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Four clips that suggest the Wallabies attack will click in Townsville
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Head coach Les Kiss has wasted no time in completely changing the script of the Wallabies attack; it now stretches much wider, much quicker than it ever did under Joe Schmidt.
While Kiss and his team have preached about “evolution” rather than “revolution,” there is no denying that the Wallabies attack on Saturday in Osaka was a complete deviation from Schmidt’s core values.
This is neither necessarily a good thing nor a bad thing; it just simply is, but what is clear is that the players had obvious issues with their timings and running lines in the system, and they made mistakes about when to go wide and when to go direct.
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Some of these are system teething issues, which will improve rapidly with review and training; others are a little deeper and speak to the inexperience of some of the players.
What is encouraging is that despite the Wallabies more often than not struggling to complete the pattern laid down by Kiss, they never dwelled on their mistakes; rather, they tried again.
This is due to the Kiss mentality of “having a crack”; however, what was evident in Osaka was that the Wallabies had enough X-factor and elite players to carve up Japan even when the ball hit the deck, or players missed their roles.
Kiss and his predecessor, Schmidt, both love set-piece strike moves, and this first clip shows that the theme remains consistent under this new regime.
A centre-field scrum inside the Wallabies’ own half gives them their first opportunity to flex their muscles.
A split field sees fullback Tom Wright, inside centre Hunter Paisami, and winger Harry Potter break left with halfback Ryan Lonergan, setting up a 4v3 in roughly 30m of space.
On a night where the ball was described as a “bar of soap” by captain Harry Wilson, Wright’s cut-out pass falls well short of Potter as the intended target.
As many rugby fans will know, the bounce pass never fails; however, to be frank, that is a poor effort with no real pressure on Wright.
Passing has never been Wright’s strongest skill, and it’s something he clearly has more work to do on; and this is a fix that must be hammered home for this sort of attack.
Potter collects the ball from the ever-trusty bounce pass and almost sprints around his opposing winger.
Had that ball hit Potter on the chest, then there is no doubt that the speedy winger would have gotten on the outside of his man and been in a 1v1 with the fullback, which many Wallabies fans would assume he would win with ease.
These are the small percentages where the Wallabies fell short on Saturday night.
Despite the Wallabies blundering this attack, they still managed to make it 36m downfield and then into the Japanese 22m zone.
This is where the Kiss blueprint really comes to life; flyhalf Declan Meredith sets deep to set up for the Wallabies “swing” attack, with prop Aidan Ross at the apex of the forwards pod ball playing out the back to Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.
Ross’s pass is too shallow; he is also not square enough with his pull pass, and Suaalii is too deep, and he knocks on the ball.
Had this pass gone to hand, the Wallabies would have had a 5v2 in 30m of space with Wright, Potter, Paisami as well as flyer Max Jorgensen on the wing; there is little doubt that this would’ve resulted in a try.
The issue with this swing was timing: Suaalii moves a fraction too late, and if you want to be a little picky, Potter presents too early as well, and he should be in the “stack” with Paisami and Wright, with hooker Josh Nasser out wide as his block runner.
While the ball never got out there, these are the type of “skill” errors the Wallabies must be looking at to ensure when the ball gets out there, their efforts are not wasted with a lack of deception due to missed cues.
A kick return here sees the Wallabies’ fullback Wright collect the ball 37m from his own line, and then he does what he does best: turning the Japanese defender inside out.
Wright and Meredith combine to make it past the halfway, and set up the attack.
The subsequent phase is where the issue arises; Nasser is standing flat-footed at first receiver, and his fellow pod members, Rob Valetini and Harry Wilson, are too deep to be an effective block for Wright, who is out the back.
Had the pair been flatter with Nasser, Wright’s running line and speed would’ve created a 3v2 for speedster Jorgensen, fleet-footed forward Fraser McReight, and Paisami on the wing.
Japan saw this mistiming and expertly rushed up and seemingly shut the attack down.
But again, the Wallabies’ X-factor and power were too great, and it saw Paisami streak down the sideline from a failed Japanese intercept attempt.
Paisami runs over his would-be defender and charges into Japan’s 22m zone, completing a 44m net gain for the Wallabies off a single phase of what can only be described as a botched attack structure.
What follows is another great example of determination and “having a crack” by the Wallabies.
Once on the right-hand sideline, the Wallabies assume Kiss’s desired full-field attack shape, which is littered with direct runners and out-the-back bail-out options.
Valetini at first receiver pulls to Jorgensen, who goes out the back of Suaalii to Meredith, who has a forward pod waiting in midfield.
In three quick passes, the Wallabies have fixed 13 Japanese defenders to the right of the posts with only a lock forward and a winger guarding 30m of space.
If you are to be picky here again, you’d say that Suaalii has either presented too early to give the desired effect or was too late to his designated spot a little wider, as he needs to be hitting this ball at pace going straight at the tryline.
Had Suaalii been wider and hitting a downline between Warner Dearns, the second-last defender, and the winger, the last defender, then Josh Canham and Potter on the outside could’ve walked the ball to the tryline.
