Smith unfazed by English fury at Italy’s offside tactics
The All Blacks’ most innovative thinker does not believe Italy’s controversial shock breakdown tactics against England in their Six Nations clash at Twickenham will prompt law changes.
All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith was not supporting the outrage demonstrated by England boss Eddie Jones who equated Italy’s tactical decision not to contest, and create, rucks, and thus allow them to defend beyond the conventional offside line, as akin to cricket’s infamous underarm bowling incident of 1981.
On that occasion, Aussie Trevor Chappell’s underarm delivery to Brian McKechnie off the final ball of a one-day international at the MCG, with the New Zealanders requiring a six to tie, forced an immediate law change to outlaw such a delivery.
At Twickenham yesterday, Italy threw defenders in behind the ruck and into the England backline to create clutter and confusion. It took Jones’ side a long time to make the required tactical adjustments as they trailed 10-5 at halftime before running out comfortable 36-15 victors.
The result keeps the English on track for a second straight Grand Slam, and the All Blacks’ record of 18 consecutive test victories.
Smith, known as ‘The Professor’ because of his elaborate thinking on the game, said an underarm-type laws reaction would not happen in rugby, because it will not be required.
‘‘It’s a roll of the dice in many ways,’’ said Smith.
‘‘There’s an obvious weakness in that you can pull out of the tackle and put no one else in, but it’s hard to avoid them pulling you in.
‘‘So if someone over the ball grabs hold of you, all of a sudden the ruck has been formed and the defensive line has to go back.
‘‘It’s one of those surprise tactics that could work now and again, but you certainly couldn’t build your game around it.
‘‘I don’t think it requires a law change. The law says you require one from each team over the ball bound together to create a ruck. I can’t see them changing that,’’ Smith said.
‘‘It’s not an anomaly in the law, it’s just a part of the game, a shock tactic that a team might use now and again but certainly if you became predictable by doing it you’d be cut to bits.’’
Asked if England should be looking more at their own slowness to react appropriately, rather than casting aspersions on the tactic, Smith toed a diplomatic line.
‘‘They wouldn’t be the only ones that have been caught by it. It’s like anything in sport, if something unpredictable happens it can often make you sluggish.
‘‘Anything that makes you think, slows you down a bit. But it is the sort of play you probably need some sort of a solution to.’’
Smith recalled using the tactic once when he was with the Chiefs against the Cheetahs in Super Rugby four or five years ago.
‘‘You need clarity from the referee. I remember we did it once because the Cheetahs had guys attached to the ball-carrier all the time, and you couldn’t really access the ball.
‘‘I talked to [referee] Jonathan Kaplan before the game to ask whether he would call if it was a ruck or not, but he wouldn’t play ball.
‘‘I know the Chiefs a couple of years ago tried it a couple of times and didn’t get good rulings and were penalised for offside. So it’s got some flaws.’’
Smith said Italy coach Conor O’Shea and his staff deserved credit for catching the English off-guard. ‘‘It’s a brave team that tries it. ‘‘I think Conor has shown some thinking outside the box and they’ve been courageous enough to have a crack because there are lot of potential flaws, and not every referee will be in favour of it.’’