England
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Flatfooted England
England are Flat Footed
If ever you needed convincing that Defense wins games, England vs Australia was it.
You have to admire Australia, with fewer players than Bloemfontein or Essex, they can come out and whip the ass of the biggest Rugby nation on Earth. This is ever more amazing when you consider that for them, Rugby Union fits somewhere between Hockey and Volleyball. While I don't always agree with their methods you have to admit that the way they bring in new ideas and techniques to the game demonstrates an openness that in the Rest of the Rugby world is lacking. It was very sad to see a flat footed England with a soft, slow defense and absolutely zero for a knockout attacking punch.
Most of you like to dismiss me as some "Mad genius" that has extra terrestrial ideas that can never be implemented in Rugby, but the reality is much worse than that. I am simply a thief, a plagurist who steals other peoples ideas. However, this is one step ahead of large Rugby nations, whose collective arrogance makes us completely deaf to outside ideas. Does anyone other than Andy Robinson's mum or Jake White's uncle believe that either England or South Africa is going to beat Australia this year?
Australia certainly have the "Defensive Ball" at the moment. A review of the Game tape will show that unbelievably, in the second half, Australia were starved of possession. They effectively got the ball 5 times and on 3 occasions - scored. One of the key reasons for England's weakness in this test can be put down to bad posture and the inability to Back Pedal or Tramline. I know its difficult to hear it comming from me so, rather that explain this myself, I am going to Quote from "Sports Power" by David Sandler. If you can concentrate long enough to read this - the solutions to our problems start here:
Sports Power by David Sandler
"Sport speed is affected by the athletes ability to rapidly shift direction. If an athlete cannot change direction and rapidly regain speed he or she will not be successful. Quickly changing direction requires precise footwork and the ability to accelerate rapidly after the direction change. Athletes most often run into problems when shifting from back pedaling to forward running. An athlete with good footwork can back pedal longer and more quickly, giving himself more time to react to a plays movement.
In sports where athletes must cover a relatively short distance, direction change itself becomes the limiting factor. For example, a baseball player leading off at first base has a better chance of stealing second if he can execute a good first cross over step. Because the player starts out facing the pitcher, the initial crossover step may be the difference between a steal and an out. The direction change followed by the immediate acceleration is usually the determining factor. Drills that are designed to increase speed should begin with a rapid direction change followed by acceleration. Very short drills with rapid direction changes develop overall footwork, balance and coordination. These drills help athletes in contact sports learn how to adjust to awkward positions after being pushed or jostled.
The "Sports Ready Position" is often referred to as the Sports position. It is a position that favors both rapid movement execution and the ability to become more stable. For rapid execution, you need to be able to see the play develop, react quickly , and have proper body position to make the first movement.In order to gain stability you must be able to drop down to lower your centre of gravity and widen your base of support quickly. Proper sport position is standing with your weight on the balls of your feet with knees and waist slightly bent. Keep you chest and your head up and your arms relaxed, slightly bent and out in front of your body."
The Diving, The pathetic outstreched arms, the shoulder injuries come from not starting in the basic Sports Position, or not being able to take it up on the fly. See my explanation of the Linebacker Stance.
Back Pedalling and Tramlining
There are so many errors to report on the Australia game, it would take hours to bring these out. I will instead focus on a glaring problem that can be fixed. I can just hear you guys saying " here we go again". I have lived through the Gridiron industry that spends $ 30 Billion Dollars per year on Defense. Make a small effort to consider that maybe, JUST MAYBE, they bought something for that money. The principles are not even mine, I am simply a plagurist. The beauty of Football is that you can't copyright plays.
English players cannot Backpedal or Tramline sideways.
In order to move about the field they have to turn, run in a direction and then turn up field again. Missed tackles are not bad luck or bad reaction times or lack of commitment or concentration or brilliant opposition, it is simply that English players have grown up for 20 Years in a world that pays lip service to Defense. This inability (easily corrected with coaching), makes your Defense Slow, Soft and Lets through 34 Points against a raw and mediocre attack Don't take this personally, when I mentioned this principle to a Super 14 Coach he patronizingly said to me, "I have been coaching for 5 years (most if it in England) and I have never come across any situation where I need my players to Run Backwards."
Running backwards and sideways correctly is not a simple matter - I cover it in about 20 pages in my Book along with all the exersises that are required to build this skill. Low centre of gravity, forward lean, wide base,rope drills etc. Running backwards uses a posture that allows you to correct on short notice and come forward on short notice. Tramlining allows you to run sideways, while still facing forwards! These skills are fundamentals which allow for change of direction in Defense and rapid, hard forward motion. Noone is born with it - it is coached.
Not being able to run backwards or Tramline sideways, means:
You turn your back on the play; You cannot react to misdirection; You usually try to make this up with overpursuit, You can't get into the breakdown position This is what causes all the diving and the outstretched "arm grabs" This is where the shoulder injuries come from!
