Analysis: Why Clive Woodward's attacking plans from 2003 are vitally important to this new era of defensive dominance
“All motion is cyclic. It circulates to the limits of its possibilities and then returns to its starting point.” – Robert Collier
When rugby went professional back in 1995, the stakes in the game were raised.
Money for the first time, was involved, leading to teams and coaches being placed under greater pressure to win. With this, came desire to improve, and to take inspiration and advancements from more evolved codes.
This was when rugby’s adoption of league tactics began. When Rod MacQueen and Graham Henry took over their respective Wallabies and All Blacks sides, the insertion of league shapes and lines became standard practice.
Rugby union defences weren’t ready for the advances in attacking play that league had developed, the results of which created the brilliant try-scoring sides that we knew they would become.
In their haste to keep up, many followed suit, gradually replacing what were considered outdated attack shapes. But then, the famous league rush defence became mainstream, and the ability to shut down league shapes became far more common.
“I think there’s a bias towards the defence, that’s definitely happened, and then because of that everyone thinks we are closer than we probably really are. But someone’s going to crack that defensive nut, because history tells us it will happen, and when it does, then it will open up the floodgates for the attacking game to come strong again. Then everyone will be saying there’s a bias towards attacking, and they’ll go away and work harder on what they’re going to do on defence.” – Steve Hansen, 2019
With league defence, the tries dried up, leading to the years of kick-tennis that we saw combined with the experimental law variations. The result is that modern defences are specifically designed to nullify these attacking shapes, as shown by South Africa shutting down Wales’ “slice” play below.
This play is the standard second-line release shape across all teams. Having two lines of attack (flat and deep) is the default attacking template in union and league defences are primed to rush up and cut off the second receiver and stifle the attack.
This league shape replaced a certain play that was widespread in union during the late 90’s-2000’s and was one of the base moves of the England attack under Clive Woodward.
World Class
England called this set of plays ‘World Class’. Along with ‘Missile Carry’, it was one of their go-to attacking plays and when performed accurately, was incredibly effective, be it off set-piece or phase play. They had three key variations within it.
World Class – ‘Alpha’ option
The Alpha option is when the short pass is given to the strike runner, which is Will Greenwood coming from deep in the below example.
It is the yin to the yang of the slice option.
The decoy runner (bravo) drifts out to lure the defence and draw attention away from the strike runner, whilst the strike runner (alpha) collects the ball from the distributor’s shoulder to hit the created open space.
In the slice, the decoy runner runs a much flatter ‘unders’ line, with the strike runner taking the pass behind in an ‘in-to-out’ line.
World Class – ‘Bravo’ option
This is where the play gets a little bit more interesting.
Rather than the alpha receiving the pass, the M1 pass is given to the bravo option in Will Greenwood on the drifting line. The M1 pass is also run off the second receiver in this instance.
The length of pass and his crab allows Greenwood to target the outside shoulder of Welsh outside centre Mark Taylor, committing Taylor and releasing Mike Tindall right into the 13 channel.
World Class – “Charlie”
The ‘charlie’ option was England’s use of the world-class ‘bravo’ option, to pass to an alpha runner from another world-class set.
All in all, it provided options to strike the 10/12/13 channel as well as the edges if they’re deemed exploitable, so changes could be called whilst on the move.
Why does this still have relevance?
This move provides a different picture to what league defences are now expecting, especially at the edges.
The modern defences of today are designed to shut down the second line of attack released by the slice option. These lines are practised constantly as standard structures in the game, and unfortunately, are often straight lines.
Very rarely do players change their angles midline nowadays, which is unfortunate as it is a hugely under-coached skill in the game.
The straight lines run on attack combined with the intense pre-match analysis and league defensive patterns, makes modern offences easy to contain.
With straight lines, even a ball-watching defender knows the attacker’s line, making the read easy without even watching the runner.
Below, we can see how the fade by Jacob Stockdale allows him to get outside George North.
This is all down to the change in Stockdale’s line and the pass from Conor Murray, which is designed to take this into account. They used this throughout the Six Nations and shows what the long pass and a change in running-line can do.
