. However, watch where Hooper is along the line, as that's where the ball will be targeted. Ideally, speedster Drew Mitchell will sprint towards the target in an effort to pinball him into Hooper's arms for a choke tackle and turnover. In other words, Australia shape all events to suit the twins.
The world focused on the TMO replays when Argentinian second row Tomás Lavanini was sinbinned for a no-arms chop tackle on Israel Folau. However, as the play evolved from an Argentinian kick-off receipt (on to Hooper!), with midfield magician Juan Martín Hernández putting 50 metres on a kick into Folau’s arms, I watched the twins. The Wallaby fullback countered down the right-hand side. As Lavanini made contact with Folau, the two first players in gold didn’t “arrive” to support, as they were already waiting for Folau. They had anticipated the spot where Folau would make Argentinian contact, and they simply waited.
Their ability to imagine phases in advance is phenomenal, based as it is on their knowledge of both their own and the opposition’s tactics. Watch Hooper and Pocock in heavy traffic and you’ll notice how they ignore what appears like an obvious support line in preference for a better one yet to evolve. They then get their body positioning prepared.
Often, Hooper doesn’t even stand up, preferring to scuttle around like a crab, especially when retreating off a lost scrum. This brings us to body shape: both players are perfectly honed for their role, again like powerful crabs that wrap their shape around tacklers, impossible to shift.
How do Pocock's Rugby World Cup stats of 14 turnovers affect New Zealand? They must play with the ball, but they will adjust in stark contrast with Argentinian philosophy – which brings my opening paragraph and the TMO back into play.
How to shift the twins? Well, prevention is better than cure and early offloads will be required, but watch out as Pocock enters the TV frame with All Blacks queuing up to block his entry over the ball. My concern is that the one remaining legal tactic available to the All Blacks protecting the deck is entering through the gate with such violence that either Pocock or Hooper’s neck could be badly exposed.
I was asked last weekend: what does Scott Fardy do? He does many things, but essentially he affords the twins an open book by keeping the other stats ticking over. They have specific roles but are brutally economic with their lines and metres run, so someone has to ensure all else is catered for.
Rugby intelligence and strong Australian systems give them a chance. Rob Simmons’s try after 1:08 minutes against Argentina tells you something. Of course, negative attention was given to Argentina’s opening plays. Why would Nicolás Sánchez risk such a play? Even though the game had only just started, Sánchez sensed that gaps might appear. As his scrumhalf fired out to him, he banked on the Wallaby fringe sprinting outward, expecting the ball to flow along the backline. But Simmons refused to quite his role, remained disciplined, held his line and kept running forward.
Of course, he'll have done this hundreds of times with no reward, and later in the game he may, in a fatigued state, lose some discipline, but it does highlight the rigour of Australia's systems. Michael Cheika strikes me as a coach who may forgive some errors, but not to hold that aggressive defensive line off pillar A and B would be criminal. In their systems, Australia have a chance, and they'll need more from Folau and for prop Scott Sio to go nearly 80 minutes.
Steve Hansen makes it clear that to win Test matches you've got to be physical but also skilful. But I fear that in the end it will come down to an old Lansdowne FC and Leinster boy Brad Harrington, Australia's strength and conditioning coach.
liamtoland@yahoo.com
