Player Passion?

Efficiency gains get leaders over the line

John Eales

April 30, 2012

• Comments 4

OPINION

Blues centre Ma'a Nonu's tackling of Digby Ioane on Friday night is evidence that the Auckland side plays with passion. Photo: Getty Images

When teams glow they combine high energy and efficiency, and both are equally important. It was just that combination which sparked the Reds championship last year and which has likewise shot the Brumbies to the top of the Australian rugby union conference this year. The Crusaders have ever been masters of both.

And it is both, not just one or the other, which are required. Great performances are too often passed off as the result of passion, and conversely, losses, as the lack of it.

Nothing offends a player more than when people infer they lack passion. I was involved in a lot of poor team performances but they were usually because we weren't good enough, not because we lacked passion. Passion is crucial, undoubtedly, but I don't believe it to be the differentiator as often as it is credited.

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Take the Auckland Blues for example, losers for the seventh time on the weekend to Queensland's Reds. They have a formidable roster packed with stars such as Piri Weepu, Ma'a Nonu, Ali Williams, Rene Ranger et al, but their inefficiency thwarts their momentum. Their performances suggest they clock on with the whitecollar workers and clock off with the tradies and shirk a full day's work, but in reality they lack proficiency, not passion. You can read the pain from the strain in their eyes as you could feel the power in some of Nonu's hits on Digby Ioane in the first half. Efficiency is their remedy.

The Brumbies are the exemplar at the moment as they revel in the relevance of form and fly in the face of reputation. Their energy is incandescent and it is enhanced by their efficiency. Key to their efficiency is their decision making, which is always better facilitated by good instruction. There is no doubt coach Jake White is boss at their franchise but he has some good lieutenants in Laurie Fisher, Stephen Larkham and George Gregan.

After his sojourns to France and Japan, having Gregan back in Australian rugby is brilliant. This week he joined the ARU board as the players' rep, but his involvement with the Brumbies halves is just as exciting as he was one of the most intelligent playmakers to have played the game.

Involving Australia's brightest contemporary rugby minds in the development of fresh talent is crucial for our success. And that doesn't just include past great players because the transition from player to coach is not necessarily natural; some of the greatest players have made average coaches and some of the greatest coaches were only ever average players.

I cannot comment on Fisher's playing career but he is considered among the most astute instructors of the breakdown and of contact and it is precision in those disciplines which is serving the Brumbies well.

In their victory over the Lions, their precision at the breakdown sealed their destiny. It wasn't about numbers as much as it was about accuracy. So often they would secure the contact with one, two or three players, allowing the others to prepare for the next stage of play.

The result was that what seemed opportunistic tries were actually well constructed.

In their victory over the Blues, the Reds began to again demonstrate the precision that delivered them the title last year. It helps when you can reintroduce some of the candidates who had perfected their roles previously. In a bittersweet irony, however, it seemed Will Genia, among the Reds' best on the night, had already made his decision to defect to the Force. The regular transit between Queensland and WA since 2006 could justify the Reds and the Force employing a shared service relocation consultant.

As with former Force coach Richard Graham's move east last week, while it may be advantageous for the individual, it's a kick in the guts for fans – one they shouldn't have to endure mid-season.

Soon after the news about Genia went mainstream on Sunday, I was grabbed by a disillusioned supporter who sang the chorus of many. “This timing not only disengages us fans but it derails all the hard work of their own teams over the last 12 months. I don't blame Genia or Graham, I don't know who to blame, I just don't like it.”

It certainly took the gloss off his weekend.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/efficiency-gains-get-leaders-over-the-line-20120429-1xt4k.html#ixzz1tWihRJ00

Is rugby just a job or do players still have passion for their state?

Matthew Burke

April 22, 2012

• Comments 7

In the English Premier League, the January transfer window is met with excitement, anticipation and, sometimes, with trepidation about players moving between clubs.

