Wind the clock back, all the way to 1963: it was the year of ‘the big freeze’ in the UK, and hardly any club rugby had been played since Christmas. When the second round of the [then] Five Nations spun around in the middle of February, only the underground heating system at Murrayfield enabled the match between Scotland and Wales to go ahead.
On a bleak and foggy afternoon, Welsh scrum-half Clive Rowlands decided on a kicking strategy, fortified by the knowledge he could kick straight into touch from any part of the field. There were a world record 111 lineouts in the game, 44 of which morphed into dank, humourless mauls. Schoolboys on the side of the pitch away from the main action were so bored by proceedings they began pelting the touch judge with snowballs.
It was one of the bitterest winter days in living memory, and not just because of the weather. The hands of mercurial Welsh number 10 Dai Watkins turned blue. He only touched the ball five times in 80 minutes: “once to collect the Scottish kick-off, twice to pick up their grub-kicks ahead, and twice only to catch passes from my scrum half”. The little Newport magician was lucky not get frostbite.
Dennis Busher of The Daily Herald claimed after the icy sleet had settled ‘international rugby is in its death throes as a spectator sport’. Wales won 6-0 but a crisis of confidence in the northern hemisphere game was now the central topic of conversation. As Daily Express correspondent Pat Marshall concluded:
“This was power-rugby, brutally bludgeoned up and down the touchlines by two brutish packs, with kicking scrum-halves yapping at their heels. It has no part in the pattern of British rugby, where quickness of wit and fleetness of foot still counts for more than brawn supported by an educated boot. Rowlands won a tactical victory, but it was no victory for rugby.”
The far-reaching tremors caused rugby governance to fully adopt ‘the Australian dispensation’ and ban direct kicks to touch from outside the 22 five years later, in 1968. Suddenly teams had to think of other ways to move the ball up and down the field – and so, overlap rugby was born. It is the way rugby has often evolved, in impulsive fits and starts triggered by spectator trauma.
By 1971, the light had dawned on a new era and Wales were routinely bringing their outstanding full-back JPR Williams into the attacking line and scoring overlap tries for fun – even against the same opponents, even at the same venue as that landmark match in 1963.
That is the warm glow of rugby nostalgia embodied in two short, seminal clips of action. If the defending wing stays out with his man, the full-back [Williams] can step back and pick up his back-row support coming from the inside; if he chooses to come in to take JPR man-and-ball, the full-back can pass to Gerald Davies for the wing to trace a beautiful arc to the corner. It was all so simple back then.
Roll the clock forward to the present day, and overlaps are a lot harder to find against the very best defences in the world – and by ‘best’, I mean the South African pattern of defence employed by Jacques Nienaber for the Springboks, and now firmly installed at Irish province Leinster. The space afforded on the edges of the field is a venus flytrap containing only the promise of honey for those unwise enough to enter the snapping green, or mid-blue jaws.
It is perhaps the ultimate irony it is the capital province of Ireland which has been transformed in the space of a couple of seasons, from the team best able to use the full width of the field and create breaks on attack, to the side most expert at preventing them.
If the rugby gods have yet to pronounce final judgement upon whether the new South African immoveable object is an improvement on the previous irresistible Irish force, Leinster have certainly planted a flag in the ground against their old bête noir La Rochelle. Leinster have won their past three encounters in the Investec Champions Cup and two of those victories have come away from home. The spell has been broken.
The main reason for that success is the quality of the Leinster defence, which has only conceded two tries over three games played. One early defensive ‘chord’ set the tone for the entire match.
In previous generations you might have seen Leinster wing Jimmy O’Brien back off and drift towards the last attacker. Not so now. O’Brien hurtles up on the outside shoulder of the passer inside him [La Rochelle full-back Brice Dulin] and forces a dead duck of a delivery under pressure. The remainder of the Leinster defence simply slides across behind the rush to establish a new defensive rampart ten metres ahead of the previous ruck.
The fabled coach of the 1971 Lions, Carwyn James, had a training routine in which a chain of passers would be required to beat a man running at full tilt to the opposite touchline. ‘The pass always beats the man’ was his credo, but in modern praxis that is all too often no longer true. ‘The man’ and his mates recover much too vigorously for the pass to hit its mark.
This represents the very best type of scenario for La Rochelle to shift the ball wide: a lineout turnover where the visitors are caught in an attacking/kicking formation, and the entire width of the field in which to exploit it. Moreover, in this instance the blitzer [Leinster left wing Jamie Osborne] is successfully bypassed and there is a clear three-to-one overlap in the right 15m zone of the field.
