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Rugby Is A 23 Player Game: How The All Blacks Bench Has Become Their Biggest Weapon

By Scotty Stevenson
bench

The All Blacks bench has been given plenty of praise for its performance against the Welsh last week, but as Scotty Stevenson discovers, it’s not all about the final twenty minutes. It starts much earlier than that.

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So much has been said about the final twenty minutes of the first test between the All Blacks and Wales, and with good reason: the last quarter has become New Zealand’s shining time, a period of the match when ‘the closers’, as the bench has become known, get to wreak merry havoc with tiring opposition defences.

Today the eight men on the bench have become fundamentally important to the team’s chances of success, so much so that Beauden Barrett – a preternaturally gifted ball player who starts every game at franchise level – has been transformed into the world’s finest finisher by the All Blacks coaches and seems destined to remain there for the foreseeable future.

As rugby has morphed from a 15-man game to a 23-man effort, the All Blacks have continually tinkered with their bench timings. Early in the substitution age there was almost a blanket policy that changes were only made for the final quarter, but that has been refined by the New Zealanders in recent seasons, and Saturday night at Eden Park provided a perfect illustration of how much responsibility the bench has now assumed.

To wit: the All Blacks bench played a combined 205 minutes in the first test, whereas the Welsh bench only managed to total 130 minutes. That is a massive difference in game time for the respective sub squads, and shows the coaching staff have enormous faith in all 23 of their playing roster.

The respective front rows are a case in point: Charlie Faumuina (38 minutes) and Wyatt Crockett (36 minutes) each were given the chance to the play almost an entire half of the test, while their two opposites, Rob Evans (19 minutes) and Tomas Francis (12 minutes) barely took the field for a quarter each. In other words, Crockett and Faumuina got to take advantage of their own fresh legs and tiring opponents for almost twenty minutes.

Moreover, that twenty minutes allowed their bodies to tune in to the scrum, and the pace of the game. By the time Evans and Francis finally made it to the party, their effectiveness was always going to be limited, and that of Crockett and Faumuina was going to be at its peak.

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And these timing differences are not limited to the front row. The All Blacks had, in fact, made five changes before Welsh coach Warren Gatland went to his own bench for the first time. As well as Crockett and Faumuina, Patrick Tuipolotu (31 minutes), Ardie Savea (23 minutes) and Beauden Barrett (41 minutes) had already been injected into the game, each of them in key positions.

When the Welsh team did make changes, they were wholesale. The first four substitutions – two front rowers, a fullback and a midfielder – all entered the game with 19 minutes remaining. Jake Ball, the lock, made his entrance a minute later, and then the last three changes were all made with 12 minutes to go.

All up, every Welsh change was made over a seven-minute period of the final quarter. Contrast that with the All Blacks who never once made multiple substitutions and spread their own changes out from the 39th minute to the 71st, or 32 minutes.

The upshot: the All Blacks bench returned close to 100 metres with ball in hand, made 14 tackles, beat four defenders, made two offloads and two try assists, and nailed a try of their own thanks to Nathan Harris. The Welsh bench, meanwhile, collected 27 metres, made eight tackles, beat two defenders, made no offloads and created no tries.

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Sam Warburton, the Welsh Captain, believes the players ran about a kilometre and a half more in the test at Eden Park than they usually would in a Six Nations match, such is the pace and width and adventure of the southern game. That being the case, if the Welsh want to compete with the All Blacks over the next fortnight, they must find a way to get fresher legs into the game faster, without disrupting the core of the team.

The All Blacks at the moment have found the formula for finishing the big games: put eight closers on the bench, and start them earlier.

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Jon 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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