Cape Town - From the great Richie McCaw to a barking Justin Marshall, New Zealand teams have always found a way to either bend the laws or, shall we say, at least find a “creative way” to test referees.
So it is with the Chiefs, who take on the Stormers in Saturday’s Super Rugby quarter-final at Newlands. The Chiefs’ have managed to cleverly cut down the opposition’s attacking options after their restart kicks.
And, sometimes, it’s even helped the guys from Waikato to get the ball back.I don’t know if this plan was hatched in coach Dave Rennie’s head, or whether the players brainstormed it, but the tactic is quite simple, yet intriguing.
To put it simply, here’s how it works: The Chiefs try their best to avoid forming a ruck after the opposition gathers the ball from a Chiefs restart kick.
Their reasoning? No ruck, no offside line. Which gives them leeway to charge down on players anywhere around the tackled player and prevent them from spreading the ball.
The Chiefs are generally a strong restart team and apply great pressure on kick-chase and brilliantly re-gather short kicks. But this scheme has taken their restarts to another level.
Aaron Cruden (or whoever wears the No 10 jersey on the day) puts in a restart kick, one player follows through and effectively takes the catcher down, with a support tackler entering the fray if needs be.
No player commits to engaging with an opponent over the ball on the ground, therefore no ruck is formed. The other Chiefs players cover the opposition around the tackle zone.
There is no ruck that would prevent the Chiefs from running beyond the tackle zone and in among their opponents. They can then smother potential passing options even though they are in front of the ball.
This also puts great pressure on a player who is looking to safely take a box kick from the tackle zone, or any player looking for an easy exit. But exactly how close a defending player is allowed to the tackle zone is up to the discretion of the referee.
Most view it as being within one metre of the tackled player and/or the tackler, so the Chiefs sometimes get away with this tactic and other times not.
Here’s an example:
When the Chiefs faced the Stormers at Newlands in round five of Super Rugby last year (I could not give you a more recent Stormers example thanks to the new format), left wing James Lowe put in a tackle on Duane Vermeulen and rolled away, before the Cape side’s Manuel Carizza, Vincent Koch, Kobus van Wyk and Steven Kitshoff rushed to the breakdown (probably assuming it was going to turn into a ruck).
Then, as the Chiefs always do, they shouted “Tackle only!” before big prop Ben Tameifuna and hooker Hika Elliot ran up around the sides of the breakdown and in behind scrumhalf Louis Schreuder to kill his passing option.
Liam Messam also moved up to cover Kurt Coleman (who was waiting at first receiver), thus making a nuisance of himself between Schreuder and Coleman.
Stormers lock Jean Kleyn then came in on the open side and angrily barged Tameifuna away from the breakdown. Jaco Peyper blew his whistle and, even though Kleyn had played a man without the ball, Peyper then argued that the Chiefs tighthead was too close to the tackle.
Messam, the operator that he is, came to question Peyper, who then explained that Tameifuna approached the tackle and should therefore have entered “through the gate”.
But more importantly, Peyper also said that had the Chiefs gone to any other players further from the tackle, they’d have been fine. That is why the Chiefs sometimes get away with it, and sometimes don’t.And guess who has the whistle at Newlands on Saturday… Jaco Peyper!
This law, as with so many other laws of the game we love, is open to confusion and/or interpretation. The Chiefs don’t always use this trick, but they can use it at any time and its power to fracture an opposition attack is potent.
Robbie Fleck’s side are going to have to be quick and sharp after a Chiefs restart and get the ball through the channels swiftly. Or else remind Peyper of who he penalised last time...
Cape Argus