Positive rugby and the counter-attack

Attitude and methods

When we talk about counter-attack we normally think of moving from the ball that has been kicked by the opponents but, in fact, you can counter-attack from any situation in which your opponents lose possession of their ball. Let me list the possibilities.

Counter-attack from:
1. A kick
2. A dropped pass or inaccurate pass that goes loose
3. An intercepted pass
4. A turnover from a ruck or maul
5. A turnover from a tackle
6. Winning the opponents' line-out
7. Winning a tighthead in a scrum
8. A turnover from a kick-off
9. Your penalty

Attitude:
Most coaches tend to be of the safety-first variety and would strongly advise that you consider your position in the field before you counter-attack. Most would not want you to counter from within your 22 for any error made here is not easily recovered. However, some coaches feel that an unexpected counter from your own 22 can be very successful indeed because it is unexpected and the opponents are relying on you to play the safety-first way and have thus not positioned themselves well in defence.

However, what I am really trying to say that is if the coach has inculcated upon his side a general safety-first policy, then it is unlikely that you will be able to persuade them to counter-attack from anywhere within their own half - if at all. The player's attitude must be a positive one and he must be confident.

We hear so many of the top coaches nowadays calling for patience - that means keeping calm and controlled so that you can recycle the ball for six or seven times and not lose it. The recycling is done by means of making a metre or two before going to ground, winning the ball back, making a few metres, going to ground etc., ad nauseam, and so on, yawn. This is rugby's wound and it is also about the only way these coaches will accept counter-attack. If you unexpectedly win the opponents' ball, make a metre and go to ground before repeating the process. It works. To be fair, what else can you expect from a prop weighing 120 kilos who has spent his afternoon wrestling, pushing, making contact - and I don't mean that rudely.

It is for much the same reason that we see so much less of the ball going to the wings presently - the coaches and, indeed, players, believe the farther away you get from your set and semi-set pieces the farther away you are from the safety of a ruck or a maul- keep the ball in the fly-half channel, play inside, play to your strength, play safely.

However there are some coaches and many players who prefer the positive approach-they will go for attack not the dour "safe" way, particularly, but the expansive way, moving the ball around the way it used to be done. The Brumbies in their recent Super 12 game beat last year's champions in just that way - they moved the ball around expansively but not carelessly. Their skills were supreme.  They do not do it because it is pretty rugby nor to please the crowd but they do it because it is one certain way of winning a game.  They believe in that sort of game absolutely. And that is what I am saying about counter-attack the attacking way - you must believe in it absolutely. One man doubting can destroy everything.

So, as a coach, be positive.  Do not enforce negative patterns. Learn to say "do" and stop saying "don't". Begin to shout "run" and "pass" and stop shouting "kick" and "go to ground".

Speed the game up. Tap the penalty and run - it is a counter-attack ball. Get the ball quickly into the scrum and the line-out. Insist that none of your rucks or mauls lasts more than two to two and a half seconds. Get the ball wide quickly. View a ruck or a maul as a symbol of failure - failure to penetrate from clear, first-phase ball and do not be proud when the stats show that your side won 140 rucks - it says something about the way you play the game. You run into contact and you go to ground. Run at gaps, create gaps and move through them.

General methods of counter-attacking:
I spoke about the patient pick up and ruck method of counter-attacking. There is also counter-attack by kicking and the kick will depend upon the situation; sometimes all you need is a little stab through a flat defence, flat because it has been up on attack, and you have reacted quickly, not giving that attacking line time to form sound defence lines. Generally speaking you will kick for position- to get down to the opponents, line where they will be vulnerable. You can also kick to put the enemy into a position where its counter-kick must be taken close to the touchline so that the angle is small; the response kick is therefore short and you have the ball if they go for touch. Last of all, you can kick merely to put the ball in front of your forwards so that they are running towards play and not back to it.

How would you counter from a won tighthead scrum? The old-fashioned method was for the No.8 to pick up and go - and it still works!  Whatever you do though, do it quickly. How about a quick ball picked up by No.8 fed openside to scrum-half who skips to inside centre who plays to his outside where fullback has come into the line at an angle? or whatever, as long as it is done quickly. The opposing backs are deep, the opposing loose forwards are not expecting to defend and will possibly be slow out of their blocks; their scrumhalf is out of position defensively, because he was expecting the ball at the base of his scrum. Get far away from the rucking forwards, play wide. The quick scrum-half or 8 break from the base of the scrum is also extremely effective from a quick ball and then you are through nearly all the defence in a very short distance. The entire side must know that when you win a tight head, it must be won quickly, do not hold the ball in the scrum. They all know if it is quick, the ball is either going wide at speed or that there is going to be a break close to the scrum so that the loose forwards, particularly, can get into the game.

More next time on counter.