The game, especially in America was solitary because there was no world cup on television, no live streaming rugby on the web, no internet coaches forums, not Amazon to buy coaching books or DVD's. As a result American rugby teams were left for fend for themselves adapting techniques, tactics and strategies from anyone passing through a practice with an accent. What trickled down to American college rugby was a hodgepodge of different playing styles melded together into a messy morass of slow ball in the forwards, and overly complicated back moves. The brutish forward play is a hold-over from the British origins of the game where fields were soggy, balls slippery, and close play was required. The fancy back play is imported from the relatively dryer pitches of the southern hemisphere that allowed for faster paced rugby. Unfortunately the mix of styles would be the American football analogy of running a west coast passing game with a power running blocking scheme--the line would be smashing their opposition off the line, and the wide receivers would be running fantastic routes but the quaterback would be trying to hand off to a running back who was trying to run a pass pattern. The end result is a relatively poor level of rugby.
The brutish forward tactics of giving pop passes to the forwards un-necessarily slows the pace of the game down. Ball coming out of the ruck is slow allowing the defense to set-up. The scrum halves are usually stationary popping passes to their forwards into the teeth of the fringe defense. Since the defense is established the offense must commit more energy and men to the ruck, slowing the delivery of the ball down and perpetuating the cycle. Occasionally the backs will receive the ball and attempt a complicated back move into the established defense and continue the slow ball cycle as well.
Combine this offensive slow ball cycle with another aspect of the modern rugby game aggressive rugby league like tackling and defensive patterns. These modern tackling methods of chest high smother tackling, aggressive head on, low body position tackle, and the defensive pattern which look amazing like an American football defensive scheme are more easily adopted by American teams. Thus we have American college teams vainly trying to play an old time rugby offense against a modern rugby defense perfectly adapted to the strengths of American football players.
The most frustrating part of these cycles is that players and coaches will return to practice the next week thinking that players need run harder off the ruck, commitment more men to win it, and work on the back timing more to make their moves successful. This is not the modern game of rugby.
The world game has moved on, and a few elite college and mens teams have adopted fast paced tactics of quick hitting scrum and lineout moves, running scrum halves, weakside attacks, forwards with the ability to decide to pick up the ball on a dynamic ruck, backs rucking, forwards in the backline, quick tap penalties, passed before contact rather than in contact and quick decisions.
The intent of the posts is not to be pejorative, but rather enlightening. Certaintly there are aspects of old time rugby which are useful in the modern game, but many traits of the old style of play have gone the way of the three point try.
The next few posts will detail how to play this modern style of game. Coaches, captains and players please pay close attention. These posts will accelerate your understanding of the game, and enable you to outplay your opponent by playing faster and making quicker decisions rather than by perpetuating the Hobbesian path of solitary, poor, brutish and slow rugby.
Think fast, act fast, play fast,
Toby
Here some Miami photos showing the old style game
2001 Miami tour of Florida--static scrum half dishing to a pod of forwards. A running scrum half could have drawn the Florida defender and hit the forward at pace.
2001 Miami vs Cleveland Rovers old time maul. A quicker hitting maul could have created or exploited space and fewer Miami players in the maul could have attacked the space.
2001 Miami Florida tour static scrum half again dishing to a pod of forwards. Static scrumhalf failed to draw defenders, or read the possible overlap on the near side of the field. Although the distance from the ruck of the forwards is a good start to a more dynamic game.
2005 Miami penalty play runs into the teeth of a well formed West Virginia defense. Need I say more about running directly into the teeth of a formed defense. If your gonna hit a penalty play make it a quick decision against a unformed defense.