Analysis: The curious case of Jesse Kriel
On the surface, Jesse Kriel looks unstoppable.
His bulging, muscular frame is popping out of his skin yet at 95kg he is lean enough to retain top-level speed. The utility back looks like he has all of the physical tools to dominate.
However, after three seasons of Super Rugby and international rugby, the 24-year-old monster has yet to really reach the potential that seems within his ability.
Granted, the Bulls haven’t been the team they once were. They have been inconsistent since he debuted and their indecisiveness over what position Kriel should settle on has hurt his ability to go to the next level – he started last season at fullback, was moved to the wing and finished the year at centre.
With the start of the 2018 season underway, are there any indications that he is about to breakthrough to become the kind of beast expected of him?
We dissected the Bulls upset 21-19 victory over the Hurricanes to find out if this is going to be the year for Jesse Kriel at outside centre.
Defence
In this match, he came up against two of the premier attacking midfielders in the competition last year in Ngani Laumape and Vince Aso.
He was more than adequate in shutting down his opposite Aso and played a big part in limiting Aso to just 21 running metres despite never tackling him.
Kriel aligned with Aso eight times during the match, pressuring him four times and forcing two poor passes and two errors. The Bulls made a notable effort to close space on Aso, generating decent line speed through the whole match to apply pressure. Kriel rushed 53 percent of the time on whoever carried opposite him, unsettling his opponent often creating ‘static’ ball and rushed decisions.
Kriel made fantastic defensive reads during the match, never losing his man or making a bad read once. He consistently predicted the back-door option and pressured accordingly.
His ability to stay connected with his inside defenders was also crucial in limiting the effectiveness of Aso and Laumape.
On this midfield scrum, Ihaia West does a successful job of getting outside the 9 and engaging Handre Pollard (10) into contact. The Bulls need to employ a slide defence to cover man-for-man all the Hurricanes players to that side. Pollard breaks ranks and engages with West – his original assignment is pushing out to cover Ngani Laumape (12).
Kriel is aware of Pollard’s adjustment and makes the same decision, staying connected and sliding back to take Laumape. His awareness and quick decision making saved a big play.
(This is the same play the Hurricanes used last year to great effect to open up Beauden Barrett’s running game we studied here).
At times, his wingers let him down by not staying in sync. Wes Goosen’s 65-metre chip and chase try came after Kriel’s line speed forced an awful pass that hit the ground and was put behind Goosen. Goosen wasn’t pressured, he was able to recover and manufactured a brilliant individual try.
His only missed tackle of the match was when Aso hit the 12-13 channel on a nice short ball on phase play inside the five. He made the correct read but Aso burst through his inside shoulder.
Other than that short lapse, our defensive analysis showed a solid defensive performance. He brought pressure on 53 percent of his alignments with the ball carrier and completed 86 percent of his tackles, of which 42 percent were dominant.
His consistent line speed forced three turnovers and his excellent kick chase and tackle of Ardie Savea was the catalyst for the Bulls’ match-winning try.
Defensively, he gives the Bulls a reliable rock to hold down the backline in the midfield.
Attack
On the other side of the ball is where the case of Jesse Kriel gets curious. His ability burst through early in this match but was left wanting in the second half.
His first touch in the game was a sublime one hand flick pass to free up his winger after getting to the outside of Julian Savea on a stutter step. Ihaia West was sucked in from the wing and Kriel created a 2-on-1 to craft a try out of nothing.
His second touch was a cutout ball to set his right-winger away before backing up inside on a support line.
Two touches. Two line break assists and one try assist.
His fifth touch was a line break off a scrum move and his sixth touch was another line break on counter-attack.
This was an explosion of attacking prowess in the first thirty minutes, with nearly every touch paying dividends. The problem is this would be all of it.
His second half was limited to two touches in phase play on the left wing cramped against the sideline, and one messy touch off a lineout on the back foot and the rest were spent securing loose possession.
There seems to be a distinct lack of enterprise by the Bulls when it comes to utilising Kriel as a weapon in attack. He was only used in any capacity on 30 percent of set-piece back plays, and 66 percent of these resulted in a line break for the team.
The vast majority (80 percent) of back plays used a crash runner targeting the 9-10 channel in close using John-Ben Kotze (11) or Burger Odendaal (12) as a blunt force runner. Often Kriel is tacked-on to the end of the play as a delayed option runner, never the primary focal point and rarely receives the ball.
The sole play used with Kriel as a flat option outside 12 resulted in Kriel getting a mismatch on the flyhalf West, shaking him off and making a clean break.
If Kriel is to become one of the best centres in Super Rugby the Bulls will need to find more ways to get the ball in his hands. From set-piece where the backs have much more space is a prime time to use Kriel’s power running at the line. To run only one play with Kriel as the primary option is astounding.
That they did not find ways to use him more in a tight contest where he was showing flashes of dominance could have proved costly.
It is widely known that in order to beat the New Zealand sides you need to score bucket loads of points. Finding more ways to integrate Kriel into the gameplan will help the Bulls become more potent in attack, especially with young flyhalf Handre Pollard back from injury, the two could form a formidable combination for the side.
Comments on RugbyPass
Anna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to comments