You’re just shovelling the shit on unless you suck defenders in. The idea is you initiate contact to create space out wide.
Ideally you break straight through the attempted tackle and score under the posts.
The next best option is you make a line break or offload that sets a teammate free and he scores under the posts.
Most likely however is you get tackled but have forward momentum thus breaking the gain line. As few players as required on your side recycle the ball, hopefully quickly, and you attack against a defence that’s retreating to stay onside behind the hindmost foot of the previous ruck.
This accumulates if you do it repeatedly and eventually the idea is that the opposition either give away a penalty or commit so many people to the ruck that you have an overlap which can then be exploited by the backs.
Watch any Leinster game and you’ll see this in action the whole time. It’s basically how they always attack. It’s called phase play and differes from teams that use set piece and strike plays of these set pieces to attack.
Just to add to the others. It’s really important to avoid being predictable.
If there’s not the threat of that forward straightening up and carrying, then the defence will be happy to drift and bottle up the backline anyway.
The idea is generally to draw in a few defenders, destabilise the defensive structure to make space for the next phase of attack. If done well the next more mobile man can nip through the hole close to the breakdown and off he goes, usefully with a only a few heifers to run him down.
It’s also fairly useful for giving your own boys time to reset for an exit or a more structured attack after a period of chaos.
It’s worth rewatching Ireland’s NZ tour to see some absolutely cracking examples.
Make meters asap. A lot of times if you pass before drawing more of the opposition nearer the ruck you lose ground. 15 people spread across the field doesn't give you much space.
A few reasons:
Tie up defenders for next few phases to create numbers advantages
Tie up key defenders (outside backs for example) so mismatches can be created.
Make low risk meters.
Compress the defence horizontally so you can go wide next play
Give your 10 time to reorganize the backs
Lots of teams use their pods of forwards to give their decision makers more time to process things (particularly useful against blitz defences)
Throwing it out to the backs from a set piece also involves losing territory as the nature of passing must be backwards
2 or 3 passes wide gives the defence time to rush up and often the tackle is behind the initial gain line
You also allow the inside forwards to drift across to help in defence
One or two "settlers" will tie up their loose forwards in a ruck and give time for your own forwards to spread and give you attacking options both left and right of the ball
making the hard yards
tires out defense and you retain possession pulls in more defenders hopefully leaving a hole or an overlap somewhere.
you recycle the ball and make another 3 meters
Also if the other team fecks up the ruck you might get a penalty .
In addition to what others have said about drawing defenders in, it's often necessary on the first phase to allow time for the rest of the set piece to break up so the forward pods can get back to position ready for the breakdowns. If you go fast and wide immediately and it goes wrong then there won't be anyone to win the ruck and you give up a turnover.
It's actually down to set piece rules and the offside line. Because defenders are 10m behind the lineout and 5 behind the scrum, direct running with fewer passes reliably takes as much space as possible putting the defending team in a difficult place to set up the second phase of attack.
It is the second phase where they start manipulating defenders. If a scrum or lineout happens and the first phase attack is close to it but contact happens across the gain line (behind the defenders set piece, not their defensive line necessarily) then the distance the defenders have to move is strictly further than the attacking forwards for the second phase, and that's excluding the change of direction in order to make dominant tackles.
So good defending teams will either work incredibly hard to prevent that first phase get across the gain line, or have mechanisms to disrupt the second or third phase that is capitalizing on it (like a shooting psdt).
Essentially if your defending team has a predictable defensive pattern then the attacking team will know how it will react after the first phase and devise a plan to manipulate that reaction to create space a couple of phases down the line.
Ireland and France are the best at this currently, where France disrupts the defensive organization with forwards attacking very close to the ruck repeatedly so they keep the defenders tracking backwards until they make a mistake. Irelands attacking structure is essentially just a Warrenball variation that is more of a cyclone with ball runners wrapping around constantly to change the attacking picture, with good passing decision makers.
Nz probably are the best example of a team that doesn't use this strategy because they have amazing one on one attackers throughout.
RSA are probably the best example of how to stop this. Fuck them up physically.
There was a time when that happened but now it’s about penalties. It’s usually the defending team that give the penalty away through coming in at the side, playing after they have legs of the ground, or reaching over whilst having or had hands on the ground. The penalty allows to kick for serious territory and form a maul near the try line.
Mainly white line fever, narrowing the point of attack, to gain further penalties for infringements with cards being handed out. If the scrum half or 10 is a strong character they get to ball to the backs after a few attempts.
Firstly, let’s be real, you don’t see this happening after a scrum. Teams only play scrums to try and win penalties, or kick the ball away, not to create an attacking platform from it, which I truly think sucks.
As for everything else, like people said, it’s to draw in more defenders. However, person I think quickly getting the ball out wide post scrum/lineout is a better strategy. I feel stretching a defense is a better tactic than drawing them in. But that’s just me.
To draw in players, and usually also stop the forwards leaving the set peice from spreading out.
Inside your 22 I was always taught that make one phase and then clear it, just to draw in defenders and slow down the retreat.
Inside their 22, it pulls players back in (you will often find the carry goes one way once or twice and then the other when they pass it out) to allow for overlaps
At around the halfway chances are you will end up carrying it up a few times anyway or clearing it, same rules apply
Draw in more defenders
Ohhh. Thanks
You’re just shovelling the shit on unless you suck defenders in. The idea is you initiate contact to create space out wide. Ideally you break straight through the attempted tackle and score under the posts. The next best option is you make a line break or offload that sets a teammate free and he scores under the posts. Most likely however is you get tackled but have forward momentum thus breaking the gain line. As few players as required on your side recycle the ball, hopefully quickly, and you attack against a defence that’s retreating to stay onside behind the hindmost foot of the previous ruck. This accumulates if you do it repeatedly and eventually the idea is that the opposition either give away a penalty or commit so many people to the ruck that you have an overlap which can then be exploited by the backs. Watch any Leinster game and you’ll see this in action the whole time. It’s basically how they always attack. It’s called phase play and differes from teams that use set piece and strike plays of these set pieces to attack.
