Technical

Diagram 1

“The best form of defense is attack,” someone once said.  And Rugby IQ looks at this principle and explains how you can best use your defense to ‘regain the advantage initially lost by them having the ball.’

By Rugby IQ

“The best form of defense” someone once said, “Is attack.”

For this concept to be true one has to look at the defensive patterns your team plays, understand them and apply them.

Do you always ‘Blitz’ defense 30 meters from your line? Do you defend man on man or zones or do you simply do what you like and hope someone else helps out?

There are certain guidelines that apply in the game of defense; it’s difficult to have rules because the game is not an exact science, which means we can’t have it all our own way all the time.

But we can, with a little application & understanding, help ourselves to do a more professional job in the art of defending.

The best defenses will metaphorically (sometimes literally), say to an attacking team ... “All right go on... do something, we’re ready for you”. The thinking defense is the hardest to break down.

Is it significant that Defence sounds frighteningly similar to Defiance.

Guidelines for defense in & around fringes of ruck & maul

The tackle having been made, what follows around the tackle area is what players and referees have thought for years………A mess!

At some stage this mess will develop into a structure that will either go in your favor or against. Should it go against you we begin to apply the guidelines. Diagram 1.

See Diagram of Tackle Area

Where practicable the principles of who goes where would be determined by the arrival times of players.

As a guide the bigger the player, the closer to the fringe, why? Because the immediate space is filled, (literally), by a greater mass to bolster the defense. Thus we might expect to see prop, prop, lock around the inside channels.

As the ball is moved further from the mess the quicker players will fill in the outside spaces.

The principle of defense is UP before OUT, in other words the first movement is FORWARD before ACROSS. Thus closing down SPACE and cutting down attackers TIME.

The INSIDE defender holds the inside channel and only goes when the ball does, or makes the tackle at such a time (legally) that the passer cannot be in a position to support the pass.

IF AN INSIDE BREAK OCCURS OR A RUNNER COMES ONTO AN INSIDE PASS WITHOUT BEING TACKLED SOMEONE HASN’T DONE THEIR JOB.

The inside defender has an INDIVIDUAL responsibility to ensure his attacker does not break through and a COLLECTIVE responsibility to the rest of the defenders to ensure pressure is continually placed on the attacking team.

COMMUNICATION IS PARAMOUNT IN DEFENCE

These principles apply with ALL the defenders as each steps up to play their own respective role.
 
As with defense in & around fringes Communication will play a major role. The principle will be that, as a defender makes a tackle and is taken out of the defensive alignment another player ‘FILLS IN’.

Other defenders upon arrival assess the situation and are PROACTIVE in their roles and not just REACTIVE.

The questions they should be asking themselves, (among others), are. “Can I win the ball here”? “Is the GUTS defended”. “Do I need to join the nick/maul, have we won or lost the ball”? “Are the spaces covered close in or wide out, if not where am I most likely to be of use?”.

With defense in open play the OUTSIDE defender must be conscious of not ‘FLYING IN’ unless absolutely certain of smothering man/ball or breaking down the attack. If the space is left exposed attackers will exploit it.

So communication between the OUTSIDE & INSIDE defenders is again paramount.

Outside defenders can only be effective if inside defenders are pressurizing attackers and sliding to fill the spaces as they develop.

Inside defenders are only effective if the outside defenders are holding their alignment, closing down space and forcing attackers into a lesser option.

The American Football teams call it OFFENSIVE tackling or ‘offensive defense’.

The game of rugby in defending terms has now also established that it is no longer enough to merely stop an attacker, but to stop, disrupt and overwhelm to such a point as to regain the advantage initially lost by them having the ball.

So we have come full circle and remind ourselves that after all and in it’s own way  

ATTACK really is the best form of DEFENCE. Good Hunting!

Defense in open play:
 
T - IME & SPACE
A - GGRESSION
C - OMMUNICATION
K - EEP DISCIPLINE
L - INES (TACKLE/DEFENCE)
E - FFICIENCY

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