The Autumn International series is upon us the age old question has begun to crop up. How do you beat the Southern Hemisphere teams? There have been many theories over the years, run around the South Africans, dominate the Australian scrum, and pray to the rugby gods against the All Blacks. However on a more realistic view point, I believe the key to beating the "top three" (England reside in 3rd currently) is the back-row of the scrum.
In recent years the rise of the back-row had been prominent, especially the role of the open-side flanker. Almost every nation has an ongoing debate about who should play at 6, 7 & 8. Do you need a "jackling" openside? Should you have a ball carrying or a lineout jumping 6? The argument for the importance of the back-row is even more noticeable against the Southern Hemisphere, with Australia's unmatched jacklers, South Africa's behemoths and New Zealand's adaptable trio. So the question is what do the Home Nation teams have to do to combat them? The answer, choose the right back row combination. Each opponent requires a different combination to neutralise or attack specifically, so we'll study each country individually.
Australia are the most lethal turn over team in the world, with top quality breakdown kings in Pocock and Hooper. There are two schools of thought to dealing with Australia, either you field a team to batter down their pack, and tire them out preventing them in their turnover attempts. Personally I think this plan is rather risky, a large and strong back-row would be required to pull of this plan, which can leave you very vulnerable should Australia pull off a turnover. Also no matter how much close forward carrying you attempt their players aren't going to be tired until 60 minutes at the earliest which mean you have to endure three quarters of the game against Hooper or Pocock. Instead use the set up of fielding your own turnover players in as much abundance as possible. For example Wales could field Tipuric and Warburton, and take on the Australians at their own game, taking ball off them, or preventing them from getting over the ball with your own operators who understand the techniques.
The giants of South Africa pose a serious problem for many teams in the world, dealing with these behemoths who can make yardage with incredible ease, and form a terrifying defensive prospect to break through. Preventing the likes of Vermeulen, Burger and Alberts from rampaging through your team is a tough prospect, but in reality it should be simple, tackling like you're always told, aim for the legs. You need a real chop tackler, not a brute; the ilk of Dan Lydiate is the perfect player for preventing any real damage to your team. If you can get the players down quickly, there is a chance you will be able to get another one of your players over the ball before any support can arrive for the ball-carrier. That's where the other side of your pack comes into play, you need a quick player who is a very strong jackler, continuing with the Welsh theme a player like Justin Tipuric is a perfect fit. The other upside to a player like Tipuric is his playing ability, giving you a strong, quick, intelligent player in and around the ball which will allow you to play around and away from South Africa's big ball carriers/tacklers.
Lastly and perhaps most challenging are the indomitable All Blacks. The difficulty with New Zealand is understanding how they play. Playing a turnover game against them doesn't work, they are more than happy to let the opposition play with the ball. And attempting a chop tackle game doesn't work, because they are without doubt the greatest off loading team in the world. In recent history there has only one team - on one occasion - that has comprehensively beaten the All Blacks, and it's credit to England that they nailed down exactly how to nullify the New Zealand attack. The key to the reason New Zealand are so lethal on the offensive is because they don't give the opposition any time to realign in defence. They operate at such a high speed at ruck time that the only way to stop them, is to seriously hit rucks hard, and seriously slow the ball down. Part of the system the All Blacks run is that they can trust forwards to operate in the back line with the proficiency of backs; as such they can trust the backs closest to the ruck to commit and win it. So even playing a back row capable of hitting rucks with ferocity and power you have to have intelligence in that trio of positioning themselves on the pitch to hit the right ruck at the right time. Wales struggle with fielding a back row of this form, they don't really posses that style of player, but as mentioned England certainly do with the likes of Robsaw, Wood and Vunipola; Ireland also can set up a good back row, with O'Brien, O'Mahony and Heaslip.
Of course all that I've stated here is personal opinion, and other people will have their own opinion on how to defeat the giants of world rugby, certainly half-back pairings can make a difference among other things. And some might say you shouldn't build a team focused on combating an opponent and should instead pick on strengths of your own team. However more often than not it is possible to coincide both this ideals.
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With the first game of the Autumn Internationals kicking off in less than four days, I encourage those readers who are competitive to sign up to ESPN's Fantasy Rugby game, and join the Tackle Pad's Private League to prove who's best. Details can be found here:
Autumn International's Fantasy League
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