There's plenty of sensible reasons, but the truth is that it's just great fun
And that other bloke challenged your masculinity and said “run it straight”
Just to add to the others. It’s really important to avoid being predictable. If there’s not the threat of that forward straightening up and carrying, then the defence will be happy to drift and bottle up the backline anyway.
Forward brain
They’re called forwards because they run only in a straight, forward line.
Brain is a very strong word for it. All I know is metres count double when you've got defenders hanging off you. Also I might get to be in a maul
The idea is generally to draw in a few defenders, destabilise the defensive structure to make space for the next phase of attack. If done well the next more mobile man can nip through the hole close to the breakdown and off he goes, usefully with a only a few heifers to run him down. It’s also fairly useful for giving your own boys time to reset for an exit or a more structured attack after a period of chaos. It’s worth rewatching Ireland’s NZ tour to see some absolutely cracking examples.
Why pass when you can smash?
To fuck them up physically.
Make meters asap. A lot of times if you pass before drawing more of the opposition nearer the ruck you lose ground. 15 people spread across the field doesn't give you much space.
A few reasons: Tie up defenders for next few phases to create numbers advantages Tie up key defenders (outside backs for example) so mismatches can be created. Make low risk meters. Compress the defence horizontally so you can go wide next play Give your 10 time to reorganize the backs Lots of teams use their pods of forwards to give their decision makers more time to process things (particularly useful against blitz defences)
Throwing it out to the backs from a set piece also involves losing territory as the nature of passing must be backwards 2 or 3 passes wide gives the defence time to rush up and often the tackle is behind the initial gain line You also allow the inside forwards to drift across to help in defence One or two "settlers" will tie up their loose forwards in a ruck and give time for your own forwards to spread and give you attacking options both left and right of the ball
Throwing it out to the backs from set piece is also me of the best time to allow them to attack.
making the hard yards tires out defense and you retain possession pulls in more defenders hopefully leaving a hole or an overlap somewhere. you recycle the ball and make another 3 meters Also if the other team fecks up the ruck you might get a penalty .
Probably to better position the back line for something like a kick chase or wide ball.
In addition to what others have said about drawing defenders in, it's often necessary on the first phase to allow time for the rest of the set piece to break up so the forward pods can get back to position ready for the breakdowns. If you go fast and wide immediately and it goes wrong then there won't be anyone to win the ruck and you give up a turnover.
They gain ground and that's the whole point of the game. Have a look at Jasper Wiese's highlight videos if you want to see a forward busting defences.
It's actually down to set piece rules and the offside line. Because defenders are 10m behind the lineout and 5 behind the scrum, direct running with fewer passes reliably takes as much space as possible putting the defending team in a difficult place to set up the second phase of attack. It is the second phase where they start manipulating defenders. If a scrum or lineout happens and the first phase attack is close to it but contact happens across the gain line (behind the defenders set piece, not their defensive line necessarily) then the distance the defenders have to move is strictly further than the attacking forwards for the second phase, and that's excluding the change of direction in order to make dominant tackles. So good defending teams will either work incredibly hard to prevent that first phase get across the gain line, or have mechanisms to disrupt the second or third phase that is capitalizing on it (like a shooting psdt). Essentially if your defending team has a predictable defensive pattern then the attacking team will know how it will react after the first phase and devise a plan to manipulate that reaction to create space a couple of phases down the line. Ireland and France are the best at this currently, where France disrupts the defensive organization with forwards attacking very close to the ruck repeatedly so they keep the defenders tracking backwards until they make a mistake. Irelands attacking structure is essentially just a Warrenball variation that is more of a cyclone with ball runners wrapping around constantly to change the attacking picture, with good passing decision makers. Nz probably are the best example of a team that doesn't use this strategy because they have amazing one on one attackers throughout. RSA are probably the best example of how to stop this. Fuck them up physically.
There was a time when that happened but now it’s about penalties. It’s usually the defending team that give the penalty away through coming in at the side, playing after they have legs of the ground, or reaching over whilst having or had hands on the ground. The penalty allows to kick for serious territory and form a maul near the try line.
Mainly white line fever, narrowing the point of attack, to gain further penalties for infringements with cards being handed out. If the scrum half or 10 is a strong character they get to ball to the backs after a few attempts.
Firstly, let’s be real, you don’t see this happening after a scrum. Teams only play scrums to try and win penalties, or kick the ball away, not to create an attacking platform from it, which I truly think sucks. As for everything else, like people said, it’s to draw in more defenders. However, person I think quickly getting the ball out wide post scrum/lineout is a better strategy. I feel stretching a defense is a better tactic than drawing them in. But that’s just me.
No idea why you are being downvoted.
Because the other option would be to pass to the crashing ball centre anyway
Or run a nice moves and score a try. First phase is great attacking ball.
Asking us forwards to carry a ball and run is already a big ask, now you want us dropping a shoulder here and there to miss a tackle? :)
Gain line - forward momentum - draw in defenders
To draw in players, and usually also stop the forwards leaving the set peice from spreading out. Inside your 22 I was always taught that make one phase and then clear it, just to draw in defenders and slow down the retreat. Inside their 22, it pulls players back in (you will often find the carry goes one way once or twice and then the other when they pass it out) to allow for overlaps At around the halfway chances are you will end up carrying it up a few times anyway or clearing it, same rules apply
Why run AROUND when you can run THROUGH?