He who controls the contact situations, controls the game.
We have heard quite a bit on the ‘contact situation’ and the importance of dominating it. Heyneke Meyer and Jake White are great believers in the importance of this area and for good reason, because if you control the contact situation, in either defense or attack, you control the game.
Personally I do not think South African rugby players are all that bad in contact, we are traditionally big and strong and love taking contact. I do however believe we get one fundamental thing wrong, and that is when going into contact the mission of the ball carrier, or defender, should be to go ‘through’ contact and not ‘into’ contact.
Rugby is all about momentum and forward movement. If you move forward, the opposition moves backwards putting them on the backfoot so to speak – and no team can play decent rugby once on the backfoot.
Too often our players look for contact but only to the extent of going into contact (no forward momentum) and not through contact (gaining momentum in contact).
A couple of things mentioned in studies in this area of rugby has relevance to South African rugby players and how we sometimes still get it wrong, even though through our strength and physical appreciation for the game we should get it right.
Domination in the contact situation depends on two main things;
• The player beats the defender outright by using a combination of speed, acceleration and/or evasion or;
• The player beats the opposition by a combination of explosive running, quick decision making and target running.
Acceleration however, either from a standing start or running start is his biggest weapon or determining factor in dominating the contact situation. It is vitally important however to note that acceleration ‘through’ contact is important, not into contact.
If you accelerate into contact various things happen most important of which is;
• You automatically decelerate just before making contact. This is a natural action your body takes to protect itself and;
• Your ability to control possession going into contact at high pace is very low.
Now consider what we see on South African rugby fields every week. We have some players that have magnificent acceleration but get no forward momentum in contact because they go into contact and do not try to go through it.
In addition, in South African rugby our coaches choose to use big, slow ball carriers to go into contact and not the guys who have the best acceleration. With this almost no forward momentum is gained and the effectiveness of guys going into contact is just about non-existent.
I have always been of the believe that when you look to give the ball to a runner to cross the advantage line (one of the most fundamental aspects of rugby) you need to give that ball to a ‘strike runner’ – when you simply look to build phases and suck defenses in you can afford to have your slower bigger fatties carry the ball ensuring you keep possession.
South African players also almost always look for the ‘T-Bone’ contact situation or collision. This is where players run directly into defenders giving the defender an easy target to ‘T-Bone’ back into contact.
The likelihood of dominating the contact situation is increased dramatically when the player directs his line of attack away from the mid-line of the defender. This is also not a dramatic shift that we are talking about here which at most only has to be about 0.3m off the mid-line or T-Bone line of the defender. I believe we live in a false sense of security in South Africa in this area because the T-Bone contact situation is still relatively successful at lower levels of our rugby, the reason for this however has more to do with bad defense than with effective running.
Apart from acceleration into the right areas around the defenders players and coaches should also note that decision making and the foot movements or strikes of the players are vitally important.
If you display any form of indecision with ball in hand you will decelerate going into contact, and this is where the age-old cliché comes in; “The only poor decision is indecision.”
Techniques in running or stepping are also vital. Obviously balance is key, but the great thing is you can coach better balance in running.
Your aim however should always be to encourage forward momentum in movement or running and eliminating lateral stepping or running in one spot effectively. Schalk Brits comes to mind here where I believe he gets it wrong.
He always tries to beat a defender by jumping or stepping from side to side and not forward. If Schalk adapts more effective stepping and footstrikes* he could become a devastating ball carrier or runner.
*Footstrikes is best explained as the area the player’s feet strikes the turf in relation to his body. Effective footstrikes should be to the back of the hips or at the very least under them. Over-extending steps or strikes in acceleration is a common mistakes player’s make. The best way for coaches to ensure optimum footstrikes is to encourage players to adopt a lower knee-lift when running. This almost forces players to strike the turf behind the line of their hips.
Another important thing players and coaches should take note of the re-acceleration aspect of going into contact.
For players like Brits this is a problem because with exaggerated lateral stepping they compromise their ability to accelerate forward going through contact – and effectively, there is no point in defeating the defender if you do not get behind or over the contact line.
The most effective steppers have something which is called a ‘power-step’ which is a much shorter step they use just before they make contact. This step helps them maintain balance while stepping and also promotes acceleration through contact.
Lastly, balance in running is crucial, without it we cannot control the forces at work when running and changing angles to ensure forward momentum.
Key factor in balance is the pace at which players step or run, or even better explained, the footspeed of players hitting the turf. The better the acceleration in this area the better the balance will be. Also key is you body position when running. Run too upright (like a sprint athlete) and it’s difficult to control your balance or change direction. Again you can practice this by ensuring you step behind your hipline and push forward. The quicker you can do this (footsteps) the better you will increase your center of gravity which will help you step off any foot at pace much easier.
