Justin Marshall's Chalkboard: How to counter the Brumbies kicking game

70 per cent of the Brumbies' kicks are long and for territory. Photo / Getty Images

I want to focus on the Chiefs clash against the Brumbies in New Plymouth for my first Chalkboard column of 2015. In particular, I want to look at the problems posed by the kicking game of the Brumbies.

It's a new way of looking at the Brumbies. In their great teams of yesteryear, they were quite regimented - they were the best team at attacking from lineouts I have ever seen - but they wore you down through ball retention. If the brilliance of George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Stirling Mortlock and Joe Roff didn't create a linebreak, then they'd just grind you down by never letting go of the pill.

The modern-day Brumbies are even more regimented but are far happier to kick away possession. They still have some x-factor players who can hurt you, but they look to strangle the opposition in a different way.

Most teams look to kick as a means of contesting and hopefully retaining possession. The Brumbies will do this, but 70 per cent of their kicks are long and for territory. Nic White, Matt Toomua and Christian Leali'ifano look to kick to space behind and turn the back three around.

They follow this up with a very good kick-chase, which puts pressure on the opposition who, faced with a wall, often opt to kick back. This results in the Brumbies winning, I'd say, about eight out of every 10 kicking duel they become involved in.

So how do the Chiefs counter?

For a start, they need to know it's coming, and I'm sure they've been working hard on this all week.

The back three, no matter who the ball gets kicked to, have to work on getting back behind the ball, but to truly counter the Brumbies, I believe you need to get at least one of the centres - Sonny Bill William and Charlie Ngatai - back behind the ball as well.

Most teams usually work on a two-pass policy to launch counter-attacks and kick returns. To get around the Brumbies kick-chase, I think you need a three-pass policy.

If the Chiefs do this, they will go a long way to nullifying the Brumbies' most oppressive tactic.