Analysis: Marcus Smith vs. Christian Lealiifano - The English prodigy against the Wallaby
Ulster’s clash with Harlequins on Friday night put two fly-halves head-to-head in contrasting stages of their career. A southern hemisphere stalwart making a remarkable comeback from a life-threatening illness, against an 18-year-old touted to one day be entrusted with the English 10 jersey.
Ulster’s Christian Lealiifano, who last year was undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia, showed in the match that he hasn’t lost an inch of class. Meanwhile, upstart sensation Marcus Smith, fought back with some big plays of his own – making for an intriguing encounter.
Ulster’s architect – Lealiifano and his Wall
Lealiifano is a medium-volume passer in Ulster’s system. He drifts in-and-out of first receiver, letting the play run off the halfback for periods of time before injecting himself on set formations.
Ulster came out determined to play a possession game early, holding the ball for long periods within their 1-3-3-1 pattern – even from deep in their own half.
One formation becomes apparent in this structure. After a wide stretch towards the sideline, Ulster brings play back towards the middle with one pod, before setting up the ‘Wall’ formation with the second pod – an attacking platform central to Ulster’s game plan.
Lealiifano slides into first receiver with four option runners outside of him: a Wall of three players and a fourth man (usually a back) as the boot man.
Ulster run a variety of plays off this formation. Lealiifano can simply distribute to ‘1’or ‘2’ for a hit-up, throw a cutout to ‘3’ or hit ‘4’ out the back. The boot-man ‘4’ can also run off any of the front three runners, and the forwards can tip pass amongst each other giving Ulster a multitude of possibilities from the Wall.
In the third minute, Lealiifano slashes open Harlequins with this variation – the first runner drops under him with a dummy-cut line and he drifts across the field.
Harlequins lock George Merrick breaks ranks and puts a shot on Lealiifano, leaving a gaping hole. He hits his third runner with a perfect flat cutout ball for a line break and 50m gain, leading to the first 3 points.
If Lealiifano runs a simple hit-up play with the Wall formation, the next phase he will use the half the field available to run another play – this time with the remaining backs – utilising the space to the sideline until they run out of room, at which point they begin tracking back and restart the process.
The Wall is always used in the middle of the field.
Marcus Smith – Easy does it
Harlequins are cautious with Smith’s induction to top-level rugby, he’s rarely seen at first receiver and often stationed in behind forward runners.
Their forward-dominant play gives Smith the opportunity to play the back-door option on the swivel pass and introduce himself into the game at speed with his dangerous running game. However, this approach limits his touches and ability to make a mark on the game.
On defence Smith is a quasi-fullback, removed from front-line duty and holding position in the back three on the wing. On the few occasions Ulster kicked, they kicked smartly, targeting Smith in the back and winning back possession on more than one occasion. Lealiifano was often the orchestrator of this.
Harlequins use a dosage of box kicks to relieve Smith of too much kicking. But on a few occasions, Smith showed a willingness to take risks with the boot.
Camped on the back of his own in-goal preparing for an exit kick, Smith audaciously makes a cross-kick from his in-goal across the posts, – finding his mark wide giving the Harlequins a chance to catch Ulster off guard.
However, who shuts down the play? Lealiifano.
He drags down the runner in a crucial cover tackle, gets up and swoops round to jackal the ball – earning a penalty and another 3 points.
Going blow-for-blow – Makings of a duel
With Leallifano taking the early points in this contest, Harlequins get a break. Against the run of play, they make a long run off an intercept.
An opportunity beckons for Smith to work off front-foot ball.
He calls for the ball down the short-side on the next phase and gets a one-on-one matchup – skipping around the defender almost effortlessly, illustrating the athleticism that makes him such an exciting prospect and scoring the first try of the match.
Ulster return serve not long after – getting attacking ball after a poor box kick immediately after the restart.
Lealiifano goes into distribution mode, taking control of Ulster’s pattern from a lineout: Crash middle. Spread right to sideline. Pod off 9 back to the left. Wall formation and crash middle.
Coming around the corner on the fifth phase Lealiifano hears the call for a cross kick and stabs one in behind. The kick finds space, bouncing up awkwardly for Harlequins fullback. Ulster’s inside centre Stuart McCloskey toes the ball forward and scores.
Lealiifano has officially entered the zone – showing complete mastery of Ulster’s 1-3-3-1 and the bravado to make a bold play on the fly – executing both structure and impromptu play flawlessly to hit back within minutes.
He can’t put a foot wrong at this point – he has been responsible for the work leading to all of Ulster’s 13 points.
Smith in the saddle
Down 13-5 on the scoreboard, Quins start to get more possession. Smith finds himself getting into first receiver more, and on the stroke of the half-hour mark, ignites the play.