The ‘World Class’ potential
The ‘world class’ family of strike plays provides consistent changes in line and lateral movement, which adds a layer of trouble to the defence as their starting defensive positions will be nullified when the pass is made.
This means the defence can’t simply predict where the line will end.
The world class move could come back into play to move the ball wide off first phase.
Johan Cruyff said “speed is often confused with insight. When I start running earlier than the others, I appear faster”.
This is the basis behind the world class ‘bravo’ option, the lateral movement is chosen by the attacker himself, therefore he can choose to crab a short distance to draw defence wide to open up space for the alpha option, or crab a large distance as Greenwood showed, for the long pass to exploit the 13 channel.
Side-by-side comparisons
Here, we can take a look at two wide moves run against the South African defence.
One ‘world class’ variation ran by Australia, and one “sweep” move by New Zealand.
The New Zealand sweep play is well-handled by the Springboks, and doesn’t succeed in creating an overlap on the edge.
When the last man, Reiko Ioane, receives the ball, he is covered by the last defender, fullback Willie le Roux.
The ‘world class’ variation by the Wallabies succeeded in getting the last man Reece Hodge unmarked, with fullback Warrick Gelant seen covering Dane Haylett-Petty one man in.
Unfortunately for the Wallabies, the last pass goes astray and the opportunity isn’t taken.
Whilst the South Africans are missing Cheslin Kolbe and Willie le Roux against Australia, there is a key difference not player related, which causes this overlap.
Against New Zealand, Jesse Kriel is able to get over to handle the decoy runner, clarifying Kolbe’s role as the ‘catch up’ defender.
The miss pass to Crotty is on a straight line, meaning the proactive drift catches up, allowing Kriel to mark Ben Smith, freeing Kolbe (14) to fulfil his role as the catch-up defender (CUD).
This presents Kolbe with a familiar picture, and he is able to catch up, as is the South African standard operating procedure.
Most importantly, this means Le Roux is able to mark Ioane.
Against Australia, Matt Toomua as the second receiver is able to get to Kriel’s outside shoulder, meaning Sbu Nkosi has to mark Kurtley Beale, not filling his CUD role on the blind winger coming across, Dane Haylett-Petty.
The bravo line swerve means as the pass is received, the runner is crabbing.
This not only means he skips defenders in the line, but if he’s a speedster, this means he is likelier to target weak outside shoulders.
Toomua runs the bravo line, and runs onto the ball, with a flat pass from Bernard Foley.
Toomua’s speed and flatness of pass means he can commit Kriel even on the drift, meaning Sbu Nkosi moves in to cover Beale’s line.
Due to Warrick Gelant’s natural depth coming up from the back three pendulum, he can’t shut down Dane Haylett-Petty in time, meaning Reece Hodge receives the pass unmarked.
The Main Benefits
The main benefits of this are found in depth and late decision making.
This shape has an advantage over the slice play due to the alignment that the ball can be caught at.
The slice shape demands a very steep pass. This is due to the decoy runner blocking the passing lane.
Jonathan Davies inadvertently blocks the flatter pass. As Davies starts his line in front of North, at no point can North receive the flat and wider pass.
The pass can never be as flat or as long as it can be with the world class, as that pass in the slice will be blocked by the decoy runner.
This is why the slice option has to stay deep to receive the pass.
This means the depth of the second receiver, and therefore the line, can be anywhere from five to fifteen metres. This not only buys time for the defence to cover that line off first phase, but activates the CUD, as we saw against New Zealand.
In contrast, world class always allows for the wide and flat miss pass, as the bravo option starts in front of the alpha.
Here, we see Foley make the pass, and Toomua run onto it flat. This means he not only has skipped more defenders with his crab run, but the line off him is flatter, meaning the defence’s inside drift don’t have the time to cover them.
The same principle happens in 2003, Greenwood crabs out to commit the 13 then runs onto the ball flat, exactly like Toomua on Kriel.
The slice option would put the play deeper, providing more chance for the opposition to cover.
Late decision making
In terms of rush defences, they usually bide their time, coming up in stages. These stages are triggered by the use of a slice option.
