Stick wants Boks to 'play the lotto'
INTERVIEW: Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick revealed one area of the team’s arsenal where he challenges them to take a calculated gamble.
The gamble in question is how the team approaches loose balls from contestable kicks ahead of their Nations Championship clash against Italy on Saturday.
The aerial battle and transition plays have become an increasingly popular tactic among clubs and national teams, and often result in more tries being scored in matches.
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The Springboks are no different and have deployed the tactic to good use over the past couple of seasons.
Stick told Rugby365 on Friday from the Springboks’ hotel in Turin how the team approaches the loose balls from contestable kicks and what his general message to the team is regarding that area of the game.
“It’s actually a good question, and I always tell my players, sometimes people talk about luck,” Stick told Rugby365.
“You don’t win the lotto if you don’t play, and the same goes for those 50/50 scrap balls from contestable kicks.
“If you don’t prepare for it and work hard to make sure you have a better chance to win those scraps and have systems in place in order to achieve that, for instance, having numbers around where the ball is landing, the chances are you might not win the lotto.
“You can see where the game is going now; a lot of the teams are focussing on capitalising from those transitions.
“If we can get 50 scraps on the field, that means there’s an opportunity for us to capitalise on an unstructured defensive system.”
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The Boks have often been criticised in the past for kicking too much, but since the strict implementation of World Rugby Law 9.4, which states that players cannot prevent another player from playing the ball unless it’s a contest, the whole picture around it has changed for the better, where teams can now challenge high balls without any blockers.
Stick elaborated on the aerial contest and how the Boks try to make the best of the loose ball.
“The scraps game because of the aerial contest under the new laws are 50/50 because there’s no more blocking and escorting, which creates those opportunities, which is something nice.
“In the past, there were always negative talks about the kicking game and high balls, etc.
“You don’t hear those chats anymore because those scraps are now creating brilliant moments in the game, because it’s a transition and the [opposition] defence are not well organised.
“There’s more space around, and you can get guys like Cheslin [Kolbe] going up against the forwards.
“That is something we always make sure we invest time in and create good systems to ensure we can capitalise on those opportunities.”
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