Last week, I wrote about the All Blacks attacking depth so I thought it might be pertinent to check back in on them a week later to see if their depth from the gain line was a one-off or something with a bit more longevity. Surprise, surprise – the All Blacks were back at it again with their depth and layered shapes on phase play but it’ll probably be even less of a surprise to learn that they have already begun to add layers to their attacking work from last week.
I wrote about a lot of the concepts last week but we’ll go over some of the other sides of it here. First, let’s have a look at the depth play and how it is meant to work in theory. We don’t have to wait too long – the All Blacks used it on their very first attacking sequence less than 20 seconds into the game after winning back the kick off.
At every stage of the 3-2 progression – three forwards off the first ruck with two off the next – the All Blacks are looking for depth to draw out the Wallaby defensive line.
You can see the principle of the shape here after Mo’unga buzzes the first pod of three and then bridges for the pod of two. The forwards in this pod are in a great position to carry the ball up if that’s what Mo’unga wants but they really add a blocking layer to the movement if Mo’unga wants to hit the second layer or his pocket runner.
Conceptually, those pod forwards are there to stem the flow of the defensive advance if they are not carrying so their depth from the gain line serves as a way to draw out and then block the “flow” of defenders from the ruck side to preserve the space in the wider areas.
You can see Whitelock looking to scrag and stall the defender on his lane to create that traffic jam to open windows of space. Anytime you can turn a defender’s straight line into a curved line, you’re making space in this system.
A deep attacking structure is designed to produce an attacking picture that looks like this – an edge defender advanced beyond the level of the defender outside him with metres upon metres of space to defend.
It didn’t work in this instance – MacKenzie knocked on in contact – but the depth produced the isolated defenders it was designed to do with Havili being in a key position to execute the play as he saw fit.
I also thought that Will Jordan’s route as a pocket runner for Mo’unga AND Havili as the ball progressed was a nice little wrinkle to keep the defence worried about the inside ball that would split them up the middle.
That kind of layered running in line with the progression of the ball adds to the multiple vectors of threat that the All Blacks use to attack the read of these two players.
When the outside edge defender/blitzer has a lot of ground to cover, the more doubt you can sow in every step of their movement up the field, the better.
Are they going to an inside runner? Do I need to jockey? Am I disconnected from my inside man? Am I leaving too much space behind me? Am I too far away from my target?
An attack can work with those questions in the mind of an opposition defence. You still need a skill set to open them up, though. Depth on its own is meaningless without accurate, laser-sharp passing off both sides. When Australia found space with depth – even with a poorly layered attack – they were punished when they threw a fat, slow, inaccurate pass that the blitz could attack in the air.
Your handlers have to be capable of stitching these areas together. Toomua went for the killer pass to Kellaway here – 20+ metres off his left hand – instead of using the depth to make an easier pass. The best pass here, for me, was to Hooper or to make a lower, mid-range pass to Valetini.
For the All Blacks, Reiko Ioane’s role as a midfielder strike handler – whether he’s playing on the wing or at #13 – is a key part of stitching their depth system together. Why are the All Blacks moving away from a “hitter” like Laumape in midfield? Because their system, when it works the way it’s designed, doesn’t need it to be successful. Ioane doesn’t need to be a wide range slinger either – he’s got a sharp short and midrange pass that he uses at depth to hurt blitzing defenders.
The All Blacks have the skillset players to combine width with depth by passing with accuracy and tempo off both sides. They will probe for these opportunities again and again.
The depth of the edge defender allowed Ioane to play across the face of him with relatively low risk because of the space that he has to cover and the number of targets he might potentially have to cover.
Why go carry for carry with the likes of Damian De Allende and Lukhanyo Am if you want to boil it down to a reductive number v number contest? If the system works, as designed you don’t need to beat them in collisions on their terms when you can drag them into dead space where the most likely option for them is to make a mistake.
When the edge defender does not have to worry about defending large amounts of space and multiple targets, he can attack the transit of the ball. This is the main drawback of playing “flat”.
Ioane knows all about this.
In this instance, Ioane doesn’t have to concern himself with a tonne of space or options. He knows that the kick option is covered and that any carry to Hooper is insured on his inside so all he has to do is attack this narrow corridor of space.
He only has to advance a few metres before he makes contact with the line of the ball so he can dictate the situation.