"Tramlining" Is a means of running sideways without crossing over your legs. It enables you to move sideways while still facing forward "Running Backwards" means adopting a forward leaning position with short choppy leg movements.
With sufficient training players can move backwards or tramline at 90% of their straightline running speed.
The net effect if this deficiency is that a Defense looks soft and gives up yards on the Gain Line. Look through the Game Tape and you will see pitiful few crunching, head on tackles from England. This is not because the players don't want to do this, it is because they simply cannot move themselves into the correct hitting position. You can see this in almost any segment of the game where we are on Defense, the instances are too numerous, but I will focus on a single dramatic play and then ask you to go to your video and check it out.
Example
Minute 54 - Chris Latham "Bursts through for a Brilliant Try". After this the game was over.
Please review the Game Tape of this play, otherwise the text below does not make much sense.
Let us analyze the movements of 6 of our defenders in this play. 4 players - 13, 9 , 7 and 14 miss the tackle to let this try through!
10,12, 13 are in the first line of Defense. 7, 9, 14 are Line backers, "Sweepers" in the terminology of the ignorant.
Problem 1 : 7,9,14 have never been coached to be a Linebacker unit, they are simply individuals jogging along behind the line, waiting for the breakdown. Then when it comes, they don't have the skills to react fast enough and are caught completely out of position. There are simply no coordinated Pursuit angles behind the single front line of Defense.
Problem 2 : 13, 7, 9 , 14 are moving sideways, with their bodies half turned away from the attackers. This slow reaction time to the breakback is not a physical disability - it is badly coached posture!
Problem 3 : No 9 - stands on his heels at the start of the play - this is what initiates the attacking play and ultimately the try!
No 9 Watch this carefully because otherwise you miss it! You need to go right back to just before the ball comes out of the ruck. No 9 is standing in a Standoff position - he is our primary Linebacker. Instead of standing in the Line backer position as I describe, he is standing upright on his heels aimlessly pointing to every one that the ball is going to go to our Left. This is the crux of it, because the half second extra that it takes him to react, is all that Stirling Mortlock needs to set up this Try. Any reasonable attack coach now knows that England No 9 is a soft target on the breakback.
When the tackle is finally missed, No 9 is running so fast to catch up with the play that he Overpursues and is completely unable to react to the inward attack. His final contribution is a wild dive and a pathetic ourstreched arm. While he is primarily to blame for this try, this was not his true error, the error came from never been coached a Linebacker posture so that he would not have been standing on his heels in the standoff position in the first place. This would have enabled him to Tramline quickly and ruthlessly into a front on tackle in any breakback.
He does not know that his primary role, in backing up the Drift as a Sweeper is to stay inside the ball. Without being able to run sideways and keep his eye on the attack- Tramlining is the terminology - he does not have the skills required to be in this position. The Opposition will have him for breakfast here forever and ever. I will most surprised if they don't take us here next week off first phase!
No 13 OK he misses the tackle, because he can't keep his assignment to stay inside Latham.. This is a human error, anyone can make it. But here is the scary part - as he realities he has missed the tackle - he turns away from the play (towards the sideline ) and has to do a 270 degree turn, which he duly makes, just in time to see Latham Score under the posts.
Now even the smallest bit of coaching in running backwards would have enabled him to keep his front to the attackers and cut into the pressure, at the very worst, jump on Lathams Back. He can't do this, because he has simply never learned to Tramline!
No 7 He also needs to Tramline. A well coached linebacker can run 90% of straightline speed in the Tramline position. But the real benefit comes when he has to change direction and cut back, or breakdown. So through this play No 7 is blisssfully unaware that he is a vital cog in the Cover Defense and that he should be tracking the play, staying on the inside of the Ball Carrier. Angles of Pursuit 101 - He should be falling back at an angle BEHIND his outside Linebacker! By the time the Cut back comes, he is moving the other way and can't change direction, simply because at School and at Club and in Middlesex, noone has ever taught him to move sideways accross the field, while still keeping his eyes on the opposition. No one has taught him Angle of Pursuit. He is behaving like an individual instead of a member of a Linebacker Core.
I bet in the Video analysis noone will even blame this try on him. This problem will go unchecked and he will be vunerable to this forever.
No 14 Simple Overpursuit. He is running so fast to get to the play, but has absolutely no plan to Stop, breakdown and make the tackle. He shows no cognicence of the fact that he is part of a linebacker unit in this play.
Stirling Mortlock. Now watch his movement carefully. He CAN run sideways (Could be coached better). But he gets enough advantage in that he is able to movesideways and keep his body facing forward, enough to perfectly pass the offload, along with his picking up on No 9's Flatfootedness - he is the true architect of this try.
I pick this one incident, but it is not isolated, I could pick almost any other Defensive play and show you how the same principle is missed. The result is not usually as dramatic, but more often leads simply to a soft landing for the opposition. So your Defense looks soft not because of will or commitment, its the lack of simple skills. This will continue to plague you.
