Lineouts 101: It’s not that simple

Ricky Riccitelli never stands on his mark and says ‘‘you’re kidding,’’ or words to that effect.

Throwing can be a lonely job in rugby and every hooker knows it. Your throw might have been on the money but, whenever a lineout’s lost, we all assume the hooker’s at fault.

Riccitelli and the Hurricanes meet the British and Irish Lions at Westpac Stadium tonight, where the hooker’s performance will be scrutinised like never before. The Lions have easily bettered most lineouts they’ve encountered on this tour, thanks to an alarming number of throws going astray.

Among the things a hooker is at the mercy of is his caller, but Riccitelli isn’t one to question the instructions he’s given.

‘‘Occasionally, if I can see a [different] picture from where I’m throwing from, then I’ll tell them. For me, I just trust the system and where I’m throwing it,’’ Riccitelli said.

‘‘You might just see where they call the ball on the field, but there’s hours of reviews that can on before that and they know what’s going on and they look at the pictures and just pull the trigger. There’s a lot more to it than what you see on the TV screens.’’

Riccitelli rates the ability of the Lions to read how the New Zealand lineouts have been setting up and where that means the ball might go. Just to clutter a few minds, the Lions have also made a habit of shouting over the top of the opposition’s attempted calls. Not that the Hurricanes are panicking. ‘‘[Lineout coach] Richard Watt and our lineout leaders have come up with a good plan and we’re looking forward to just attacking areas [of the Lions’ lineout] that we think are vulnerable,’’ said Riccitelli.

Michael Fatialofa started the season as the Hurricanes’ lineout caller. Mark Abbott inherited the job when Fatialofa suffered a knee injury, before his own concussion symptoms saw Vaea Fifita take over.

From this distance, the lineout hasn’t seemed quite as efficient as last year, but Riccitelli’s not of that opinion.

‘‘It’s been good. We’ve got some tall timber there now with Sam Lousi. Abbo’s coming back from head knocks and we’ve got Vaea at six now, so that gives us a taller lineout.

‘‘Vaea’s done a really good job for us [of calling]. He’s an awesome athlete and awesome caller, with a really good knowledge of the game.’’

Abbott will call the lineouts tonight and also have a big job to do in the scrums. If the Hurricanes have a weakness, it’s in the tight five and the frontrow of Ben May, Riccitelli and Jeff To’omaga-Allen and locks Abbott and Lousi need to stand up.

The Hurricanes are ‘‘more of a channelone team,’’ said Ricctelli, which means the hooker is required to actually hook for the ball. That goes through the loosehead prop’s feet and provides the type of good ball the team’s backline thrive on.

It’s now up to the pack to provide that.