Instead, Suaalii and Wright both crab laterally and allow Dearns to get across, and this pressure forces a missplay between Suaalii and Canham which sees Su’s pass go to deck.
Thankfully for the Wallabies, Potter, being the X-factor player that he is, swoops on the ball and runs 40m on the angle, beating three Japanese defenders to score the Wallabies’ first try of the night.
Again, the execution is far from perfect, and it is nonetheless a positive result, but just think about how easy it would’ve looked had Suaalii been able to hit Potter on the chest or had he run the line like he was supposed to.
These are not impossibly high standards, and while a new system will throw players’ bearings out, these are the best players in the nation; they should nail this.
In this shorter clip, the devil is once again in the detail.
Pasaimi’s initial step is lateral, and although he squares up and digs in, it is an unnecessary arc to take when he could achieve the same effect by going straight for two steps.
Due to this little misplay, Miles Amatosero’s block line is a little early, and it allows the Japanese defensive line to swim through onto Wright out the back.
Then comes the third issue: Suaalii leaves the “stack,” with Potter and Wright too early, giving Japan clear alignment cues.
This misplay cramps the space for Potter and Meredith on the wing and renders the “swing” attack redundant, as it is meant to create an overlap where there is none.
Due to the early line from Suaalii, the Wallabies have only managed to create a 2v2, although Potter is in behind Suaalii as the third player that should be the extra man.
This sort of shape is called a “swing and dig,” and the Wallabies have blundered their lines.
A cut-out pass from Wright to Meredith on the wing would’ve been the correct option to stress the Japanese defensive line in that 12m of space because the Japanese defenders had to account for Potter and Suaalii.
What follows is another example of width-to-width attack starting from the left-hand side.
Paisami passes to Valetini, who pulls out the back to Meredith, and this is where the attack breaks down again.
This time it’s Potter and Wright who get their timings wrong, and because there is no clear lead runner, Meredith’s pass hits the deck.
Wright has either been too slow to get behind or in front of Potter; either way, the wrong pass has been thrown and the lines muddled.
A clear lack of communication sees Jorgensen clean up the loose ball and the attack resets.
Had this swing gone to plan, Potter, Jorgensen and McReight out on the wing are attacking against three Japanese defenders with 30m of space.
Those three are likely to score with that space and time.
This final clip shows what happens when you have rearranged your backline a lot.
Pasami does an excellent job to square up the defence with a deft pull-out the back to Meredith, but outside him is where the error comes.
Because there is no edge forward, there is no blocker for Jorgensen, and this means the Japanese defensive line can just sit back and wait for the Wallabies until more help arrives.
Had there been a block runner or had Ben Donaldson, the second last Wallaby out, run a down line, then the desired effect would have been achieved.
This is one of those situations where the Wallabies should have just reset and gone back to ‘Schmidt-ball’ and gone route-one up the middle and waited for a better opportunity to swing.
The Wallabies are going backwards now but refuse to ‘put the gun in the holster,’ and they go for another swing.
Again, Paisami plays first receiver and passes to Charlie Cale, who pulls to Wright, who has the choice of either hitting Jeremy Williams flat or pulling out back to Suaalii.
Herein lies the problem again for the Wallabies. Williams is half a metre too early with his line, and Suaalii is a metre too narrow, and Donaldson here is far too slow to be in the stack with Suaalii and has made a wasted effort.
Wright hits Williams flat, and although he makes it over the gainline, had Suaalii and Donaldson been in position, then the Wallabies would’ve had a 3v2 in 18m of space.
Time and time again, the Wallabies missed their cues, mistimed their lines or failed to run them properly altogether.
Some passing skills in the slippery heat were subpar, and other moments are just new combinations in the new system not having been exposed to pressure before, like Suaalii and Canham combining on the edge.
There are shades of Al Pacino’s coach D’Amato speech from the movie “Any Given Sunday”;
“I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don’t quite make it. One half second, too slow, too fast, you don’t quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They’re in every break of the game, every minute, every second.”
These clips show how close the Wallabies were to regularly splitting open Japan at the weekend; it also shows how their talent and X-factor made 40m+ breaks at will even when things went to the proverbial.
The attack system works and will work better in Townsville, because even when you plan for a stacked swing attack, you still have to face it anew every time it comes around the corner, and that’s even before you account for the individual player’s skill and athleticism.
It is a good attack, and it has the substance to put plenty of points on teams, but the basic skills of catch pass, of running lines, and timing must be better.
The standard for these things must be higher.
Bounce passes, drop balls, knock-ons without true pressure are inexcusable.
What can be forgiven are people being out of position due to the new system, and that is an aspect that will improve week on week; that much is certain.
The Wallabies have proved that they won’t be disheartened by a botched raid here or there; that is good, but they must execute clinically.
The balance between the Schmidt system of narrow and controlled and the new Kiss strategy of “having a crack” out wide must marry together better in matches to come.
There were clearly moments when the Wallabies were going forward through direct carries that they should’ve continued with instead of spinning it wide into a swing.
Finding the balance between the width-to-width and route-one is the evolution needed; the wide play must be a new string to the bow, not a new instrument.
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