Boks muse aloud about All Blacksâ possible illegal breakdown tactics

This story has significance for readers across Africa and beyond.

Itâs still three days to the first of four Tests between the Springboks and All Blacks, and already there is enough spice from either side to liven up the blandest of dishes.

On Tuesday, Bok assistant coach Felix Jones pulled no punches in his assessment that the All Blacks under coach Dave Rennie tend to hit rucks illegally.

It was an unusually frank and blunt assessment of an opposing team in the lead-up to a big Test. But it seems the gloves are off and the Boks are out to make the tourists know theyâre on to them.

Jones, who is often the man in the coaching set-up tasked with finding chinks in the oppositionâs armour, has gleaned his intelligence from extensive debriefs with the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls coaching staff, and from hours of video clips of previous All Black games.

Obviously, itâs not only their questionable ruck tactics that have caught his eye, and he did venture some opinions on other aspects of their game.

But you can be sure his public insights are not the entire picture that the Boks have built up of Rennieâs All Blacks.

Intelligence-gathering

âA lot of it [information from SA clubs] has been confirmation of what we saw in the Nations Championship â how theyâre trying to attack, how theyâre trying to defend, what theyâre doing in their kicking game and trying to develop there,â said Jones.

âA couple of things probably trended across the feedback across the different franchises. A few things around the breakdown they experienced, like tucked shoulders going into the breakdown, which I know they werenât happy with. Itâs a reversed-arm-type non-wrapping action. That was a consistent theme that came out.â

Jones was not shy to call out the actions, which caused some controversy in the Nations Championship when All Blacks flanker Luke Jacobson crashed into the head of Irelandâs Josh van der Flier and was only given a yellow card.

Jacobson led with the shoulder and dived recklessly into the ruck at pace.

Asked if this trend of leading with the shoulder and a tucked arm into rucks was just poor technique or deliberate, Jones was clear.

âWell, I donât think itâs something Iâve really seen with them over the last number of years,â said Jones.

âWeâve obviously analysed them extensively, but definitely this is the feedback we got from the franchises. Weâve seen thereâs an element of that [tucked arm] in there. Weâre all for the physical side of the game, as everyone is aware, so whatever word wants to be associated with it, we just want it to be within the law.

âI donât want it to be something that gets written and becomes a controversial thing. Weâve coached against Glasgow and Australia when Dave [Rennie] has been there. There are some amazing pieces to the play, to his coaching and to how quick they get their ruck speed going.

âWorld Rugbyâs number one priority is safety, so weâre just super aware of the feedback we got from the franchises that there were several of that type [tucked arm] of clear-out and actions, and we just want to make sure that brutality and physicality stays within the laws.â

Clash of styles?

Much of the debate about this series has also centred on whether itâs a clash of styles. The simplistic version is that itâs the âboring Boksâ versus the âflashy All Blacksâ.

The truth lies somewhere in between. In his analysis of the All Blacks, Jones readily acknowledged that the team is displaying new trends compared to previous years.

âTheyâve clearly got a very strong identity around what theyâre trying to do in each area of the game,â said Jones. âThose common threads, I believe, were present in the franchise games, even in the wet-weather game again in Durban, so theyâre really committed to the way theyâre trying to go.â

It therefore raises the question â are Rennieâs All Blacks that different to predecessor Scott Robertsonâs, or Robertsonâs predecessor, Ian Foster?

Jones partly answered, wary of giving too much away.

âI would say if you looked at plenty of metrics you would see significant shifts in the amount of kicking or the amount of ball that theyâre trying to hold on to or their phase count or the amount of time in possession,â said Jones.

âYou can see there has been a shift in what theyâre trying to do here.â

Jones also defended the perception that the Boks are trying to slow the game down.

âAny defence coach is going to say they want to slow down the attack,â said Jones. âThere are legal ways of doing that. You can tackle a guy behind the game line to slow that defence down. You can contest a ruck so long as you enter the ruck and stay on your feet and compete as a counter ruck or a jackaler.

âBut then thereâs also the other ways you can slow a defence down. There are many illegal ways you can do it, like repeatedly infringing when someone gets into your 22, or going offside deliberately. I would almost see those ones as worse and almost more cynical than a team that might have someone thatâs down for an injury and the game has to be stopped.

âWeâre aware of that narrative but weâre also super aware we are playing within the laws.â

Aerial battle

Another area that has seen a shift is the way the All Blacks have been dealing with contestable kicks.

Instead of coming forward to meet the ball, the defending player tends to turn towards his own tryline and take the ball over his head. He will have other players around him, but the idea is to make it difficult for the chaser to get to the ball, as he must jump over the shoulder and back of the defender.

Considering the aerial battle is one of the Boksâ key attacking weapons, the coaching staff will have to come up with innovative ways to deal with this.

âItâs like anything â whether it was the old system or this new system â when the skill set of the player is really high, and they can execute it, it can be effective,â Jones conceded.

âBut it can also be a negative because thereâs a huge amount of momentum or force coming back against you to generate a tackle. Weâve seen teams struggle with that. For us, we see a positive and a negative to every single tactic that you try to employ.

âI think if their skill set is good enough and they do it, it can work for them. It comes down to the execution of it on the day.â DM

Reporting originally appeared via Daily Maverick. Read the full source for additional context.