Analysis: Why aren’t the All Blacks scoring from set-piece attack anymore?
The All Blacks have been blowing teams off the park in 2018 – by an average scoreline of 40 to 12. All Test matches have followed a similar script, a tight first half followed by a second-half explosion of points.
Counter-attack and turnover play has been grabbing all the headlines, as the deadly efficiency of the All Blacks’ free-form play has been responsible for most of their points.
Despite tries coming by the bucketload, one area of the All Blacks’ game that hasn’t been firing is the typically productive set-piece.
Just three tries have been scored through set-piece strike plays this year, and two of these were one-pass plays direct from Aaron Smith – one try down a short-side to free Reiko Ioane and one try with Damian McKenzie running a hard line into the 9-10 channel (aided by some referee obstruction) against France.
It has been the least effective aspect of the All Blacks’ game (in terms of points scoring) so far this season, and offers at least one area with which the team can improve.
Eventually, there will be a day where turnover ball dries up, and New Zealand fans will be praying this isn’t during a World Cup knockout match. The world number two, Ireland, is renowned for mistake-free possession-based rugby. Even Scotland last year controlled the majority of the game at Murrayfield with a large possession percentage. The All Blacks striking with two set-piece plays in that game put the match just beyond the reach of the Scots, illustrating their importance.
The basic foundation of All Blacks set piece play
The All Blacks set-piece attack has been working from the same base play for a couple of years now.
The standard play used is having the second five-eighth take the ball to the line, with the option of playing the centre short or the first five looping around the back. The 12 will often get the ball direct from the halfback unless it’s a lineout, where a 10 can be used as a link to help the ball reach the midfield from the touchline.
The 12 can either hold the ball and take contact, play short to 13 or play the backdoor to 10 to attack the wider channels. Blindside wingers can be ‘attached’ at various stages of the play to offer another variable. Often the All Blacks use one of the first two options, which results in a simple midfield crash that sets up the All Blacks phase play.
The most central cog in the All Blacks set-piece attack has become the 12. He handles the ball more than the 10, either as a crash runner or as a decision-maker deciding to play the short runner or the backdoor.
This is why Ryan Crotty and Sonny Bill Williams determine how effective the All Blacks set-piece attack can be, and more often than not, when Williams is in the line up the side starts to open up teams more.
Crotty will do the job but can be more easily controlled by the opposition, whereas Williams brings size and offloading skills, which really causes headaches for the opposition and opens up the lane for the 13.
His size commands attention from multiple defenders, and if you only have one man on him, his arm can be free to get the ball away. Even if he commits two defenders he can get the arm away.
https://giphy.com/gifs/2fVxt3xoIF6p5rFtmr
In the absence of Williams, this version of the All Blacks set-piece attack has been rather pedestrian, struggling to make frequent line breaks and score points.
This base play is called on most scrums and a large number of lineouts in good field position – in the opposition half or around halfway. When they go without their central playmaker, Williams, it is not nearly as effective.
Lineout options
The All Blacks have mainly used 6-man and 7-man lineouts across all areas of the field. In midfield situations, they have gone off the top and played with a bit more creativity, on occasion using the full backline to run strike plays.
On these limited occasions they haven’t turned the ball over, but haven’t deceived enough to create line breaks. The more moving parts, the more difficult the play is to execute. The All Blacks haven’t found the timing yet to pull off impressive strike plays on a regular basis.
Just one has been done this year, with McKenzie and Williams as the 10-12 combination, using the same base play with the blind winger Rieko Ioane lurking inside off McKenzie.
https://giphy.com/gifs/FfET9HLc4cQNAgPalV
Work in progress
Beauden Barrett’s running game is his obvious strength, while he isn’t renown for ball playing flat at the line. He can distribute early ball across the backline, short and long with reliability, but hasn’t been seen taking on the line and playing others into space often.
It could be said that Barrett’s role during set-piece has been minimized like no other 10 in international rugby due to the importance of the 12 to the All Blacks set-piece attack. He rarely plays first receiver, and if he does it’s usually to distribute early ball. They haven’t used him as a playmaker and haven’t found the best way to create space out wide for him as a runner either.
Without the natural force of Sonny Bill Williams in the lineup, the side lacks a true ball player who can play flat and free the likes of Rieko Ioane, Waisake Naholo and Ben Smith, resulting in teething issues.
Aaron Smith can take some of the playmaking load, but a balanced playbook around both 9-10 keeps the opposition guessing. Using Smith frequently will always be in close channels, forgoing the chance to attack the wider channels.
Until they can find someone who can provide fill that second ball player role in tandem with Smith, the back line won’t be opening up teams in one phase strikes. McKenzie is probably the most developed in this area, but won’t be starting at 10 anytime soon.
Necessity or nice-to-have?
Although they haven’t been scoring directly off strike plays, the All Blacks have been finding the chalk a few phases later after building pressure through normal patterns. They have been able to break down France and Australia fairly easily with ball in hand.
With England and Ireland to come later in the year, there is a need to find a better return from the set-piece platform. Both those sides are better at absorbing pressure during phase play with 14-men available in the defensive line.
When playing a strong defensive side, the opportunity to strike with the extra space afforded in the 7-on-7 situation set-piece situations is golden, which is why finding a lethal set-piece attack is imperative before the Northern tour.
Having a healthy Sonny Bill Williams back will immediately boost the set-piece attack but the All Blacks need to explore more scrum plays that attack the edge, showing more intent than simply crashing into the midfield. Improved efficiency from set-piece strike plays will provide the third dimension to the attack that has been missing in 2018.
Comments on RugbyPass
ABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
225 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
225 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to commentsIf he had stopped insisting on playing in the backrow, instead of wing, where everyone told him he should, he would have been a Bok years ago….
11 Go to comments‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
16 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
16 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt 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
84 Go to comments