Nucifora delivers inside info

David Nucifora

By the time the Super 12 kicks off at the end of next month, the fingerprints of former Brumbies coach David Nucifora will be all over the Blues.

His influence will be subtle but significant, with more creative use of the inside ball his most telling contribution.

Last year, when the Blues were flailing at the wrong end of the ladder the usual suspects surfaced - that the team lacked heart, players weren't getting on, the forwards weren't doing the hard yards.

There were probably elements of truth in some of these theories.

But the biggest problem was that the Blues had become predictable. Everyone knew they wanted to go wide early and quickly. If the ball didn't come quickly enough, the first receiver looked inside to one of the many lumbering forwards who was available to take it back into the set-up to start again.

The inside ball, one of the most effective weapons in the game, had simply become just another way of grinding out a few more yards.

Meanwhile, over the Tasman in Canberra, the Nucifora-coached Brumbies continued to turn the ball inside with devastating effect. They retained the element of surprise by using it sparingly in channels beyond the first receiver, by varying the length and depth of pass and by always having the strike runner hit at pace.

For the Brumbies, the inside ball was never just another option, it was a way of breaking the line.

Nucifora wants the Blues to start thinking like Brumbies. He says: "I think in general, not just in playing the ball back inside, it is about being able to manipulate space. So we have put a lot of work into how we create space to run into.

"What we have to do is be able to create order around guys like Carlos [Spencer] so there are always options for them. Don't just give the ball to him and let him create something. That is where we are heading. Hopefully we will create a lot of attacking options off him so he doesn't have to be a magician and make something up."

Nucifora doesn't want the Blues' outside backs to wait patiently for Spencer to open up space. He wants everyone to work harder in that department, be a little smarter in the angles they choose.

Using the inside ball to bring the likes of Joe Rokocoko, Doug Howlett and Mils Muliaina into midfield at pace will always make sense. The Brumbies scored some memorable tries last year when Joe Roff, Clyde Rathbone and Mark Gerrard were brought in with a ball against the grain.

Fielding Luke McAlister at second five-eighths would also relieve Spencer of some of his creative burden and allow the Blues to work more plays further away from the set-piece.

"We were fortunate at the Brumbies last year that we had Matt Giteau next to Stephen Larkham," says Nucifora.

"Giteau gives you options because of the type of player he is. He can take the ball to the line, but he's also a ball player. He can play in the face of the defence and still throw long balls. There are players in this team who can play that sort of football.

"Luke McAlister is a good comparison with Giteau."

Last year's Super 12 champions got the balance right - they played with a structure that didn't stifle the flair of Larkham, Giteau and Joe Roff.

Nucifora's ability to marry structure with flair was always going to be attractive to the Blues.

Few teams in the world can match the Blues for natural talent. But defensive screens have become resistant to random acts of individual brilliance in isolation.

"You can't just have flair and play everything off the cuff," says Nucifora. "The game breaks down too easily. You have to have a certain amount of structure to create the space, to use the speed. We'll be reasonably well organised where we need to be.

"We have got the speed and the athleticism, we've just got to have the plays to be able to create the space to give us the opportunity. A lot of work has been done on that.

"In professional rugby it gets a lot tighter each year. You have got to be able to pick your moments, pick your times to use the type of plays you want to use.

"There is a little bit more chess, I suppose, about picking your moment. We don't want to discourage the natural flair we have because flair is the hardest thing to coach and you want to encourage that."

He'll not need to put the hard sell on the Blues players to have a go.

He just needs to get the point across that they can have a go on the inside as well as the outside.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY