JOHANNESBURG - How hard can it be? All you have to do is hit a fairly big target 15 metres away. Come on, anyone can do that!
That’s all that hookers have to do when they throw a “long ball”, to the back of the lineout. Its simple, right?
You’d think so, but why then are South Africa’s No 2s battling so much to find their man in the lineout? It’s a problem that’s come to the fore this season, and we’re only four rounds into the competition.
But already last year there were issues with throwing, not only at Super Rugby and Currie Cup level, but with the Springbok team as well.
Before this weekend’s round of Super Rugby matches, not one local team was in the top five for lineouts won. The best of the bunch were the Sharks, with a success rate of 90 percent, for sixth place, and they were followed by the Kings (eighth, 87%), Cheetahs (ninth, 85%), Stormers (10th, 84%), Bulls (11th, 83%) and Lions (13th, 82%).
So while there are a good number of promising and extremely talented hookers doing the rounds in South African rugby, like Bongi Mbonambi, Scarra Ntubeni, Malcolm Marx, Robbie Coetzee, Akker van der Merwe, Torsten van Jaarsveld, Jaco Visagie, Chiliboy Ralepelle ... you name them, are they hitting their targets consistently enough to be considered good enough to play Test rugby.
And, to find their jumper when the heat is on? Because, while it’s all well and good to be a good ball carrier and stealer on the ground, a hooker’s primary role is to find his jumper. Heck, hookers don’t even have to scrum anymore; they merely get shoved forward by those next to them and behind them.
Lions boss Johan Ackermann, who’s involved in the coaching of Marx, Coetzee and Van der Merwe, says South Africa has good young hookers, but “their consistency at throwing into the lineout can improve. That’s a fact.”
Hooker is certainly a specialised position and in recent times only John Smit, Bismarck du Plessis and Adriaan Strauss have been able to find their men on a consistent basis, as spoken about by Ackermann.
Could it perhaps be that many hookers are converted flankers and that their failure to learn the art of throwing in at lineout time in their formative years has left some of them at a disadvantage? That while anyone can learn to hit a target, even if learned much later in one’s development as a hooker, that doing so time and time again and while under pressure does not come as naturally to a converted player than it does to someone who’s always done the job?
Former Springbok defence and throwing coach during 2012 and 2015 John McFarland believes throwing in and finding the target with regularity is something that can be learned.
“Look, it’s going to be more challenging for a flanker who’s converted to hooker, simply because throwing in is such a specialised thing ... it’s like changing a golf swing.
“One’s got to remember that there are so many people and actions involved in throwing the ball into a lineout ... there’s the hooker, the jumper and the lifters. So blaming the hooker for missing his target is not always fair.”
McFarland says to become a consistently good thrower a player has to put the hours in. “Nothing less than 300 throws a week, to hit five spots, between five metres (the ball at the front) and 15 metres (at the back). And that’s to perfect the 15 throws, on average, a hooker will have to make in a game.
“The key of course is to be able to hit the target late on in a game, often when the arms are tired, when the body is weary, with lineouts often nowadays following shortly after a scrum and a penalty win. It’s a challenge.”
It’s one thing though finding an Eben Etzebeth at the front of a lineout, but quite another hitting Warren Whiteley outside the 15 metres, where teams often want to be when on the attack. A “long ball” gives the attacking team so many more options and space to attack in.
“That’s the trick,” says McFarland, who is currently employed with Kubota in the Japanese Top League. “The money-ball is at the back, beyond the 15m line, and hitting it regularly is a bonus. But that’s what every thrower must be able to do that on a regular basis.”
McFarland, who has helped take Kubota from the 15th position in lineout success to first this year, adds South Africa will have to seriously look into their training of the promising No 2s coming through the ranks.
“Smit, Du Plessis and Strauss were world class hookers and throwers. I know England have a specialist throwing coach who travels around the country helping all the hookers, from the youngsters to the Test players ... I don’t know if South African rugby have a similar person.
“But the reality is the Boks will have youngsters at hooker for a while yet and they’re going to need guidance and someone to help them along the way.
“It’s all about them having someone who’s going to spend hours with them on the training ground, holding up a lollipop, checking their alignment, making sure their hand follows their arm. It’s about throwing in over and over again, repeating the action again and again, so that the player gains confidence and has a routine he trusts.”
One’s got to wonder whether Du Plessis will be back in the Bok picture this year, not only to play and bring some experience to the tight five, but to also help the youngsters coming through the ranks? It’s not a far-fetched idea, especially when one considers how important it is to find your jumper in the modern game ... it could be the difference between winning and losing in the last minute of a Test match.