Analysis: How Faf de Klerk's NFL-style defence is causing headaches
Faf de Klerk’s return to the international fold has been an influential part of the Springboks resurgence under Rassie Erasmus. His ability to make big plays on both sides of the ball gives the Springboks a unique player no other team has.
The ferocious defence of de Klerk is unusual for a halfback, a position generally reserved for those that are smallest in stature. Faf standing at 1.72m is no exception, but to write off his tackling ability based on size is a grave mistake. His aggressiveness is similar to a Honey Badger under threat, rushing at prey with unreserved fearlessness.
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What Faf de Klerk does on the field is unlike any other halfback in World Rugby. It’s not just the fact he can take down any player one-on-one, it’s also how he is defending that is stunning.
He has the freedom to roam, deciding when to play sweeper and when to rush out of the line and as well as deciding where he wants to defend. He often switches roles on the fly, moving between the front line and the second line, between ruck channels and the edge, using concepts usually seen on an NFL field rather than in rugby.
De Klerk’s defensive role is all about disguise, surprise, and pressure, similar to some of the NFL’s best free safeties who play in innovative defensive schemes, roaming freely around the secondary or blitzing to cause disruption.
Like a safety or linebacker blitzing off the edge for a strip-sack on the quarterback, de Klerk rushes the A-gap way back from a sweeper position to strip All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith of the ball, forcing an error and winning a turnover in a play that caught Smith by surprise.
It is doubtful that Smith, with one of the quickest releases in the world, has ever been caught like this in his career.
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This high-risk high-reward nature of de Klerk’s innovative defensive play is causing havoc for not just the All Blacks but was critical against England in the June series as well. He is coming up with steals in the pivotal moments, leading to huge swings in momentum.
It’s worth pointing out that this style of defence is foreign for New Zealand halfbacks, who probably more than any other country, have become passive organisers performing the ‘sweeper’ role.
They form the second line of defence by patrolling behind rucks, organising the A-B channel and directing personnel around, whilst tracking behind the line and following the ball ruck-to-ruck. This strip-tackle by de Klerk on Maro Itoje is more common example of the type of tackle you would expect by a halfback covering from the sweeper position.
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The sweeper’s job is to read short attacking kicks, provide cover defence and a second line for any sneaky plays around the ruck. Very rarely, if at all, are they plugging into the front line to take on a ball-carrying forward.
Faf performs this sweeper role (albeit part-time) and more.
He defends in the front line in ruck channels and wide channels, he drops back in-and-out of the role as he sees fit and is starting to pressure ball carriers by rushing out of the line and is even ‘sacking’ halfbacks. To illustrate the difference between the contrasting roles, just look at de Klerk’s nine tackles to Smith’s one on the weekend.
He is literally everywhere, playing an experimental rugby-version of a free safety.
This chaotic innovation is not without risk, however, as detailed yesterday the absence of a full-time sweeper leaves the Springboks vulnerable. Their wingers are dropping back to fill this role, but if they are not aware they can get caught out as Dyantyi was on the All Blacks second try.
When de Klerk is up in the line, a clinical short kicking game could also exploit the vast open space in behind the Springboks defensive line. For the most part, it seems to work and de Klerk is pulling off big plays to compensate for the risk of having a ‘floating sweeper’.
The success of the strategy will thrive or die on the quality of his decisions, which have been brilliant so far. Because he is able to defend in the front line so well, he can also cover for any slow forwards by filling any missing gaps around the ruck.
Here he drops down from sweeper and plugs the ‘B’ gap when it remains unfilled.
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When he is out in wider channels he is not afraid to rush out and pressure the defence. His uncanny ability to make spot tackles on bigger players saved a certain try here, where his tackle restricted Squire’s ability to get away a pass and almost forces him to drop it.
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Whilst Aaron Smith and Conor Murray are generally considered the world’s best two halfbacks, none of them have this kind of autonomy or impact on defence. The plays that he is pulling off are quite simply, astounding.
Given his ability on the other side of the ball, Faf de Klerk is currently the world’s best defensive halfback, and deserves to be in the conversation when discussing who is number one.
Comments on RugbyPass
It was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
69 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
3 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
69 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
3 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to commentslooking forward to RWC2027 …. Boks on mission impossible for the Three-in-a-row, ABs to prove they being on par, France wishing to crown the “DuPont-era”, Ireland knocking on the Semi-Door ….. until then we’ll probably have to deal with Weird Ben’s fantasy-RWC23 (fun fact is, the drivel always creates a flooding of comments) …..
223 Go to commentsBen Smith you really make some good points in this article, the Springboks were not close to perfect and good still beat the All Blacks, imagine if they were as good as they were against France what a hiding the All Blacks would have gotten… maybe another Twickenham drubbing
223 Go to comments