Bolting through the gate

A subtle change in the way referees are applying Law 15 (the tackle ball law) is playing right into the hands of the All Blacks.

Referees have been instructed to exercise a stricter application of the word “immediately” at tackle time and it has noticeably affected the structure of the game at the contact points.

At a tackle the onus is on the tackled player “to make the ball available immediately” and referees now want this release to take place in an instant.

Added to this the concentration on players “coming through the gate” – behind the ball and from their own side – at the break-down has made it much harder to “tie up the ball” and the quickening of the time it takes for the ball to become available at the tackle is being brilliantly exploited by a team with as much pace as the All Blacks.

The tackle is easily the most difficult area to referee, but by stopping the holding of the ball on the ground and insisting on players being on-side the stricter application has resulted in a much fairer contest for the ball.

Pace to the break-down is a crucial ingredient and with men such as the impressive Richie McCaw, his two loose forward partners Jerry Collins and Reuben Thorne plus a fast tight five the All Blacks have been able to gain a vital edge by dominating the break-down.

The men in black concentrate on getting more numbers to the ball more quickly than the other team and time and time again in recent tests they have been able to either keep their own possession or turn the ball over by not only getting the first pair of hands on the ball, but also by surrounding it with arriving players.

The change – we’re talking split seconds – is subtle but it is having an enormous impact because players going to ground are being denied those few extra moments of holding onto the ball while they wait for their support men to arrive.

Referees are insisting that they let it go and the upshot is that a team such as the All Blacks who have a tradition of playing fast and furiously to the ball are gaining all the advantages.

They have great skill and pace to burn in the backs, which means they can confidently take the ball to the peripheries (where in the thinner traffic a slow release is spotted more easily) while they are confident of their ability to get more players to the break-down.

The quick release now being demanded of referees also makes it harder for teams to dominate the All Blacks in the tight phases – not that that’s easily done! – because by being unable to hold and control the ball on the ground when going on the drive the odds are increased that they’ll be able to take it off you if you fail to properly protect your possession – an area in which the Springboks, for instance, are constantly found wanting.

That said, though, the way to beat the awesome All Blacks would be through the scrums and lineouts. Force them onto the back-foot at scrum time, drive into them at the lineouts and get over the advantage line to force the like of McCaw to make an extra loop to come in through the gate.

The English were able to beat the All Blacks at home by gaining an edge in the primary phases while French, for long periods, had Thorne and his men in difficulties when they were forced to go back.

You have to force them to take the longer route, cut down their space and play from deep. Allow them onto the front-foot, allow them to move the ball wide and they will cut you to shreds - as the Boks and the Wallabies will attest – because the way referees are blowing the tackle ball could almost have been designed for a team with the all-round pace of the All Blacks.