There’s no doubt that improved defence from the Wallabies is a big priority for this weekend’s match against the All Blacks.

One of the ways to improve defence is to put the opposition under pressure with your attack as players fatigue much faster when they’re defending, particularly when they have to keep scrambling to shut down opposition attacking raids.

The Wallabies have made it clear they want to use an expansive, up-tempo game plan.

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An expansive game plan doesn’t just mean flinging the ball wide and I doubt the Wallabies idea of an expansive game plan involves just shovelling the ball from one side of the field to the other without taking the ball forward as we often saw last weekend.

To implement an expansive game plan there are a number of elements that need to work together including:

If attacking from set piece, clean ball has to be delivered;

The direction of attack is largely set by the flyhalf and the majority of time they must move forward with the ball to attract and hold the inside defenders so that they can’t drift early and take space away from the outside attackers. The most effective ways for the flyhalf to keep the defence from drifting out early is to play as close to the line as they can and to use the option of taking the ball to the line themselves to put the defence in doubt. This applies on first phase but also on later phases;

There has to be variation in the running lines of players – there are many options available such as a player positioned as an inside pass option, a player running flat so the ball can be passed behind them or a player changing angle so they’re running on a different angle to the rest of the attackers. These players can be used as decoys but should always be an option to receive the ball in case the defence doesn’t follow them. Either forwards or backs can fill these roles;

The combination of the direction from the flyhalf and variation in running lines puts some doubt in the minds of defenders, as they’re not sure who the ball carrier is going to be, which can open up space in the defensive line;

Well drilled defensive teams find it quite easy to drift across field and force the attack to the sideline if a team plays too laterally. A team can stop defences automatically drifting wide by mixing up their attack with options to play through the defence rather than always trying to go around them;

When a team takes the ball into a ruck, whether it’s wider on the field or close to the previous ruck, support players must get into the ruck early to protect the ball and not allow the defence time to disrupt the flow of possession. Of course players must also be effective in the ruck – there is no point in getting in early if they’re then easily blown off the ball or don’t clean out an opposition player trying to get to the ball;

Protecting the ball in the ruck is what provides quick, clean ball and this puts the defence under pressure. It also opens up opportunities for the halfback to attack on the edges of the ruck;

To effectively use quick ball players need to re-align quickly so they are options as ball carriers or can support the ball carrier. Spectators aren’t the only ones who get frustrated when the ball gets to the back of a ruck but has to be left sitting there because there’s only one player ready to attack who would be an isolated runner if the halfback passes the ball to them;

Opportunities in attack don’t come along that often so when they do teams must execute well – poor passes, dropped balls and failure to pass to supports at the appropriate time result in missed opportunities.

That’s all very basic stuff but we saw very little of this from the Wallabies last weekend.

In fact I think there was only one segment of play where the Wallabies came close to playing the expansive game plan they have in mind and it’s that segment of play I’ve analysed in the video below.



Not all of the elements come together and there are execution errors along the way but if the style of play you’ll see in this segment can be replicated more often the Wallabies are on the right track. There’s plenty of room left for improvement in the effectiveness of cleanout work by the Wallabies.

This segment shows the Wallabies backrow working really well together and how getting players into attacking rucks early is a key to playing an expansive game plan. As I detailed the other day, this is what we need to see more of from the Wallabies backrow.