This pass is easy to see and easy to predict. The second its released, the defence knows from its angle the target and there is only one option.
In world class, there’s not, as the pass goes in front of both alpha and bravo. Either are viable options, and that is the second key advantage of this.
The defence won’t know which player the ball goes to when it’s released, whereas they instantly know with the slice.
On top of this, as the alpha option starts deep, he takes longer to come into play. This buys time for the bravo’s crab and holds the rush defence, as they don’t know the option until the ball has passed the alpha, and they can’t rush if the inside is being hit.
Combine this with its late decision making, and this will pose questions.
This shape is all about change in the predictability of attack. This has the potential to confuse the defence at the edges, as they’re used to the cues and safety of shutting down straight league lines, not the curved lines and variable crab length the bravo can run.
With the familiarity of league lines in attack, something else needs to be found. In the right circumstances, this may pose a solution.
Comments on RugbyPass
I do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
4 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
27 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
2 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
3 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to commentsFinn Russell logic: “World” = 4 countries. Ireland may be at or near the top. FR’s bigger concern should be he and his fellow Scots (incl. the Bloemfontein ones) sliding back down to below top 10
42 Go to commentsMind games have begun. Ireland learned their lesson after saying they could beat England with 13 players or whatever. Still, if they win at Loftus, that would be impressive - final frontier etc.
58 Go to comments$950k for a Prop that isn’t fit enough to play 10 mins of rugby? Surely there is someone better to replace Big Mike with
3 Go to commentsFour Kiwis in that backline. A solid statement on the lack of invention, risk-taking and joy in the NH game; game of attrition and head- banging tedium. Longterm medical problems aplenty in the future!
6 Go to commentsGood article, I learnt quite a lot. A big sliding door moment was in the mid 00s when they rejected Steve Anderson's long term transformation and he wrote Ireland's strategy instead.
2 Go to commentsHi Dr Nick! I'm worried that I've started to enjoy watching England and have actually wanted them to win their last two games. What would you prescribe? On a more serious note, I've noticed that the standard of play in March is often better than early February. Do you think this is because of the weather or because the players have been together for longer?
27 Go to commentsMy question in all this brett is who is going to wear the consequences of these actions? Surely just getting the sack isn’t sufficient? A teenager working the till at woolies would probably get taken to court if they took $20 out of the till. You mean to tell me that someone can spend $2.6 million and get away with it? Where was it spent? What companies/people were the beneficiaries etc? How is it just being talked about as an ‘oopsie’ and we all just move on and not a matter of the court for gross negligence, fraud, take your pick…
20 Go to commentslove Manu too but England have relied on him coming back from injury for far too long and not sorted the position with someone else long term . It will be a blessing he has gone . Huge shame he was so injury prone . God speed Manu .
3 Go to commentsI agree with Ben Smith about Brett Cameron. The No. 6 position has to be a monster and a genuine lineout option, like Ollivon, Lawes (now Chessum), Du Toit, etc. The only player who fits that bill right now is Scott Barrett. A fit and fizzing Tuipolotu together with one of the young towers, Sam Darry or Josh Lord, would give Razor the freedom to play Barret at 6.
16 Go to commentsOutstanding article, Graham. Agree with all of it. And enjoy the style of writing too (particularly Grand Slap!).
3 Go to commentsI wouldn't pay a cent for that loafer. He just stands around, waiting for play to come his way. He won't make the Wallabies.
3 Go to commentsGood bit of te reo maori Nic. Or is that Niko or Nikora? On the theme of trees the Oaks v Totara. Game plan would be key. I have one but it would cost you.
27 Go to comments> Shaun Edwards’ You should not have to score 30 points to win a game, as exciting as it is. This statement was surprising to me. It is nonsensical .I guess it is a defence coach speaking. But head coach, defence and attacking coaches all work together. They are inseparable. You score more than the opposition to win. It only needs to be one score. You score whatever the game demands, whatever the opposition demand. You defend whatever it takes. The attack coach needs to be able to clock up 30pts if need be.
27 Go to comments