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How Rugby League will influence the next era of All Blacks rugby

Scott Robertson and Brad Thorn. (Photo by John Davidson/Photosport)

Two of New Zealand’s three opponents in the upcoming Rugby Championship will feature defences coached by former NRL players, a trend which has the All Blacks‘ future coach taking notes.

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Scott Robertson has already appointed his coaching staff for the All Blacks, a lineup that does not include any former NRL talent, but will welcome some of the 13-man code’s wisdom.

The man assuming the role of defence coach is Scott Hansen, the mastermind behind the Crusaders’ attack since 2020 and former assistant to Wayne Smith in Japan’s Rugby League One as well as Jamie Joseph in Japan’s national team.

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Robertson said on Friday that former All Black and current Crusaders Assistant Tamati Ellison will also be involved with coaching defence in the national team’s setup.

“I actually sent Tamati Ellison to the Melbourne Storm last year, to do a little bit of work with them,” Robertson told SENZ. “He’s good at rolling up, he does a lot of work on the ground, so he does all our ground stuff and all of the technical side of it.

“Obviously Scott Hansen is an expert, and he’ll be doing our defence. He did it for the World Cup with Japan and worked with some great coaches.

“So, the two of them will be involved with the All Blacks and they’ll do a lot of work around making sure we’ve got the defensive side right and I’ll send Scotty over to a League team as well.

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“To beat a League defence you’ve got to beat it with attack and vice versa. So normally, they progress quite quickly in attack, then it’s about adjustments.

“We play wings high, ball-line defence, we’ve got two men tackled. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into it and the way they train it is a lot more professional than us. They haven’t got a set piece, there’s no scrum or lineout so they do a lot of work in that tackle area and where you can get those gains is so critical and that’s probably what you’re saying about getting a League coach in, what they can create.

“So between the two of them, they’ll cover that side of it and see where the League takes it and all the advancements.”

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The lack of set piece in Rugby League means defences can keep their shape and won’t be caught with any players stuck at the bottom of a ruck. There’s also rarely any kicking through the first five phases, hence Robertson’s “you’ve got to beat it with attack” note.

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The defensive strategy employed by Argentina’s David Kidwell proved profitable in 2022 and only time will tell what Eddie Jones’ vision for the Wallabies comprises.

If those sides find success against the All Blacks this year, it will provide a clear picture of how the game is evolving on the defensive side of the ball.

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Comments

3 Comments
M
Mn 758 days ago

League coaches teach them the art of ball stripping, tackle and punch the ball out.

P
Pecos 759 days ago

The only new news for me was Tamati Ellison helping out ABs. A prelude to joining officially sometime over the next 4 years?

S
Sam 759 days ago

It's been quite common for rugby league coaches to be hired as defense coaches in union so this isn't new.

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J
JW 37 minutes ago
New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

147 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

Cameron Woki picked at the base of a ruck and jumped/dived over. That would clearly now be penalised.

But the Sheehan try is different to my eye. It starts from a tap penalty, he drives forward, the two WB defenders go low for a tackle in the assumption Sheehan will go to ground. He does not, but seeing the hole now left dives through it. In this case surely there is zero danger there.

World Rugby’s terminology/interpretation recently (shared again after this) is that it’s ok to hurdle/dive (that includes over, say a ruck, which we have seen this many times even in this years SR) to score a try, but it’s not (OK) to avoid a tackle. I can’t remember the one you describe (which may have been where their clarification came from) but that would sound OK. Sheehan definitely was playing the rope-a-dope and dived to avoid being tackled (can’t call it tackled really, just blocked/stopped lol), so shouldn’t have been awarded (I wasn’t aware of this last definition so just thought it was a very smart move). Was it premeditated? I’m not sure, but he could definitely have collected someones head if that was the case. And I guess even if he saw the space, I guess it’s not something they can allow as others might try it and get it terribly wrong?


Well summed up Miz. I have been thinking the whole situation of events that lead to this type of sneaky move is the problem, particularly as it relates to the difficulty and effort defenders now go to stop such situations (like say Slippers try), where players go extremely low to drive from meters out (and in most cases plays just trying to dive under). It’s also ugly business seeing attempt after attempt to go in under the tacklers, especially with them not really being able to perform a ‘tackle’ at all. I would simply give the defenders their goal line. All they need is some part of the body on or behind, and this will stop the play (being the fuel to this fire) from being attempted I reckon.

40 Go to comments
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