Sometimes the players seek the move, other times they are traded. Either way, letting go of where you came from is something you just have to do. We are seeing similar dealing in Australia with players moving between franchises, not mid-season, but in preparation for the year to come. Brumbies breakaway Michael Hooper, who has been playing the house down this season, has announced he will be turning out for the Waratahs next season. Last season, Ben Mowen moved the other way, a decision that has so far proved correct. Perhaps the need to move is more out of necessity. By necessity, I mean your franchise hasn't come to play ball at renegotiation time or doesn't see you in the plans for the future. Sometimes it's the player's choice, to move on for career development. For whatever reason, player movement will always happen and is a stressful time but we have to live with these different scenarios.

I remember Mat Rogers walking into the Waratahs' change room after one game when he was contemplating the move to rugby. The mood from a small section of the room dampened slightly as these were the players that would be potentially giving up their jumper. As it turned out, that was me. Timing is everything. So I am asking the question about the player's mindset for those who have signed mid-season. Is the game becoming just a job or is there real passion in turning out for your state?

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There have been a number of players who have been one-club men across the board, and with that comes a great deal of respect from their peers. Others have had to make transitions in their careers for different reasons.

Perhaps there needs to be a window of opportunity where player managers can go to the market and shop their players around. I would find the process of negotiating a contract mid-season a little distracting. In the process of playing well, the offers should flow in, while a poor on-field showing diminishes your stocks. It is cutthroat, and a player needs to get the best deal possible. Perhaps the scenario should be to open the transfer window at the end of the season when players go back to club or country. You already know the value of the player from viewing a full season of Super Rugby. I say this in refection of James O'Connor's drawn-out process of negotiation last year. This highlighted the need to have some kind of procedures in place that will give the franchise certainty as to when this process should occur. No doubt the deliberation had an effect on the Force and the way they performed last year. The great cliche of "we not me" was not observed in this instance.

Let's go a little deeper and play a game of hypothetical. Your current team is outside the top six and the team you are playing for next season has a shot at securing a home semi. By the way, you have just signed a three-year deal. The events of the game end up with you having a kick to win and knock your new team to fifth on the ladder and lose all the trimmings that go with hosting a semi-final. Do you a) convert the goal; b) get a cramp on the way into kick and shank it; or c) hand the kick over to the second stringer.

I know the answer is b) get a cramp on … I mean a) convert the goal, but upon conversion, would there be any resentment as you take up your new post the following year? A quiet snipe by the CEO perhaps about budgets for example. Is the game of rugby fast becoming a job nowadays, satisfying sponsors and jumping through hoops or is there still some kind of loyalty when you turn out for your team? I couldn't have seen myself wearing a Reds or Brumbies shirt against the Waratahs. Some might say perhaps I should have.

It seems now that players have to do the best for themselves, and I don't begrudge them that. Today's players have a short lifespan in the game, and if it's about making money, they have to sell themselves to the highest bidder.

Playing devil's advocate, do you take the cash or be a part of a team that will dominate the game and have the success in the form of trophies? The modern player has to ask this when it comes time to put pen to paper. I wonder if Messrs Beale and O'Connor are questioning their move to the Rebels about now?

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/is-rugby-just-a-job-or-do-players-still-have-passion-for-their-state-20120421-1xdle.html#ixzz1syB85lww

Stats

Stats show Waratahs playmakers aren't possession wastrels after all

Paul Cully

April 20, 2012

• Comments 10

"Most observers, for example, would spend little time on the question of who has kicked more often this season: the Daniel Halangahu/Berrick Barnes option at No.10 or the free-wheeling Danny Cipriani/James O'Connor? The obvious conclusion is the Waratahs' five-eighths. And it is also the incorrect one." Photo: Getty Images

There are few things as hard to shake in rugby as a perception.

The Waratahs have, in particular, been suffering from a persistent image problem that paints them as an unduly conservative side with an over-reliance on the boot. Repetition of the accusation can create the impression it is fact.

