Rugby

With the introduction of the new breakdown guidelines four years ago, the speed of ruck resolution changed overnight. Defenders were suddenly allowed to win the ball by the simple action of lifting the ball off the ground, tacklers were required to roll away from the cleanout ‘runway’ immediately, instant release of both the tackled player, […]

One the most popular measurements of scoring efficiency in the modern game is the so-called ‘red zone entry number’. Every time you enter the opposition the 22, you make a note of how many points you score, then average the number of points accrued out over the number of entries. Anything over three points per

The new rules for the defending 9 at the scrum mean that he/she can no longer’ chase to the base’. They may not advance beyond the mid-line of the set-piece and spoil the opposition feed from a position well ahead of the rest of their team-mates. Instead, they are forced to adopt one of two

Ten years ago, it was very much ‘the day of the jackal’ at the breakdown, with outstanding crop of number 7’s like George Smith, Richie McCaw, Michael Hooper, Sean O’Brien and Sam Warburton always looking to pilfer ball at the tackle. They all tended to play the same blue-riband position, at open-side flanker. Measuring the

One of the biggest talking points in contemporary professional rugby coaching is ‘how to get best use out of an eight-man bench?’ The fires for that discussion were first lit by South African supremo Rassie Erasmus’ switch to a 6-2 bench split [six forwards, two backs] in 2019. They were stoked further by his move