Feeling pressure from the outside rush defender, Smith cuts back off the left foot and attacks the line, breaking through a valiant effort by Ulster’s prop Wiehahn Herbst.
The one thing you don’t want to present Smith with is a staggered defensive line, especially when the inside defender is a front-rower.
Smith feigns the gap, jinks off the left again and comes out the other side. He has the presence of mind to find an inside support runner in Kyle Sinckler out of his blind spot, but the prop is tackled around the 22.
With the pressure completely on Ulster, things fall apart just as quickly as Smith reverts back to normal structure, backing out of first receiver whilst his forwards struggle to get down the field.
After two aimless phases, Harlequins are completely disjointed and the momentum is lost from their line break.
With Smith falling back out of play, halfback Ian Prior has to carry across field when no forward runners present themselves at first receiver. The outside men are so deep, Prior has to launch a wide pass further losing more ground.
On the next phase, Smith works around back into first receiver and attacks the line working an inside ball with winger Charlie Walker. Walker ghosts straight through and stands up Ulster fullback Charles Piutau to score under the posts.
Smith is most dangerous playing flat and attacking the line. His best asset is his running game and any time he can use it, the better. Within seconds he had opened up Ulster with two line breaks – one himself and assisting on another.
In Harlequins’ current structure, his opportunities of getting first receiver ball are limited. He’s generally out of play for long periods of the match, and on this occasion reverting to his role nearly blew a scoring opportunity.
Hopefully, as his game develops, he is encouraged to find more touches and structures are put in place to support that. The potential is there for Smith to be a game-breaking force.
Master and apprentice
Smith had worked his side back into the game down 16-12 at halftime. But Ulster who were far more clinical in what they were doing, cracked the Harlequins three minutes into the second half and never looked back.
Lealiifano was involved in more lead-up play through the second half, although in a lesser capacity as Ulster found other ways to break the Harlequins.
The performance from Lealiifano was world-class, but Smith showed he will be a force one day. On this occasion though, the Wallaby got the treats.
Comments on RugbyPass
Sorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
1 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
2 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
2 Go to commentsIt’s the massive value he brings with regard team culture/values, preparation, etc. Can’t buy that. I’m hoping to see the young locks get their chance in the big games though.
10 Go to commentsAll good, Gregor, except that you neglected to mention Sam Darry amongst that talented pool of locks. In fact, given Hannah’s inexperience and the fact that Holland won’t be eligible until next year, Lord and Darry might be the frontrunners this year, to join Barrett, Tuipoluto, Va’ii and possibly Whitelock. In fact there might be room for all of them if Barrett played 6 (like Ollie Chessum).
10 Go to commentsHis value is stabilizing the ship 20 - 40 minutes out from the final whistle plus his valuable experience to the underlings coming through.
10 Go to commentsWhat is criminal is she acts like it's no problem her actions have have cause the Italian player to lose her playing career, lose salary, if she did this in day to day life she would be in jail, she is a complete thug!!!
3 Go to commentsCorrect me if i’m wrong but the sadas have to win all games running into the finals yeh nah?
1 Go to commentsDon’t like Diamond but the maul is a joke, the sight of a choke tackle creating a maul then players in offside positions flopping on it killing the ball but then getting the put in? Banal.
3 Go to commentsHopefully Tabai Matson returns to Crusaders as head coach next season.
1 Go to commentsstorm in a teacup really. Penalty only so play on as the try was scored. Now the real question is: why was Maitland allowed to pass the ball off the floor? That is illegal but refs never pick it up.
1 Go to commentsWhen Beauden Barrett signed his contract before the 2023 RWC to play in Japan in 2024, it was NOT part of a sabbatical agreed to with NZRU prior to his signing, as was Ardie Savea and Sam Cane. Barrett changed his mind after the fact and negotiated his return to NZ Rugby and he was given permission to be eligible for All Black selection straight away once he signed a new contract to return to the Blues in 2025. Therefore, why would anyone argue against Whitelock returning to the All Blacks straight away after his season is France is finished if he signs a new contract with NZRU which includes a Super Rugby contract in 2025? If Barrett can, Whitelock should be allowed too.
10 Go to commentsThe All Blacks will select 5 locks this season. Scott Robertson will most likely want to select 2 veteran locks who can start right away in 2024 and 3 young promising locks who he would like to be pushing hard for selection in the starting XV in two years time- 2026. Scott Barrett is a world class lock. Who would you rather start beside him this season against England, South Africa, Ireland, and France- Sam Whitelock or Patrick Tuipulotu? I would choose Whitelock over Tuipulotu all day, every day.
10 Go to comments