Players and coaches can work on these basic principles to ensure better domination in contact, and most importantly, forward momentum.
ok, nothing to do with the article above (my apologies morné), but i couldnt help but sharing this (maybe you guys have read this already, but here goes ….)
jerome kaino in an interview after the game
…
“We improved towards the end, but in the first 60 we couldn’t get clean first-phase ball and gave away penalties — and they’ve got someone that can knock them over FROM 60 METRES out.
and
“When we attacked them out wide and made metres they really scrambled well as a defence. At times we were able to make good gains but they were able to turn our ball over and upset our go-forward.
“As a team they really defended well and really made us play and when we conceded penalties ABOUT 60 METRES out… when you’ve got someone in [the opposition] team kicking penalties FROM 60 METRES out, you’ve got to be on the ball with discipline.”
and
“It disrupted our go-forward and continuity we wanted to get. We’d make good gains then we’d get penalised 60 METRES out and he’d knock them over. It’s a bit hard to get go-forward and continuity when you’ve got stop-start ball and they’re knocking penalties over FROM 60 METRES out.”
hehehe, poor guy. think he’s gonna have nightmares for some time to come!!
😆
Outstanding article and lesson again Morne, I read it earlier this morning on my cell sitting in a donga and had to come up and tell you.
Just to let you know i cannot keep complementing you so effusively cause i am going to start sounding rather obsequious 🙂
Thanks Morne.
And the example of Schalk not getting it right made it easier for me to get the picture. I was trying to think of someone who consistently gets it right, and could not think of anybody.
Surely there must be an example or two out there? And then, is this knowledge available and being coached at senior level? If it is, why can’t I think of somebody who executes it consistently.
But then again it is Monday….
agree with treehugger there, morné
well written article
gbs
whats the odds of allowing morné, tighthead or anyone else who write this technical articles
the use of illustrations (if they have it available).
believe it would be of great help in instances where the stuff is just too technical for the reader
or
where the reader is unsure whether he/ she understand the writer correctly!!
@Ashley – Hi Ashley, now that would normally apply to me about it being to technical but he writes it in such a way that a novice at understanding rugby can understand.
5@Treehugger –
dont worry, most of us are in the same boat, hehehe!!
#5 Treehugger
“he writes it in such a way that a novice at understanding rugby can understand”
Referring to an earlier post of yours elsewhere: is that why your hubby can’t understand your reasoning – he’s too “advanced”? 😉
@fender – olala you are asking for trouble
@fender – and i take back my answer on the other thread about the bot thingie. DO NOT READ IT 🙂
Treehugger, sorry I already did…hehe!
@fender – haha saw it on the other thread. Looks like it is only you and me here,normally i am busy outside and today i have time,
@Treehugger –
Thanks!
You will start seeing how all the articles start to tie into one another as well, where we might have discussed something in comments on a previous piece and how it is discussed in more detail here.
There is just so much we could discuss so its impossible to cover everything.
The main idea is that we could now apply this to rugby in SA and things we see!!!
You guys will see something or pick something up I never will which makes this all the more interesting.
PA, you and tightead really ad loads of (rugby) value to Rugby-Talk. Thanks guys!!
On the matter of attacker vs. defender running lines:
During my formative years in Natal we were taught to watch the defenders feet.
A defender whose weight is on his left foot e.g. (right foot off the ground) cannot move towards his left before taking another step onto his right foot, which gives the attacker the split second he needs to hit the half gap on his left side.
Your opinion?
@fender –
Not many get it right but it is small technical things most of the time.
Pierre Spies can be devastating but he runs like a track and field sprint athlete – his strides are too long. He for instance will need to work on his power step and shortening his steps.
Schalk Burger accelarates very well into contact, but because he often leads with the ball carrying arm or elbow his body position is not good going into contact, he is easily thrown off balance by defenders – he too needs to shorten his steps and work on his balance going into contact especially avoiding the t-bone contact which he does all the time.
Juan Smith is very good at this and probably the best currently in my view, but he too goes into t-bone situations too often.
One person who is very good at this is Luke Watson who does the change of direction well without losing much momentum.
Jean Deysel too.
And Joe van Niekerk is currently the best we have although he is not playing in SA anymore (watch some French games if you can).
Sowerby was also very good at this.
I think we could do well to employ backs even in these situation – Jaque Fourie would be absolutely devasting in this role.
