Bob Dwyer Rugby Workshops

I don’t mind what players do on the rugby pitch; what they do very much in tactics – coaches – then the teams. I do mind however how they do it. How equates to execution.

If you think that sounds hairy-fairy, let me go on.

In attack, the ball carrier can do 3 things - run, pass or kick. His teammates, the other 14, can only do one thing, support. The sum total of these things is 4. Run, pass, kick and support.

Is it too much to ask that they do it properly?

There are many facets to these four tasks. Straight runs, over’s runs, under’s runs, side step, swerve etc, etc. The players on the inside of the ball carrier are called inside support. Players on the outside are outside runners and, perhaps, if a break has been made inside them and they are chasing to support, they might be considered outside support players.

How the individual players execute perfect technique under game pressures can only be perfected by perfect practice. At practice sessions, the coaches must insist always on the perfect execution of the key factors of perfect technique.

Evidence of poor technique is there for all to see. To highlight a few:

Luke Burgess - too high in behind the tackle contest, and too slow to get there. His foot spread base is also too narrow.

Genia improved this position somewhat. But in one scrum feed, Genia failed to feed the ball properly and South Africa won the scrum against the feed. Thank goodness the referee ordered the scrum to be fed again. How can this possibly be? How simple is this task? Yet we have a test scrum half, who people describe as a good player, who cannot feed the scrum properly.

At our lineout late in the game, when we were attacking the Springboks line, there was an obvious total misconnection between hooker and the jumpers - for yet another win against the throw. How can this possibly be? My experience tells me that only shoddy practice work can result in shoddy execution.

Two tries were scored through the 10 – 12 channel from set plays. It is misleading for people to say there is confusion between Giteau and Adam Ashley Cooper as to who was making the tackle. Defensive patterns have strict fundamental underlying rules governing their execution.

Drift defence must always be pushed from inside. Thus if there was to be a shuffle by defenders, Giteau would have to push Ashley Cooper. Giteau was forced to stay man on man by good play from Morne Steyn and those inside him. Ashley Cooper was horribly wrong in drifting when not pushed. He even half turned his shoulders to face outside, when fundamental defensive principles in all cases requires shoulders to stay square to the touch line.

The first try in the 4^th minute by Du Preez from a free kick defies explanation. How players can lose focus of their allotted task 4 minutes into the game is beyond me. This is surely a reflection of the total lack of mental preparation of the team. It certainly looked that way. They were keener on telling the referee he was incorrect, than they were on defending their try line – after 4 minutes!

The coaches must take full responsibility for this. It is time to get rid of them. We have gone backwards this year in all areas of the game.

I have long been a firm supporter of Robbie Deans. I can’t believe that the Crusaders and All Blacks performances that I witnessed in recent years were not influenced by him to a huge degree. I think that Robbie Deans must be a very good coach, but the work coming through from his assistant coaches is dreadful. This will cost potentially good players their positions in the national side and this is not right.

I know from my vast experience that the key factor components of all the techniques required can be executed simply. It requires accurate teaching and constant vigilance throughout every practice session. Good teaching pre-supposes learning. The tasks are simple and the players aren’t learning. Therefore, Is the syllabus wrong or are the coaches unable to apply the technique to the game situation ?

Last season tight head prop, Al Baxter, took giant steps forward under assistant coach Michael Foley. It already appears to have cost him his position. Luke Burgess will be next to go and Robbie Deans knows he is a potential talent. The coaching staff  have let him down too.

Why did Matt Giteau consistently get second touches of the ball in Western Force Super 14 teams and has hardly had one from fly half in test matches this year ?

Wycliffe Palu is a quality player who can influence the outcome of matches. He was playing poorly and he’s been dropped, how?

The Wallaby backs seem incapable of taking advantage of an overlap. I could stay on this subject for hours but we didn’t even look like scoring from a 5 on 3 yesterday. Straight running, support play, and shifting the ball along each player in the line - we seem to find it impossible to run straight, shift the ball and support. Hitting a hole on a late unders line to bring inside runners or looping players into subsequent gaps – all of which seems as easy as pie to South African and new Zealand players – is obviously far too difficult for our players.

Our body height and leg drives at the breakdown is schoolboy stuff. I shudder to think what great forward coaches like Dave Brockoff and Jake Howard must think of this pathetic performance. Frequently, it’s a bit hard to see what our body height is really like.

How can we play with urgency and numbers at the breakdown, driving past the ball on the ground, when for the first 60 minutes of the game erect body height or bridging over the ball by the few players who happen to be present, was presented to us as the Wallabies answer to the powerful rucking and driving of the Springbok forwards.

The lack of urgency from our team yesterday was astonishing. People will say that they are playing without confidence but I want to tell them that I don’t care if they are confident or not. I want to know if they’ve got courage? Then, if they courageously perform something successfully they might become confident.

I can’t talk about yesterday’s game without discussing the constant plodding of our forwards, backwards and forwards across the pitch and taking up consistent positions close to a scrum half on slow ball or further into midfield on quicker ball. They place no pressure whatsoever on Springbok forwards to contest the tackle contest area. As a result, more often than not the Springboks finish with only one or at most two forwards on the ground at the tackle.

We, the rugby supporters, deserve better than this.

I leave selection until next week!!