Watching the various rugby matches available for viewing this weekend it became uniquely apparent that there are different styles of rugby that can be played and these are not necessarily due to the style of play a coach wants his side to take on to the field. Anyone watching England over the weekend would have seen a side playing with a very clear focus, which was to minimize mistakes. Graham Rowntree in particular seems to have laid down the law over the error count with the pack scoring a perfect 6 from 6 in the scrum whilst securing three penalties on Scotland’s put in and then Dylan Hartley threw a perfect 20 out of 20 in the lineout before relinquishing duties to Tom Youngs. Overall, England won 93% of their lineouts.
Playing to Win and Playing for Fun – The Polar Opposites of Rugby
Whilst the handling in the loose didn’t go England’s way and given the amount of possession they had compared to the Scots this actually is understandable. England provided the masterclass of how keeping the ball and making very few errors in the set piece can make it very difficult for the other side to get anywhere with the ball. And yet there was nothing flashy about the way this side went about their business, you just have to look at the tackle counts of the various players leading the team, from Owen Farrell to Hartley, Lawes and Danny Care. This team took their work ethic into the game and played to their strengths using them to suffocate the life out of the poor Scots.
The same can be said for the Irish who did almost exactly the same thing against the talented Welsh. The had clearly spent time analysing the Welsh game and set about attacking that platform in the places that it was most vulnerable. Again the presented itself in the ruthless defence with Peter O’Mahony rightly named man of the match.
Looking at the talent within the Irish side and the flair that exists within that backline one could be excused for expecting more. And yet their display of control from 1 to 15 was an awesome sight to watch. This Six Nations Tournament still has so much more to offer, and I for one can’t wait to see England vs Ireland later this month.
The these two teams had a very clear target which was more about playing to win, as opposed to playing with style and flair. The contrast between those two games and the style of game currently being plied by Northampton and you will see very different approach to how the team conducts itself on the field. Northampton have committed themselves wholeheartedly to this free flowing style of play with their belief that they will get the result they want if they stick to it, almost comes at the expense of playing to win. And yet the results they have shown this season suggests that they way they have gone about stacking the dice works very heavily in their favour and brings out the best of their players.
From a coaching point of view I have learned to understand the difference between sending a team out to win a game and sending a team out to play a certain way. This bears no reflection on the weekends games, all the coaches involved are far better than I. But in my experience when you work on the principle of sending a team out to win a match, you can have a tendency to focus on all of the little bits in the wrong way and end up suffocating your players of the freedom to use their natural abilities to see and identify opportunities to attack. Contrast this by sending a team out to play a certain way and your view point on those little things takes a very different perspective. Rather than focus on cutting out mistakes and preventing your team from trying things out on the field, you take the opposite approach and look at what you can do to increase your team’s chances of success in those areas.
Rugby is a funny old game and as always there is more than one way to coach a team and those with different skill sets, abilities and understanding of how to implement game plans will always deliver different successes from each other. Following my recent experiences I know more than ever what type of coach I now am and how I want to go about preparing my team to play the game.
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