@SA Barbarians – 13
and the same priciple naturally applies when defending – an attacker who’s weight is on his right foot cannot step to his right, so in the split second available that is vital
from scrum.co.nz
“Two men kept the All Blacks in the hunt in Hamilton and for once they weren’t Dan Carter, who was out of sorts, and the lion-hearted Richie McCaw.
Referee Nigel Owens and touch judge Wayne Barnes combined to bolster the New Zealand scoreline with two and perhaps three crazy penalty rulings, from which Carter goaled, and a wonky decision which helped turn what should have been an attacking Springbok lineout into a Sitiveni Sivivatu try.”
@SA Barbarians –
It is vital when you know you are going to take contact to sum up your opponent (defender) in a split second. 90% of rugby players are right handed, which means they are better/stronger defending to their right (stronger shoulder).
However these days players are taught to tackle well of each shoulder, but what coaches neglect to work on is their dominant leg and non-dominant leg to ‘launch’ into a tackle. Then tackling to his right he will have less momentum (launches with left leg) and you could have the upper hand here.
Again it is vital to avoid the t-bone contact situation, just a small step to either side will give you the advantage as he cannot launch of both feet/legs with loads of momentum, he will be going backwards in the tackle from the moment of impact if you avoid the t-bone – if not, you give him way too much advantage in contact to stop you and your momentum.
Defenders these days do not ‘run into’ tackles that much, they wait (hang back) and wait for you to run into them more often.
What you mention is very important to or for backs when you look to avoid contact and beat the defender by pace or evasion.
@Morn̩ РWhat is your opinion of Ruan pienaars running with the ball, cause to me he has always looked very upright and has no momentum when tackled
@Morn̩ Р17
I have been waiting for an article like this for ages. “Crash ball” does not necessarily mean head-on collisions.
That half gap vs. being stopped dead in the tracks (or even being driven backwards) makes such a big difference in terms of go forward momentum.
Then there is also the matter of wear and tear that continious T-Bone collisions cause.
@Treehugger –
I think Ruan is one of the more natural runners of a ball we have. In my honest opinion I think Ruan is just plain and simply scared to make contact, either as a defender or runner…
Ruan lacks confidence in his running where he should also try and accelerate into and through contact – you will note that in the column I mentioned indecision when going into contact – that is a MASSIVE part of all of this, and I think Ruan lack’s confidence in contact which is more a mental aspect he needs to work on.
@SA Barbarians –
Correct, successful T-bone collisions is more to do with bad defending than it has to do with effective attacking or running.
Morne,
Someone who has amazed me as a ball carrier in the contact area – and prbably due to his small stature – is OZ’s James O’Conner.
He seems incredibly good at shaking off tackles. And to me its mostly down to his footwork prior to be tackled.
Your view?
@fender –
Yes, have a look at his footstrikes when going into contact, very short, which leaves him very balanced, and he has a good power step in contact which helps him re-accelerate through contact.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=10597054
nice cartoon, hehehe
@Morn̩ РAnd Frans Steyn, he always looks to gain a bit of ground when tackled. I love his enthusiasm even if he does silly things at times.
#23 Morne
Given O’Connor’s size, it also redefines the concept of the traditional strike runner i.e. big ouk = big on momentum, lumbering as fast as possible in a straightline to set up the ruck/maul.
Glad to see that you’ve given Luke some deserved credit imho – brave thing to do around these parts, Morne?!) Just because our blood is green, does not mean that we have to think with it. After all, that’s what the grey thing is for… 😉
@fender –
I leave the politics to the politicians or would-be politicians.
I will just stick to what I know something about – rugby! 😉
As for smaller guys being good at what we are discussing here it is quite simple – the biggest thing for them is confidence first, then technique.
You cannot coach heart or ballas, the player needs to bring that to the party – once he does that, no matter his size, you can give him the tools to succeed.
Morne, agreed – also ’bout the politics. Let’s leave them be….
I don’t know that much about the finer and more technical details of rugby to be honest – I come from a family with a baseball and poofterball heritage (sorry I had to quote Pietman there, hehe!) and continued in those mostly. But it seems I’m not alone in my ignorance for in spite of me running up huge bar bills at pubs and even rugby clubs over the years, nobody has ever been able to explain these technical aspects to me.
And the way you explain these makes a lot of sense to an enthusiastic novice like myself. And I look forward to my on-going studies!
Let me know if you’re looking for information about Fender guitars, ok? 😉
@fender –
Just a pleasure mate!!!
And funnily enough, I am looking to start learning how to play guitar so yes, I might need some help!!!
@fender –
Oh wanted to add, rugby really is a simple game, it is by trying to make it too complicated that players and coaches fail!!!
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