Most observers, for example, would spend little time on the question of who has kicked more often this season: the Daniel Halangahu/Berrick Barnes option at No.10 or the free-wheeling Danny Cipriani/James O'Connor? The obvious conclusion is the Waratahs' five-eighths. And it is also the incorrect one.

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"Kurtley Beale has struggled for spark, and fitness." Photo: Getty Images

Numbers provided by ruckingoodstats.com this week dispel the myth. The Rebels opt to kick from 25.9 per cent of their possession at No.10, and only three sides do so more frequently. By comparison, the Waratahs' five-eighths have kicked 20 per cent of their possession, and there are only five other teams which kick less frequently.

So where does this stubborn perception come from?

There was one moment in last week's game against the Force that might provide the solution - and it came from the man who will have a huge influence on the Waratahs-Rebels game tomorrow, halfback Brendan McKibbin.

In the 25th minute, from turnover ball, McKibbin gave no thought to carving off some easy territory with the boot, instead feeding Bernard Foley a pass that would eventually lead to Tom Kingston's try. As option taking goes McKibbin's move was simple and devastating - and took a route too often ignored by Barnes this year. It is not that he kicks too much per se, but that the missed counter-attacking opportunities linger longer in the memory. Frustrated fans give extra weight to these decisions.

Happily, there is evidence that the Waratahs are a side well aware of their inadequacies and are busily rectifying them. McKibbin's willingness to counter-attack is but one of them. Previously he was best remembered for kicking the ball away and giving the Reds one last chance to win the game in the opening round.

Succour should be taken from NSW coach Michael Foley's comments after the Force win in which the negatives were amplified and the positives were whispered.

They were followed by remarks by McKibbin that acknowledged his combination with Barnes was a work in progress. Honesty will take this side a fair way because the set-piece foundations are solid. The chastening 21-20 loss to the Force in round four might not have been a bad thing.

There is another compelling reason to keep an eye on McKibbin and Sarel Pretorius tomorrow night. Last weekend, young Brumbies halfback Nic White gave a wonderful display of passing halfback play against the Rebels, exposing one of the weaknesses in the Rebels' defence, the No.10 and No.12 channels.

In the 17th minute from the back of an attacking lineout maul, White spun it at pace into the hands of Pat McCabe, who had run a brilliant line at O'Connor's outside shoulder and powered through him for a try. It sounds simple but if you can find a halfback with a fast, flat pass the attacking possibilities go to a new level. Will Genia is the master at it in Australia and in New Zealand this factor has cost Jimmy Cowan his starting position at the Highlanders to Aaron Smith.

For the Brumbies, White's delivery created the mismatch between McCabe's directness and O'Connor's reputation.

The smaller man has been described as a "great" defender but the criteria must have been softened for him to fit that description. Sam Tuitupou was a great defender, Benson Stanley is a great defender, McCabe is a fine defender. O'Connor is merely adequate, in keeping with his age and size. Robbie Deans has been correct to keep him out of the Wallabies No.12 jersey so far and there is scant evidence in 2012 that he is ready for the move.

O'Connor is not the only Wallaby to have his weaknesses rather than his strengths highlighted by his new surroundings. Kurtley Beale has struggled for spark, and fitness. It is a sign of the times that he attracted more attention this week for a remark on Twitter than his form before his first game against his previous province.

The Rebels have the highest average points conceded (30.1) and the lowest average tries scored (1.3) of any Super side this season. It had been hoped that the signings of two of the most exciting attacking talents in the world would improve the latter statistic. Their time in the Test arena could have been expected to bring some defensive nous. But perceptions can be a dangerous thing.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/stats-show-waratahs-playmakers-arent-possession-wastrels-after-all-20120419-1xa4m.html#ixzz1saMxFbko

Flankers

Hooper a lesson in timing and how to think

John Eales

April 16, 2012

• Comments 12

Total rugby ... watching Michael Hooper of the Brumbies play is a lesson in rugby's intricacies. Photo: Getty Images

My father was a schoolteacher by trade, which was great if you wanted to be able to read before you went to school but not so good if you wanted to dodge discipline because he knew every excuse.