Leinster are saved by the excellence of their second-tier defence, featuring two back-rowers [Caelan Doris, and Josh van der Flier in the red hat] and recovering full-back Jordie Barrett. That trio not only stop Rochelais wing Jack Nowell in his tracks, they strip him of the ball for good measure. It is no longer enough for the ball to beat the man, now it has to pull two rabbits out of the same hat and beat a double layer of D.
The crux of the game was reached as early as the 14th minute. The home side spent over four and half minutes of active time within 10m of the Leinster goal-line without remotely threatening to score. They tried moves from scrum.
Look where Leinster left wing Osborne is defending before he breaks up the play – 10m inside the near post, three men in on La Rochelle 10 Antoine Hastoy!
The fortunes of Les Maritimes did not improve from lineout.
Whenever the ball went to width, it was the Irishmen who became the aggressors and assumed the initiative on defence. The pressure on the last pass in defence more than compensated for the extra man in attack throughout the game
If Ireland, under the watchful auspices of interim head coach Simon Easterby, decide to push their chips ‘all-in’ on the Nienaber pattern of defence, it will present their closest Six Nations challengers France with a whole new set of problems.
La Rochelle could not unlock the Leinster D with either the power of the 7-1 bench, or the six internationals starting in their backline. Will Les Bleus do any better in Dublin on 8th March, even with the likely cavalry from Stade Toulousain and Union Bordeaux-Bègles reinforcing their ranks? Can the power of the Top 14 overwhelm the smarts of the URC, with a little South African frisson to boot?
The larger question of how the nuance of the pass in attack can establish its credentials against a proper Springbok-style, Nienaber-mentored defence at the highest level likewise remains unanswered. The pass does not beat the man too often in that contest. It is a conundrum which would test the problem-solving skills of even a coach as bright as Carwyn James to the absolute limit.
Hey Nick. If this sort of stuff is what we can expect for 2025 this is going to be a year to put a laurel wreath round on the calendar. Loved it. Took me down memory lane to Doc's lectures on "How to create an overlap." His contention one of the best protagonists of the overlap was an outside centre standing close to the No12 and then taking the outside gap. Doc's minimum for a No13 was the speed to take an outside gap. The opposition outside centre is committed and the wing has to become involved so the attacking wing is unmarked - yes there is the inside centre and full back covering but that's where a wing with the speed of the late Andy van der Watt or Bryan Habana comes in. Give that speed an eighth of a gap and they're gone,
Another thought - we were always taught to pick a spot on the inside hip and in deuce court right shoulder on inside hip and in advantage court other way round. We used the so called drift defence and I think I am going to make a fool of myself, but Nienaber's defence looks like the old drift defence following the ball so that more and more defenders are converging round fewer and fewer attackers. Look forward to more Nick.
Hi Graham.
The big problem compared to Doc's era is the one line of defence introduced by League coaches, and increasingly quick forwards covering the gaps left by the rush!
Nienaber's D works with the first line rushing and cover sliding in behind it, so it is always defending about 10m further upfield than an orthodox drift where all the defenders are simply sliding across as one line.
So I apologize upfront for commenting on multiple articles by you. Between the very close fires (in LA) and being away for the funeral of my mom-in-law, it has been quite difficult.
First on your scrum issue. When the "coordinated push" (bajada for the heathens) was introduced, many teams tried to compete with SIC (the primary club using it), by going "mano-a-mano" in fronting as low as possible. It was a disaster. SIC continued to dominate scrummaging by coordination, not brute strength, and their scrummaging prowess affected the way they played. The scrum became a weapon. It wasn't for a few years that teams figured out that forcing SIC to form higher and not engage in lower, was a better tactic. The rugby union also passed laws where the hooker could not use the head to "hook" the ball (yes, that is how low they formed), and forcing the front row to go higher defused some of the strength. But the coordinated push is basically the same thing that all teams do now, with some slight nuances. The hooker doesn't hook, etc. Maybe other teams should force to go higher and not compete lower...
On Wales, I was lucky to see JPR in 1968 when he first toured, to Argentina. Interestingly, those games are still (still?) available on YouTube to watch. The intro is done very close to where I sat as a 10 year old, but I couldn't find myself. I then saw Wales again in '78, in Twickenham, under a torrential downpour, behind the posts, surrounded by drunk and wet delightful Welsh fans who wanted me to drink with them.
The famous Lions/AB game shows quite a few examples of what you are mentioning here, Nick.
Anyway, I forgot what else I was going to say. I'm so tired. I'll get back.
Did the LA fires affect you strongly C? Please accept my sympathies [for that and you M-in-L's passing].
Ah, hooking with the head, it is something Bobby Windsor did regularly for Pontypool as Graham Price preferred to pack low at THP.
