World Cup Rugby
One of my theories of world cup rugby is that you should not beat the easy teams by large margins.
Why? Well there are two styles of rugby the first is all about not making errors because oyu know every error wil be punished and grinding down the oponent. the second style is about playing a weak opponent where you open up your defence because you know they probably cant take advantage.
the problem arises because they are quie different games. if oyu play 10 "lets crush them games" in a row then it will be very hard to settle back in to a "lets grind it out and win by 3 points" strategy. I think that is one of NZ's weakneses at world cup time because we will thrash a series of weak teams and loose by a small margin to a strong one.
With this in mind - if you want to win the world cup you should play every game like a grand final. sure score those tries against the minnows when they are available but keep up the mind set that any points they score are a defeat and dont try for tries that you know would be a waste of time against a good team.
Sure the public in NZ might complain about a 20 point victory over japan and insist it should have been 60 but they won't remember that for long. Giving minnows a hiding with lots of wide open agressive play says your team is good as individuals but your plan is poor (classic NZ rugby?).
BTW who were the crazy people picking france to be in the final? home ground advantage isn't worth nearly enough to get them there! they wil be lucky to make it into the quarters.
Why? Well there are two styles of rugby the first is all about not making errors because oyu know every error wil be punished and grinding down the oponent. the second style is about playing a weak opponent where you open up your defence because you know they probably cant take advantage.
the problem arises because they are quie different games. if oyu play 10 "lets crush them games" in a row then it will be very hard to settle back in to a "lets grind it out and win by 3 points" strategy. I think that is one of NZ's weakneses at world cup time because we will thrash a series of weak teams and loose by a small margin to a strong one.
With this in mind - if you want to win the world cup you should play every game like a grand final. sure score those tries against the minnows when they are available but keep up the mind set that any points they score are a defeat and dont try for tries that you know would be a waste of time against a good team.
Sure the public in NZ might complain about a 20 point victory over japan and insist it should have been 60 but they won't remember that for long. Giving minnows a hiding with lots of wide open agressive play says your team is good as individuals but your plan is poor (classic NZ rugby?).
BTW who were the crazy people picking france to be in the final? home ground advantage isn't worth nearly enough to get them there! they wil be lucky to make it into the quarters.
posted by Genius at 3:17 PM
1 Comments:
I totally agree and have for years.
minnow teams need to used to practice on , not thrash.
these games should be to practice defence and strategy.
THEY ARE NOT TESTS
they are simply a technical process of elimination.
Teams that need to be treated with respect are Argentina and Ireland.
Level of play with these teams need to be adjusted and stepped up to tune fine balance strategies of defence, offence and ball handling skills.
I do have to say they do get the respect due to them but they are controllable. When we treat these teams scientifically we'll dominate in the majors.
The unpredictable freak teams that shine because their spirits are undaunted need to be prioritised and then the major oppositions become predictable.
do we rely too much on our own virtues rather than examining those of the 'lesser talented?'
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