Eddie Jones is promising a quick and efficient game plan for the Wallabies in 2023, a statement that as usual, proves the coach is on top of the latest international trends heading into a World Cup.
The Australian coach is endorsing the end of phase play attack in rugby and openly discussing his intention to employ a gameplan of kicking the ball away if no progress is made within three phases.
Jones is validating his ideology with a statistic indicating 75% of tries are scored in the first three phases of play in the modern game.
“Why waste energy? I totally agree with him,” Former All Black James Parsons told The Aotearoa Rugby Pod. “Especially in parts of the field – I say it all the time, between those two 40s, why would you play any more than three rucks? Kick on your terms, absolutely. It can be a long kick it can be an attacking kick, whatever.
“But conserve that energy of your big boys for when it’s maul D, for when you’re on your line defending breakdown after breakdown. It’s smart.”
Clarifying it’s not a law, more of a general approach, Parsons went on to add that it’s pointless kicking for the sake of kicking.
“Don’t give yourself to three (phases) and you’ve still got four (players) in the backfield and you still try to kick,” He said.
Fans will get their first glimpse of the Wallabies’ gameplan when the Australian side faces the Springboks on Saturday night (SAST). It’s a mouthwatering prospect to kick off The Rugby Championship.
It’s Jones’ first game back in charge of the Wallabies since being sacked from the position 18 years ago and the pundits agree the coach has the personnel to execute his game plan.
Parsons shared his observation of the Australian teams possessing some of the best tactical kickers in Super Rugby Pacific, noting the Reds specifically as a team that executed expertly when taking down the Chiefs in the regular season.
Up front, Rob Valentini has made his presence felt and will be joined by the sizable frames of Will Skelton and debutant Tom Hooper to assist in providing the platform the kickers need.
“You even look at the trends in Super Rugby,” Former Maori All Black Bryn Hall added. “Look at that final with the Chiefs and the Crusaders, both of them kicked over 1000 meters because you don’t want to play inside your end of the field.
“With Australia, (it’s about) their decision making on when to have the ball, and when not to have the ball. They’ve played in that no man’s land for long periods of time and they weren’t getting any pay out of it, weren’t getting any scoreboard pressure. Then it might be two tries off the back of that (against them), for not playing where they should be.”
It appears those shortcomings will be directly addressed under this new coaching group. Time will tell whether the Wallabies’ defence is up to the task of handling a lower-possession game but the pundits were convinced there were the right pieces in play for the Australians to be a real threat come World Cup time.
“Mate, everyone’s nervous about the Wallabies at the moment,” Parsons claimed. “I reckon every nation is. They’ve got the right side of the draw, they’ve got a coach that will leave no stone unturned and gives people the belief they can do it and always has that ability to change a squad into a winning squad really fast.”
