How Saracens got away with executing controversial new ‘counter-caterpillar’
⮞Referee Tom Foley reveals that World Rugby says tactic unleashed on Sale to combat scrum-half shield is a legal ploy
The “counter-caterpillar” tactic unveiled by Saracens in their win over Sale on Sunday was conceived in a conversation last month between referee Tom Foley and Ian Peel, the Sarries’ forwards coach.
Premiership officials regularly visit club training sessions and the pair were discussing how players who are fully bound into a maul, or a ruck, cannot be penalised for side entry. That quirk in the laws had brought about a try for Luke Cowandickie against Saracens at Sandy Park three years ago, after Sam Skinner had charged down Ben Spencer.
The tactic that Saracens subsequently used in Sunday’s 25-14 win – designed to mitigate the caterpillar of players that opponents use to shield scrum-halves prior to a boxkick – took weeks to formulate.
Peel explained the idea to Foley, who asked for video clips of it being attempted in training. That footage was then sent on to World Rugby.
Joel Jutge, the head of match officials, and Joe Schmidt, the governing body’s director of rugby and high performance, were among those to view it.
“World Rugby came back and said it was legal provided that players enter through the gate and they keep fully bound with their whole arm and shoulders on,” Foley says.
“The point we made to Saracens was that if there was any doubt that they were not fully bound, we would penalise them. If they were going to do it, they had to be really good at it.”
As you would expect of a team who revel in the nitty-gritty of kicking strategy and set-piece detail, whose coaches were schooled under Brendan Venter, the instigator of the no-ruck approach Italy used to fox England at Twickenham in 2017, Saracens were good at it.
Peel had informed Foley that the crab was coming. Nick Isiekwe was the first to unveil it, binding on to Vincent Koch edging around this breakdown closer to Raffi Quirke.
Foley’s explanation was clear. As Isiekwe stepped around, he said: “They’re fully bound”. Then, after Quirke’s kick sailed into touch, Foley added: “They’re fine, there. They’re always fully bound, and entitled to come around.”
Alex Sanderson, the Sale director of rugby, was not surprised that his old team had focused upon how the Sharks would attempt to exit their own territory. To play devil’s advocate, though, should Foley have warned Sale?
An important distinction is that Saracens’ original inquiry was conceptual. They will have targeted Sale, who box-kick a lot, but face caterpillar kings Exeter this weekend as well.
“We don’t want to stifle innovation and if we can solve problems in the lead-up to a game, we don’t have to solve them in the heat of battle,” says Foley, who believes it is not his place to reveal a side’s game plan. “The teams are coming up with the ideas. We’re just dealing with that as and when they happen. Let’s say they’d raised a question about something Sale were doing. We would always share that with Sale.”
With Isiekwe in the back row behind a lock pairing of Tim Swinson and Maro Itoje, Saracens had a trio of rangy forwards with which to mount crab attacks, and they were typically diligent in using it.
In the second half, Mako Vunipola volunteered himself to be the first man involved in the ruck, giving Itoje the opportunity to pivot around him.
During his preparation for the fixture, Foley had been wary of a Sale player causing a “massive flashpoint” by illegally taking out a crabber. As it happened, Sale stayed mindful of joining from the back foot themselves. In Foley’s words, they “were positive in how they dealt with it”.
Another fair question is whether caterpillars and counter-caterpillars could be culled with more stringent policing of law 15.17, which states that teams must use the ball within five seconds of it becoming available. Foley says officials’ “hands are tied a bit” here, because the ball often takes a while to become available in the first place and calling “use it” before then would be unfair.
He does expect rucks to speed up due to Saracens’ scheming.
“It didn’t look as bad as I was expecting it to,” Foley says. “It looks wrong, but I was expecting them to take it to the extreme with three or four people in there and come right around like a tail on the ruck.
“Saracens picked and chose quite carefully about when they were going to use it.
“We won’t see it at every breakdown because it takes a lot of discipline to set it up. The point stands that, unless a team is good at it and squeaky clean, we will look to penalise.”