Analysis: The art of the kick-off
Our analyst Sam Larner returns to Planet Rugby to study the kick-off and how teams are looking to exploit this crucial set-piece in the game.
As the traditional battlegrounds of rucks, mauls, line-outs and scrums become more even and more heavily analysed it’s up to coaches and analysts to find different areas of the game to get an advantage. One of those areas is the third set-piece, the kick-off. For some the kick-off is simple, line up in scrum formation and either try and kick it long inside the 22 or short, between the 10 metre line and the 22.
At the elite level, that’s not what the kick-off looks like. The best kickers can place the ball anywhere in the 40 metres presented to them and the receiving team needs to adapt. This has led to an arms race where coaches try to devise kicks which can be reclaimed whilst at the same time working out how to ensure they don’t get turned over when they are receiving a kick.
The Newcastle Falcons v Edinburgh game wasn’t groundbreaking from a kick-off point of view but I chose to use that game because of a discussion on commentary. The commentators were talking about why long kick-offs typically aim for the best ball carrier to ensure he then can’t carry on the second phase. It’s a fascinating idea and one that probably deserves some further scrutiny.
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This is the first kick of the game and it tells us a lot about how kicks have evolved. Firstly, Edinburgh line up about eight metres behind Blair Kinghorn, the full-back who kicks off. This, combined with the excellent hang time on the kick means that the chasers get there virtually at the same time as the ball. That might be relatively easy if you chose to send your entire backline as the chasers but if you didn’t reclaim the ball you would be left with only your forwards defending against the opposition’s backs.
This is a map of the positioning Edinburgh used for their first kick-off. The ball is going to the top of the pitch and you can see that although Edinburgh have two quick chasers on the far side of the pitch, 13 and 14, the vast majority of the chasers are forwards and tight five forwards at that. This makes it very straightforward, only the full-back and number eight drop into the back field and if the Falcons reclaim the ball, as they did, the fly-half, inside centre, winger, hooker and openside flanker provide a mobile defensive backline if the home team generated quick ball.
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This is the second kick-off of the match, again for Edinburgh. The way the players are distributed on the pitch remains constant but they decided to go much further into the Newcastle half with the kick. This can look like a passive tactic, there’s no way you will win the ball back here but it’s also unlikely that a box kick from that angle or a kick from a fly-half stood behind the ruck will be long enough to get back over the halfway line, result, a net gain in yardage.
In addition to this, like a chess grandmaster, you can think a few phases ahead. Your 12 made the tackle so he will be out for the next phase but your backline is well set and has an array of quick players to make a wide attack less appealing. In addition to that, your six, three, and one, arguably your best defenders, are the ready at the fringe. With no better options the Falcons kick it away and hand Edinburgh the ball back inside the Newcastle half.
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The Falcons’ back-row player who knocks this on is Ryan Burrows. He was brought on as an early sub so I can’t imagine that Edinburgh were deliberately attempting to target him with their kicks. Instead, they were trying to pin the Falcons in that deep corner where it’s nearly impossible to kick the ball back into the opposition’s half. They get lucky in that instead of gaining just a handful of yards they gain near enough 40.
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Moving onto Newcastle, they place their players in a similar way to Edinburgh but without the run up. The wide, quick players put pressure on the catchers and the slower forwards provide a brick wall for the catcher to then run into. What the quick players also do is provide a threat to get into a maul if the catcher is lifted. In this example the kick is too long for the chasers to really compete in the air and too short to allow Edinburgh to catch under no pressure. Luke Arscott gets into the maul and stops the progress. In the end Edinburgh end up over committing to win the ball back and only really have an option to kick the ball.
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Kicks of this length are a real challenge for the receiving team. They typically set up to ensure that any kick just beyond the 10 metre line won’t be reclaimed, that means that anything beyond that point has more space to land in. This ball should probably be caught by Viliame Mata, probably the best Edinburgh ball carrier, but instead the fly-half Jaco van der Walt gets in the way and then tries to kick the ball away when there’s not really the room to do that. It might not really be sexy to belt the ball 30 metres down the field but it poses questions for the receivers.
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In this final example we have the most important kick-off you can have in a game of rugby. The last few minutes and you really need to win the ball back to have a shot at winning or at least getting a losing bonus. All teams will try and kick this short but how they go about trying to win it back is interesting. Teams should be sending their quickest players with the best vertical leap, usually their winger or full-back to compete for the ball. There’s no point sending a lock out there if he’s still a few meters away when the ball lands. Newcastle don’t really have the luxury of sending a winger up to compete; Sinoti Sinoti is quite short and Vereniki Goneva isn’t that quick or that great at getting off the ground. Instead of putting another back there they instead went with Mark Wilson. Wilson is a very strong rugby player but this isn’t his ideal skillset and Edinburgh get the ball back and finish the game without conceding any more points.
Conclusion
The kick-off is developing at a ridiculous pace. Teams have all week to prepare for one 80 minute game and part of that preparation needs to include kick-off work. As more and more focus as been put on the kick-off it has become even more competitive. If you want to look at one area of rugby look at the kick-off – the line-out might stay the same for the next few years but the kick-off will look very different at the World Cup next year to how it looks now. It’s a race to see who can devise a kick-off strategy, which allows them to reclaim the ball consistently while at the same time securing the ball no matter where the kicking team put it. It’s an exciting time for rugby.