Education has changed from when I graduated, largely for the better, and I see it in our children's schoolwork and sport. Fundamentally the biggest shift has been from the old-school way of telling us what we had to learn, and sometimes literally beating it into us,

to the new methods that teach kids how to think.

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To teach someone how to think is more complex and calls for a different approach. It requires simple instruction and challenges to help deconstruct the whole before piecing it back together again, absorbing the lessons in the process.

If I was going to teach someone about rugby, I'd instruct them to watch an open-side flanker like Michael Hooper, who again was brilliant in the Brumbies' comprehensive 37 points to 6 victory over the Rebels.

Eighty minutes watching a great open-side flanker in action gives an instructive perspective of the complexity and totality of rugby.

They are either on the ball or preparing for the next iteration of play. They are in the thick of forward play, in the twinkle of the back line and providing a continuous link between the two.

The greatest exponents are also among the game's most influential. All Black Richie McCaw has been the best credentialled of modern-day flankers but he is not alone. The Springboks narrowly lost their World Cup semi-final against the Wallabies last year largely because their man, Heinrich Brussow, departed early, allowing David Pocock to dominate. Likewise, when Hooper is not wearing the No. 7, the Brumbies are a lesser team. Australia has been replete with flyers over the years and in the established Pocock of the Western Force, and the emerging talent of Liam Gill, Chris Alcock, Hooper and others, it has some useful muses at different stages of their development.

In a game where you must win the physical contests, subtlety can still differentiate and flyers provide some of that subtlety. After their defeat to the Reds last week, the Brumbies sped up their back row with theinclusion of Hooper while the Rebels slowed theirs by moving regular lock Luke Jones to the blind-side flank.

While they didn't compete directly, the subsequent back-row contest influenced the result. The young Jones has been superb as a lock this year, positioning himself as a Wallaby of the near future, and he again contributed well in this clash.

But while tall flankers transition reasonably easily to lock, it is not so simple to transit the other way. Such experiments rarely last, as evidenced by James Horwill with the Reds early last year. Rapidly, the lure of a dominant line-out, which temporarily seduced the logic of balance, accedes to the status quo as old truths are affirmed.

What impresses me most about Hooper is his timing. You could say he was born on time as he entered the world on October 29, 1991, just four days prior to the Wallabies winning the 1991 World Cup. Similarly, his timing of how quickly he gets himself back into play after an involvement is just as divine.

Impressively, likeMcCaw, he is just as effective in the tight as he is in the loose. His try in the 24th minute, which was a triumph of impeccable mauling skills, was followed by his next movements as he effected a turnover leading to another try.

George Smith is often acclaimed Australia's greatest open-side flanker, even if just for his resilience and longevity, hardly missing a match for the Brumbies or Wallabies in more than a decade.

Part of his strength was in his economy of play. He continually popped up where and when he could be useful, and he was brilliantly useful, while maintaining the knack of not wasting energy on superfluous activity.

If I had a criticism of Hooper, and at the moment it's a bit like criticising the Statue of David, it's that he doesn't really choose his moments to interject, he just chooses every moment. In fact, he is so on the ball at the present that if you just watched Hooper you wouldn't miss any play at all.

If the Brumbies are to maintain their conference lead, then Hooper's endeavour must continue to instruct both his team mates and those new and old fans in the crowd.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/hooper-a-lesson-in-timing-and-how-to-think-20120415-1x1s9.html#ixzz1sOq2LSNs

New Player Challenges

Scant knowledge can prove to be very dangerous when new players are thrust into high-pressure situations

Ewen McKenzie

April 12, 2012

• Comments 6

Click for more photos

Australian team of the week - round 7

15: Kurtley Beale (Rebels) (2). Photo: Getty Images

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Waratahs coach Michael Foley made a comment the other day that made me think about what the real expectation was of incorporating new players into a different playing environment.

