Brown wants refs to better police offside
Highlanders coach Tony Brown has urged Super Rugby referees to police the offside line properly after a Rugby World Cup that showed that defences currently rule the game.
South Africa and England both marched into the final on the back of line speed and superior work in the collisions as the All Blacks’ bold plan to win the tournament based on attack fell over.
Nonetheless, there was the sense throughout the tournament that defences were being given too much leeway at the offside line and Brown, now back into his work at the Highlanders, wants something done about it.
‘‘At the World Cup probably the two best defensive sides made the final,’’ Brown said yesterday. ‘‘There wasn’t a lot of attacking flair throughout those playoff games.
‘‘It was all down to physicality, defence and pressure really.
‘‘ So, I felt that South Africa did a great job at making ‘D’ their weapon.
‘‘Ultimately that’s where the game is heading at the moment so it’s a challenge for attack coaches to try and break that defence and ultimately create a different way of playng.’’
Rugby’s rule makers are constantly tweaking the rules to make sure the balance between attack and defence is right, and are currently playing around with a ‘50/22’ proposal that is designed to take players out of the defensive line.
However, Brown had an easier solution: referee the current laws as they are written. ‘‘I think to help the attack they just need to rule the rules to the letter of the law,’’ Brown said.
‘‘It’s easy for referees and touch judges just let the offside line creep and then that makes it hard for the attack and easy for the defence but if they referee the offside lines to the letter of the law and help the attack a bit that’ll free the game up.
‘‘If the referees get their processes right about helping the guy in the middle, then it makes it easier.’’
Improvements in conditioning have also made it more difficult for attack-minded sides as athletes are now trained to get off the deck quickly and rejoin their defensive line. Having eight replacements on the pine also allows teams to pick huge specimens without worrying as much about the fatigue factor.
For example, the world champion Springboks ran six giant forwards on the bench but still had enough gas in the tank to keep moving forward and essentially smashing England out of the contest in the World Cup final.
But despite the headwinds facing attack coaches, Brown remains optimistic the Highlanders can turn up the excitement levels in Super Rugby, promising that he still had plenty of ‘‘new tricks’’ up his sleeve.
‘‘It’s always challenging to break down defences but that’s the exciting part about about footy and the exciting thing about coaching and that’s my challenge to break down the best defences in the world and see if we can create opportunities.’’