Clarity amid the chaos. Attacking rugby is winning rugby.
This is the blueprint Sir Wayne Smith believes the All Blacks and New Zealand rugby must, regardless of results on their northern tour, continue to steadfastly follow.
Smith has been inundated with feedback since outlining with the Herald last week his vision for New Zealand rugby – that centres on embracing the grassroots game, harnessing coaching innovation and the All Blacks prioritising attacking intent to regain the mantle atop the world – and is now doubling down to further explain his methodology.
In this regard, Smith maintains the NPC, with its captivating brand of fast-paced movement, is leading the way for how the game should be played, and that the All Blacks are treading the same path.
“Rather than follow the global trend of over-structure and intricate detail needed to choreograph three phases of attack before even thinking about scoring, we need to establish our own blueprint for attacking rugby,” Smith says.
“Try and score off the first phase. If that doesn’t work, score off the next phase and so on.
“I believe it’s the way to win now and the way for the game to go in the future. I can’t see why the All Blacks won’t continue with it, and why it would be more likely to lead to defeat than victory.
“I’d always much rather see a game based on movement, keeping the ball alive, attack, everyone coming forward to be threats than any other.
“This is the way that suits our DNA, it’s been in our history, and it’s winning rugby all around the world.”
Smith believes Scott Robertson’s All Blacks are attempting to revive the style that propelled them to 88 wins from 103 tests between 2003 and 2011 and the unrivalled success through to 2016.
“There’s no reason why we can’t return to that sort of rugby and that’s what the All Blacks are trying to do.
“If we play like that and we’re successful then the world will follow us rather than the other way around.”
Smith, dubbed ‘the professor’, is keen to elaborate on his chaos theory he says can rule the rugby world.
While he recognises rugby can and will be played in many ways, Smith wants to banish the notion that attacking ambition does not win matches of major significance.
From European leaders Toulouse, arguably the world’s best domestic team with French superstar Antoine Dupont as their fulcrum, to English Premiership champions Northampton, Pat Lam’s Bristol, and the All Blacks, Smith points to these teams as examples of how an attacking mentality can prosper.
“Toulouse constantly win the Top 14 and were European champions last year,” Smith says. “Pierre Villepreux, to me the greatest rugby coach in history, created the famous Toulousain attacking movement back in the 1970s and 1980s.”
Villepreux’s rugby philosophy is based on getting everyone on the same page, players thinking on their feet, rather than working to a prescribed programme of set moves.
Championing ‘the beautiful game played with joy’ with accuracy at the set piece but not scrumming for penalties and few driving mauls, Villepreux wanted clean execution for attack to flourish.
“It’s a shame we have to talk about law changes to revitalise our game,” Smith says, referring to recent rule tweaks designed to boost speed, minimise stoppages, increase ball in play and his suggestion last week that World Rugby will eventually mandate fewer substitutions to create more fatigue.
“If you choose to, you’ve always been able to play this way. It’s all about love of the game and ‘joie de vivre’ by players and coaches. It’s clearly contagious because the British and French fans are flocking to watch it.”
Smith’s chaos theory embraces a similar style. He references Willie Apiata, the former SAS soldier and Victoria Cross recipient for bravery who spent time with Robertson’s All Blacks in Sydney this year, as one of three mentors to shape his coaching career.
Apiata told Smith how the SAS soldiers would use stun grenades to spark piercing noise and fill rooms with smoke during hostage retrievals. Having trained in those conditions, the SAS are comfortable and calm to execute their task while others panic.
“That’s rugby,” Smith says. “The step up for the All Blacks is getting real clarity when they’ve shaped the defence.”
As one example, Smith points to the All Blacks exposing the Springboks in the wide channels in their first test in South Africa at Ellis Park before the defence adjusted. The All Blacks then didn’t identify that the space shifted elsewhere, to the blindside and around the ruck. The same applied to their kicking strategy.
“They’ve still got a bit of learning to do about where the space is once they’ve been successful in certain areas. Those areas get covered, so where’s the space now?”
Smith’s other coaching influences include Ken Quarrie, NZ Rugby’s senior scientist with a PhD in statistics and Michael Lauren, a former military strategist.
“The common theme with these three men is their interest in chaos. Rugby is often a chaotic game, causing confusion and mistakes. The key is to have clarity amongst the chaos.
“For years, Ken, Michael, and Willie helped me, through their specialist expertise in data use and tactics, to ensure our teams know how to navigate through the mayhem that we try to create.
“A case in point of how this can be effective was the second quarter of the All Blacks’ game against Japan.
“This was high octane, attacking rugby with clarity of thought. The All Blacks attacked through precise passes and offloads and seemed to be learning where the space was next. This is critical.”
Attackers pressing forward across the field, forcing defenders to advance, limit their ability to step in and gang tackle. Playing this way, off fast ruck ball or offloads, allows teams to attack a retreating defensive line.
“Effective attacking rugby is based on shaping the enemy defence so that you can attack areas that are poorly defended. I saw glimpses of this from the All Blacks, and it’s exciting to think where they can go with it.”
Smith cites Mike Cron, the former All Blacks turned Wallabies forwards guru he says is the best assistant coach he’s worked with, to illustrate his final point about why scrumming for penalties stifles attack by creating untidy ball and disrupting backs’ timing and accuracy.
In 2004, when Smith joined the All Blacks’ coaching team alongside Sir Graham Henry and Sir Steve Hansen, Cron forced the forwards to do 10m combat crawls for each collapsed scrum.
At the start, the forwards were performing up to 150m of army crawls.
“We soon learned to stay up and attack fast off steady scrum platforms. When Crono joined me in the Black Ferns, I asked him if he could produce one second scrum ball for our attack. He rose to the challenge and our women thrived by attacking with quick ball off steady platforms.”
Throughout his career Cron visited Cirque du Soleil, the New Zealand ballet, and extreme jiu jitsu sessions to learn about balance, body awareness and movement.
“This is thinking outside the square. It’s about a growth mindset and it helped shape a coach who pays back, mentors others all around the world, and sets an example for the sort of thinking that, hopefully, will shape the future of our game.”
Liam Napier has been a sports journalist since 2010, and his work has taken him to World Cups in rugby, netball and cricket, boxing world title fights and Commonwealth Games.
'There was not a lot of trust between us anymore. In fact ... there was zero trust.'