"Sitaleki Timani has, through coming back from Japan late, undertaken a three or four-week crash course on how we are playing,'' he said.

The timeline given was probably a little longer than most people would assume it would take to get a player up to speed. The impression some people have is that rugby is rather homogenous and therefore the next player should automatically step-up and be able to fill in. The reality is this view is far too simplistic.

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Late starter … Sitaleki Timani. Photo: Getty Images

The old ''throw it to the front of the lineout'' when there is pressure still holds true but is often thwarted by the fact the opposition is aware you may be targeting the area on your throw. It's also the worst place from which to launch a back-line play.

In a club sense there is a similarity and familiarity that allows players to move up and down grades while still understanding calling structures and moves. Clubs pull this together on a limited training schedule and therefore there is a logic that a player can adapt quickly to any environment, no matter what level.

In professional rugby, teams and players have more time to prepare. This doesn't necessarily mean more time on the training paddock but there's more opportunity for meetings and other knowledge-based learning activities, including research, opposition analysis and other mental preparation work.

The complexities at the elite level are far superior and the ability to change game plans and adapt from week-to-week comes from a learnt base of knowledge and practice. I'm directly referring to the mental aspect of the game here, as skill development takes a lot longer to teach.

Foley suggested three to four weeks was what is required for the detail of the game to become familiar and second nature. The paradox is that you learn most when you are in the starting XV.

As a reserve you gain less exposure, while if you are outside the 22 then you tend to be running the opposition's attack and defence. This means the uptake of knowledge is slower and you are forced to work harder around the edges.

It's very difficult to introduce players at short notice and expect them to be able to operate in a system with intuitiveness. Being instinctive is when you change gears in your car without thinking. Instincts are just as important on the field.

Within the frantic nature of rugby, it's the little things that matter and decide the result. A winger five metres out of position creates opportunity while a mistake in your defensive system leaves a hole. This can then be exploited through analysis or error.

The beauty of rugby is that it's not played or coached the same way and this is where it gets complicated to integrate players.

When you bring a player in from within your system they have a chance to develop instincts quicker than others in all facets of the game. Still, it's difficult for these instincts to be developed in a week or two - let alone in the heat of battle where the pace of the game is generally higher than what they are used to.

Knowledge is king and if you can impart this in a short time then it's empowering. However, too much knowledge can be debilitating as it inhibits your ability to think freely. Often the best method for new players is to simplify what's going on to ensure everything continues to function smoothly.

The difficulty though is that while the necessity for a simpler game plan allows better understanding, it can also come at a cost to other players. It's a complicated exercise.

Positional requirements obviously have an impact on the ease of the transition - it's easier to integrate a winger than a hooker. The spine of the team is harder to change as positions 2, 8, 9, 10 and 15 require facilitation and cohesive roles, and combinations are critically important.

For example, change the hooker and it's harder for the jumpers. Add in the complexity of lineout calling and the need to maintain tactical supremacy from game-to-game and it can get messy. Philosophies might be similar but what you hear and what you compute instinctively can vary massively.

Theoretically the easiest way to win lineouts is to keep the pace of execution high. Bringing new faces into the squad lessens this pace and your options, allowing your opposition into the game through the creation of physical and mental pressure.

However, it's not all doom and gloom, as sometimes new players rise to the occasion. We have seen this in recent weeks with David Harvey from the Western Force and more recently at the Queensland Reds with Sam Lane. They were brought it on short notice and prospered.

Both are talented players and there are always exceptions to the norm. They were able to impose their own intuitiveness to the occasion and come up with their own points of difference on the night.

This is one of the most enjoyable parts of the game - to see players take their opportunity. It's never an exact science, but increasing the learning curve can occur simply by having faith in the next man in.

This was evident with the emotional and physical support Lane was afforded by the Reds group before his debut and the result speaks for itself.

Read more:http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/scant-knowledge-can-prove-to-be-very-dangerous-when-new-players-are-thrust-into-highpressure-situations-20120411-1wsam.html#ixzz1s4RSzu00