Rugby: Players go from paddock to class

All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith and head coach Graham Henry during the All Blacks team skills training session. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The All Blacks have gone back to school this week in an effort to get their heads around recent trends that have seen rugby shift significantly from how it was played in 2010.

Wayne Smith said the camp had been largely classroom based, concentrating on "high-level planning" ahead of the test against Fiji in Dunedin on Friday.

"We've looked at the game, looked at the trends and we'll play differently than we did last year.

"To do that you've got to get clarity with the players and get buy-in - this camp's been about that."

Smith and Richie McCaw emphasised the changes would be "subtle" and not necessarily discernible to the average punter, but significant nonetheless.

"You've got coaches who have been analysing the game for six months who are pretty excited but aren't playing the game, so you don't know if it's going to work until you get out on the track," Smith said.

The most significant trend seen in the Super 15 was the breakdown becoming more of a contest again. Last year the attacking team could take the ball into the breakdown, near certain that it would either come back on their side or they'd win a penalty.

This year the second defender into the breakdown has been given more leeway to contest possession. That lack of certainty from the team in possession has had one obvious spin-off, with kicking for territory back in vogue.

It is not, however, a pointer to another boring kick-fest of a World Cup. Smith pointed to the fact that the two most attacking teams contested the Super 15 final as evidence of that.

"We'll be attempting to play rugby," he said.

Kicking could even prove counter-productive, as was seen last weekend when a poor Andy Ellis clearing kick allied to a disorganised chase allowed Digby Ioane to cross for one of three tries only on the night.

"That's similar to test rugby because you get one or two chances and if you have one or two lapses it can be the difference in the game," McCaw said.

"We need to have the right way to play to make the most of those opportunities and have your systems right to make sure you don't give them the chance.

"Kicking the ball aimlessly just because you're under pressure is not the answer. How you do it is the key."