Simple Minds

In case you’ve tuned in on the basis that this is about music and Jim Kerr, I am sorry to disabuse you of the notion, I think I read somewhere he’s an inveterate footie supporter.

If he had played a bit of rugby in his youth he may well have been like myself and went down to the training field in the off season and played a simple game. With a minimum of 2 on each side and anything up to 4 a-side, the game involved punting the ball out of hand down the pitch. The idea was to gain territory from the 22 and eventually win by crossing the halfway line.

To do this you had to punt the ball and avoid it being caught on the full by the players in other half of the pitch. If they caught it on the full and called a mark they were allowed to advance 10 metres and kick it back from there. A knock-on cost you a reverse 10 metres and allowing it bounce cost you territory.

The game was interesting for back 3 players in particular but it also honed your instincts in game tactics, sizing up the ability of your opponents and playing to their weaknesses.  So for example a player who couldn’t kick long was usually a target as you knew his return kick wasn’t going far and it allowed you to advance up the pitch. Fielding the ball on the full and running forward quickly before returning it and before the opposition who had just punted had time to reorganise could catch them out and so on.

The fine tuning of your ability to size up opponents quickly in the space of a couple of kicks and then adjusting your game defensively to cope and also adjusting your game to target opponent’s weaknesses had a spin off on the pitch on a Saturday. Within the confines of 80 minutes on the pitch on a Saturday at amateur level there generally wasn’t video analysis, just the experience of players on the pitch reading the game and making important tactical decisions as the game progressed. One had to think on one’s feet.

I was reminded of playing this kicking game on Friday night last when watching the Ravens play London Welsh. The professionals have all the time in the world to practice their kicking, practice their positional play, practice moving up the line and learning to assess the abilities of opponents. Assessments are done through video analysis and one cannot help but feel that pro players are unable to think for themselves or adapt to what is in front of them on the pitch because they are always looking for what they were shown on the video.  The art of thinking for yourself appears to be steadily dying out in lieu of a coach telling you what you will see and how to react when the players step unto the pitch.

Training at a lowly level meant you were honed to adopt a few key principles such as don’t dally in your own 22 with the ball or create a dog leg in your defensive alignment for example. For a back there were a few simple moves to perform on the pitch and they had easily memorised notation.  ‘M1’ for example meant a pass from out-half to outside centre cutting out the 12, ‘M2’ missed out the 13, ‘F1’ missed out the full back who was in the line between the 13 and the winger.

‘W1’ brought the winger in from the blindside between the scrum half and fly half whilst ‘W2’ brought him in between the no. 10 and the 12.

From these basic moves there were a number of special moves such as the fly half running flat across field playing a dummy switch with the centres and passes to the fullback coming between the wing and centre. Other moves might have been the centre going to blindside and switching places with the wing to draw defenders and of course there were moves with the no.8 and scrum half and so on. In the forwards the lineout had a basic front, middle and back option for throw ins with a low flat ball thrown quickly such as to the front jumper or a the lofted ball usually to the tail. Then there were the variations which involved movement up and down the line and pre arranged signals and so on.

In a match you rarely played any of the special moves and the standard ones could be just as difficult if the pack weren’t providing good ball.   The weather was always a factor and if the wind were strong it was recommended you played down the blindside using little chip kicks to move the ball or if you had a big back row using the ball carriers into the wind.  The bottom line in all this was that the game was relatively simple to play and the key was in actually executing the moves rather than their complexity. In defence you assessed the alignment of the opposition as to clues to their next move.

Thus the centres might lie flat just behind the fly half with the open-side wing slightly deeper. This usually signalled an up and under whilst a 30 degree alignment in the backs usually meant the ball was going to be moved. Out wide on the wing you watched the oppositions fly half’s body language to try and guess if he was going to kick. Usually the ten would look across to see the defensive alignment if he was going to kick.

When play became fragmented you had to think on your feet and second guess the opposition. My point in all this is that you learned to play what was in front of you. Experience taught you how to interpret a players body language, how to assess the way a player run, ie straight line or wavey davey or worst of all a side step. You learned to adapt on the pitch.  If the out-half had a penchant for kicking, you drop deeper out wide and so on.

I really wonder has the professional game robbed players of a degree of autonomy in how they play the game and react to certain situations on the pitch. A player who has trained to do A, B or C depending on how the game is developing will instinctively react as he would in training to a situation on the pitches he recognises. What appears to be happening in the professional game is that players don’t expect to meet the unexpected and if they do, they don’t know how to react. The aimless kicking is a case in point, they appear to have been told run it back, so they automatically do, or else they kick because they have been told to take that option. I suspect they would get a chewing for thinking outside the coaches box. A player like Ian Humphreys reminds me of someone who will react to what is front of him and play accordingly with spectacular results or disaster whilst Niall O’Connor simply plays to a pre-coordinated plan. Which do you prefer to watch? Secondly if your spectating is results dictated who would you prefer to play at 10.

When ruminating about Andy Powell and his unscheduled trip in a golf buggy I said rugby was a game for intelligent people and AP was not someone whom reminded me of possessing much intelligence.   In spite of all the coaching mantra I believe the game is very much for intelligent individuals.  It is intelligence in how you manage yourself in a game, how you manage your ability, manage your temperament and manage your physicality. Andy Powell duly received his just desserts in the shape of a driving ban. This is tough punishment when you think certain players get away with a ban from playing rugby rather than a criminal sentence for intent to do physical damage by gouging an opponent’s eyes.

I noted in my last blog that Logan’s run, the premiere of Ulster’s quest for world domination was panned by critics on the UAFC. I imagine the star, Shane Logan was truly hacked off. Seems revenge of a sort has happened as the UAFC is well and truly hacked. Not suggesting for one moment that Logie engineered a sequel. Things have gone almighty quiet on the transfer front with the only news worth recording is the imminent departure of steady Eddie, O’Donoghue to Leinster. Just hope this and the Boss move don’t hack them off so much that they return to haunt us on the playing fields of Ravenhill and the RDS next season.

Finally the blogs featured fan this week is none other than FRU and Ulster rugby stalwart in exile ‘Flat-top’. As usual, the fan in the can features in song with a few chosen lines from the Beatles Abbey Road song ‘Come Together’. Hum along now…

Here come ole flat top,

He come groovin’ up slowly,

He got Ulster shirt on,

He one Ulster supporter,

He say, “I know you, you know me!”

One thing I can tell you is,

it’s Ulster by three!

Come together,

right now!

Over me.

As BJ Botha might say, “Have you looked at my new website yet? www.bjbotha.com