Advice for Graham Henry

[ropata]

I am not so convinced that Graham Henry will be any better than Mitchell and I think he may even be worse as a coach although more successful as a media handler.  IF he wins the world cup I shall have to study at the feet of my accomplished master.  But I don't know if his strategy will be any better than Mitchells.

What really ticks me off is that not one all black coach that I have seen has yet to work out a strategy for dealing with those teams that can score from you all over  the park.  I.E.  France in its good day and Aussie at the world cup semifinal where they kicked our ass.  The answer is simple and will give us a better than even chance of dealing to these teams.

1.  Don't give them possession by kicking for touch.
2. Don't give them possession by kicking down field
3. Don't give them possession by putting the grubber through
and ....

4. DON'T FREAKIN GIVE THEM POSSESSION!!!!!

Instead

Run the ball at them
Pick and run from Rucks
Maul it back at them
Fancy dance it back at them
Hold onto the damn pill and stop trying to convince yourself that the other guys don't know how to run with it when they obviously do. What do you think they are going to do when they get the ball.  Not even England plays like England used to in the 80's and 90's.  Every team in the Big 5 (NZ, Aus, SA, Eng, Fr) can punish you for giving them the pill.  Our guys can maul it with the best of them and certainly can ruck it with the best, and if we choose to keep on going forward where the chance of turnover is least i.e. running/mauling the damn thing, then we can slaughter any team under the sun.  It is much more physically demanding but then again that stands for the other side too.

As Australia proved in the World Cup against us...

IF you attempt to play SAFE balanced test rugby against a team that is no longer playing by your rules then you are being tactically outsmarted.  You are behaving like the General who attempts to fight the next war the way they did in the last.  If this was 'Nam then our guys probably would have fragged the guy responsible for the battle plan. To put it (the loss) down to a lack of experience and leadership is to avoid the fact that excellent experienced leaders of elite forces can still get their guys killed through training to fight the last war as opposed to the next one or by refusing to learn the tactical lessons from previous battles.

Change, adapt, overcome, prepare, or else join that list of losers like General Mclelland (Union General, Bull Run, US Civil War), Vercingetorix (Gaulish Chieftain, Alesia, Gaul, Ceasars Campaigns), and Field Marshall Alexander Haig (British, Somme, France, WW1).  These guys will go down in history as some of the biggest thicko's to have ever lead men.  Not because they didn't have two brain cells to rub together or that their troops were crap but because they didn't know when their tactics were innappropriate and they lacked imagination.

'nuff said
 
Lopeti

[DMac]

Welcome aboard Lopeti.

Can't say I can disagree with your comments. It is intersting to think about it in terms of selections though. The changes to the squad have bought different strengths and weaknesses to the team and therefore different methods to beat Eng or be beaten by Eng.

My biggest concern is the lack of combinations in the forwards which will impact set peice and loose play.

Its going to be a ripper!

[BlueThunder]

I am not so convinced that Graham Henry will be any better than Mitchell and I think he may even be worse as a coach although more successful as a media handler.  IF he wins the world cup I shall have to study at the feet of my accomplished master.  But I don't know if his strategy will be any better than Mitchells.

Slagging the coach off before they had even played a game ,  dont you look like a dick now Lopeti.

[ropata]

I wish my prediction was wrong. I would rather be a dick with the RWC, than a punter who called it right and NZ has no cup! 

[jules]

Digging back to 2004 Ropata, that's stretching it a bit eh?

Nice to see you back though, over the last year or so we have been a bit slack around here, but hopefully we can kickstart things again this season.

Welcome back.

Jules

[JJ]

Clearly his strategy wasn't as good as Mitchell & Deans - they made the semi's
                                                     jj

[gluck]

My advice for Henry. Pick Weepu.

[DMac]

So don't give them any possesion by kicking .... ever ..... hmmmm.

If I recall following a certain test against the boks last year Wayne Smith was villified by an enormous volume of supporters, commentators and players for having the nerve to say that there is no point in returning kicks with kicks as they put you under more pressure. True except that tactically it was an utter disaster.
Was the tactic wrong? No. Was the players ability to play the tactic correctly and accurately under pressure the issue. Yes.

Kicking isn't the only answer but players will always have an off day occasionally (like refs) and sometimes its just the best way to relieve pressure on you or with a really good chase (see boks in same game) exert pressure. If you've got a good lineout it can even win you a game (see france v NZ , RWC 1999 .... but only if you can dare to bring back images you have blocked out of course  ).

Actually holding onto the ball and don't kick it is exactly what we did in 07 as well .... how did that game end?

Its not about what tactic to use its about using the right one at the right time ... surely.