Yes the #2 now is basically a slightly more mobile ball-handling prop, but there is no great diff in the physical profile for the spot as there used to be.
I think France were the first to cotton on when they moved Daniel Dubroca in from THP to hooker after a tour of Argy!
Damian Penaud would argue that the overlap is alive and well.
He might but when do UBB ever play against a Springbok style D?
I believe this D, is already being decoded. The "Chained Chaos" of Toulouse & Bordeaux are already showing the cracks in this type of defense. Offload rugby and tactical kicks is working brilliantly. Its always harder to run after the ball if its behind you. Prendergast and Dupont I believe if they played together would dismantle the Nienaber defense with ease. Leinster will be exposed not by the physicality of the opposition, but rather the heavy metal speed of attack the French rivals will produce.
Yes, I had wondered if JN has been making adjustments for it myself.
Thing is, how can he? Both those teams have drastically different attack structures don't they? UBB would seem the least effect against this defence, due to the width in their game?
Great call on a combo like that with Sam. One Leinster might come up against earlier in the CC is Albornoz, he kicks very similar to Sam, deep and low. Might be on a different level but a player I could see in a similar kicking tandem with Dupont!
I'm not so sure.
We may very well get to see whether either of those Top 14 sides can 'decode' Leinster later in the knockouts. I don't think Toulouse managed it last year.
A very interesting article, Nick. On beautiful and unseasonly cool summer morning here in our part of Qld., as the sun rises over the distant Border Ranges beyond the misty Lockyer Valley, that winter of '63 in the British Isles is now a distant but clear memory. There was a very heavy snowfall in Ulster, I was at school in Belfast. The snow was so heavy by mid morning that the headmaster closed down, sent us all home. Fine for those 99% of the kids who lived within a few miles of the school in E. Belfast. But my brother and I lived up on the Antrim Plateau, a good hour away. It was an interesting journey home, including a three mile hike along narrow country lanes !
It will be interesting to see how Ireland go this year in the 6N. The Nienaber defence revolution at Leinster is bound to be to the fore, with the dominance of that province in the make up of the team. However I would hope the legacy of the Lancaster era is still strong too. I'm not feeling too confident atm, with the AB game and the 2024 England 6N defeat too fresh in the memory.
Great clips from the JPR era. I see John Dawes involved there, and he was so often crucial with his ability to pass accurately under pressure. That is what is missing in the LAR game clips. A John Dawes type ability to pass well under pressure. I feel the teams that cause the rush defence problems will always be those that use out the back accurate passes to create space for the wide player, be he a Cheslin Kolbe or a big fast modern age forward,
Yep, and not good signs when it's the 'playmakers' for Leinster who were having that out the back play shut down against bath. It was sluggish compared to the recently golden era.
I don't remember that winter personally Miz, but I do remember several similar ones in the years following. Driving to and fro from Wales to London, getting out the doormats to get the car up icy hill roads!
Yes the Nienaber D is the biggest growth are in Irish rugby right now, but will that translate to the national side, and does Easterby want to coach it?
John Dawes was one of those players who made everyone around him better by connecting them with his passing and reading ability!
Just call Quade Cooper :)
Still trapped in the past John?
Cool left field article! Just took too long to be published!??
As New Zealand showed versus England last year, Bath v Leinster this week, and Leinsters own attack of years gone past, it's all pretty well balanced in this department.
For sure the fitness and speed of the forwards (and even cover backs, strength in the tackle of 9's etc) have improved greatly in recent times to cope with running long distances and in time to cover the attack. The question I want to see play out is if a team like the All Blacks can click and create multiple phases of overlaps like they did against South Africa in the Rugby Championship leading up to the World Cup, can these best defenses cope?
SA blamed a lack of conditioning that day, having half the team playing their first international for the year. A team like La Rochelle isn't really a good marker, they are not a strong team and you can see the deperation to capitalize on the overlap playing out in these videos. Perhaps a misplay, or he's holding onto his cards, by O'Gara not rginding them down instead with that 7-1 bench.
Otherwise though not going past the 15 is not very well enforced, and I wonder how easily some extra requirements on back three positioning would be. With say a 3 men behind the 10m, 22m, half way lines rule.
I don't think NZ proved any points v. the Felix Jones D, at least not in the July series. 4 tries in 2 games for he ABs represents a victory for the tourists I'd say....
The fix from game 1 to game 2 in the double-header between SA and NZ was relatively simple for the Boks - it can be summarsised in the phrase 'don't give them cheap turnover ball'.
The four tries ABs scored in Test 1 took a combined four phases to score! Test 2 - nothing.
So the question for NZ is how they score when those lessons are learned by the opponent.
Teams work in defence but just look at the attack, not working at all after the ball goes wide. That will be the game changer when attacks start working harder and get in behind the defence, get offsides with quick recycling. Start holding players and blocking defences off the ball.
It's nothing new mJ but yes everyone would need to get good at it if this sort of defence could be relicated by everyone.
Attacks already work very hard from one side of the field to the other - look at how many tries UBB's wings score on the opposite side of the field. But they still have not worked out how get the ball there vs. the hardest rush D's.
I think we will see a resurgence as teams work out how to counter these aggressive defences.
Unsurprisingly Australia under Joe Schmidt showed the best glimpses of this - keep all breakdowns in the centre of the field, splitting the rush so it can't get as far up, and keep chipping away until you get on the front foot. Then when defences concede overlaps due to stress and running out of number to defend the breakdown, rather than on their own terms, attack out wide.
Your forwards have to be good enough to win the battle, which I think is the real strength of Leinster - an absolute world class international pack that can't be broken down in the centre of the field by any club team, forcing teams into the wide channels for space, with the subsequent breakdown when line their line speed bares it's fruit. But when the best of NZ, SA, France, and even Australia assemble there is enough talent to counter the Leinster pack.
It does work in cycles N. No doubt solutions will be found in time, esp if ways can be found to create more meaningful ball-in-play time and fatigue a 23 man squad....
Joe's pattern didn't work v the Boks in the first two rounds of the RC 2024 but Aussie were still feeling their forwards at that stage.
The Boks [and Leisnter] succeed because they habitually split 6-2 or even 7-1 [though Leinster were 5-3 for this game] and can bring a succession of fit, mobile tight forward, so there is no weakness in the middle of the field as the front five tire.
great article!
really hope Ireland do try the Nienaber defence - would be good for rugby in the long run for more teams to lean into that tactical innovation, and in the short term it could be good for England to be up against a team in transition, still learning to play a system that England themselves got quite well acquainted with last year!
Simon Easterby has always coached the previous Leinster pattern up until now, but he may want to try something different now he's in charge! Let's see.
The bad thing for England is that Leinster have been practising it for the better part of two seasons and will still be supplying 11 or 12 player to the starting lineup.
The overlap is still very important Nick but against the Rush the difference is the overlap is a bluff and a Venus fly trap as you so aptly describe. The Nienaber rush always shows you the space out wide but if you try to take it prematurely you will pay for it. Nienabers rush relies on furious defence and an insatiable appetite to compete. It starts at ruck time where a rabid jackler slows the opponents ball or tries to steal, then a sharp shooting set of defenders with eyes only for the men on the inside flies up to make big hits behind the advantage line and reinforcing cover defence that patrols the outside is the final layer. The key to defeating this type of defence involves ways to get the ball out wider at speed and into the hands of a very fast player. Kick passes offer one solution to the rush. By getting the ball out wide so quickly that the cover has no time to respond. The other way is to earn your overlap. You have to play phases closer to source with pace and energy sucking in defenders until you have sucked in the cover. Then a simple overlap can lead to points. Argie and Ireland showed its possible against the Boks last year and Leinster lost their way in the final against Toulouse and the Bulls last year. Ireland also showed you can beat the rush on the inside against South Africa in Durban. They did this by launching first or second phases of attacks with huge numbers on the inside channels. The rush defenders did not know who to cover and then the pass goes in between the defenders with an unmarked attacker running into space. The cover comes across but its too late as the myriad of inside attackers become support runners ready to gobble up the pass after the draw and score under the sticks. The rush presents problems for any teams, it traps, it smashes and its unapologetically brash and in your face. Its shock and awe rock n roll defence designed to make the attacker pay a high price. So dont let them rush you. Play close to source and play with tempo and numbers. Attack the inside channels with runners coming at pace and then once you have sucked them in give it to the boys on the edge and let them feast on the well-earned space out wide where a genuine overlap leads to a score.
And the All Blacks used the oldest trick in the book by doing it with stupid amounts of depth. I'd like to see how the defence can take advantage of those situations, sometimes NZ did get nailed back 30m but play just sort of carried on.
SA used the disguised winger strat well this year with some very good mobile offloaders being left alone to run down the flanks, wonder if they're get tested this year. The All Blacks used a fairly aggressive rush.
Kick passes were used successfully in the 2019 WC by Richie Mounga vs. Mapimpi but the rush has been refined since then. A man comes up from the backfield far quicker now to plug the gap.
The problem with trying to work your way through the middle is the condensed D which is designed to only cover two thirds of the pitch. That means you're nearly always running into double tackles and big jackals.
But the points about Ireland's set plays are valid although I'm not sure how repeatable they are!