[su_dropcap style=”flat”]A[/su_dropcap] common trope that shows up in my social media mentions is the idea that there are two states to the modern game – “having a go” and “being out of ideas”. As it’s usually described, having a go is phase play, dynamic running, slick passing, ✨offloads✨ and, basically, “playing like Japan”.

Being out of ideas is kicking – boo! hiss! – and a sign that you’re very much not playing like Japan which, as we know, is very hot right now.

Do you know what isn’t very hot right now? Movie references from 2001. Zoolander was twenty years ago. I’m old. Real old. Anyway, I’ve covered the general idea of playing territory vs the idea of pretty rugby – as much as they can be considered opposed concepts – quite a bit recently and I feel my own bias towards how I feel the game is most efficiently played has coloured my coverage of the two concepts.

Even here, I realise I’m being a bit snotty about “playing like Japan”, offloads and so on. That’s largely a product of those concepts being used as a panacea when things go wrong on a rugby pitch all across the coverage of the game as if they were things you could add during the week ahead of the next game and not grand, overarching game concepts that take a tonne of coaching time to bed in properly.

Selecting a game plan is like piloting a large tanker travelling up the Suez Canal. You’ve got to pick your route before you start, make sure you’ve got everything on board that you need and you had better be right because tankers are not easy to turn around at a moment’s notice.

When people talk to me about “not having a plan B”, it sounds like having a “Plan B” to dislodge this tanker from the Suez Canal after it ran aground. By that I mean, your main style of play should be pretty comprehensive on the “not running aground” part of navigating. In rugby, this means that if you’re losing games playing one way, it isn’t realistic to change course mid-season and expect to be successful. There’s nothing stopping you from doing it but there are not very many examples of doing it successfully in this game.

This is based on the general concept that there are only so many minutes in a week that a group of 40+ professional players and coaches can use to build the kind of cohesion in a way of playing that you need to win trophies. Preseason is the time for making big changes in systems and even then, that can take a long time to “click” with the group to the point that it’s second nature if it’s a complicated scheme that’s significantly different from their core game.

Simply, you are what you do. The logical follow on from that is, you are not what you do not do.

Ultimately, your main way of playing should be varied enough to deal with the challenges you expect to face in a season but it should best reflect the assets at your disposal with a gradual shift to fix up facets of your game over different contracting cycles in line with the coaching staffs vision for the team. I still very much believe that rugby is a player’s game rather than a coaches game if that makes sense? Coaches fill a vital role – obviously – but winning is done in between the white lines by quality players surrounded by competent, effective squad players.

For a coaching staff, I think the core job is player talent ID – both internally and externally – to find and develop those star players and the effective squad players you will build around them in line with your playing style. That means signing and retaining players who fit your vision for certain roles in the game plan and cutting those who do not. Finding the right guys to fill those roles demands real clarity and focus.

I read an article recently that suggested Leinster should sign Eben Etzebeth in the aftermath of their defeat to La Rochelle. Forget, first of all, that Etzebeth is currently on close to €1,000,000 a year at Toulon and that this might be well out of budget for Leinster. Let’s just assume they could sign him – does he fit the role Leinster would want? I would suggest that no, he does not, other than he’s a big name with a big imposing reputation. There’s no doubting that Etzebeth a quality player but is he what Leinster need – a big, ball-dominant tighthead lock who you can load up for 10+ carries in a game week to week?

I would say that Etzebeth is not a perfect fit for that role. He can carry, yes, but I would not say that it’s a core part of his game that is worth spending that kind of money for. He’s a player you could immediately slot in as a tighthead lock to possibly free up James Ryan to be a consistent gain line threat for you but I would wager that there is better value out there.

Ruben Schoeman of the Lions, for example, would be an undervalued guy who I think could add real value to Leinster’s carrying rotation as a naturally big (6’6.5″/125kg), ball-dominant heavy second-row that you could load a lot of tight ball-carrying onto without breaking the bank.

If you want to get a look at recruitment as an expression of preferred style, check out Leicester Tigers’ pattern since they brought Steve Borthwick to the club in 2019 – most notably Liebenberg, Brink, Lavanini, Wiese, Montoya, Nadolo and repeated attempts at a wing forward archetype in Taufua, Wallace, Reffell and Van Staden ahead of next season.

What does this tell us about style? Well, the signings of Liebenberg, Brink, Weise and Lavanini (who’s being replaced by Eli Snyman – no relation to RG – this summer) are clear attempts to increase the size and general impact of their back five during phase play but, more directly, at and off the set-piece. This plays directly into Leicester’s kicking game which repeatedly prioritises position over phase play. When Leicester Tigers lost Manu Tuilagi did they reinvest the contract money they saved in a like for like replacement? No – because they already had Nemani Nadolo who could fill more or less the same role as a close-range hitter off the set-piece and as a power winger who could stretch the field on their phase play setups.

Leicester do not want to roll through the phases in their own 22-50 or even the opposition’s 10m line. They want to win kicking duels, chase well on kick resets, pressure the recycle of the ball in the opponents 22 and then launch off the set-piece until they can play with position in and around the 22, where they can force penalties through their phase play and use the likes of Nadolo, Brink, Liebenberg, Weise and their homegrown guys like Genge, Heyes and Wells to dictate the gainline to the opposition.

In this instance, Leicester’s recruitment focused on increasing their size and impact in the back five to get the most out of their offensive centrepiece, George Ford.

In Ford, Borthwick knew that he had a player who was excellent at managing field position, accurately executing schemed passes off the set-piece and, most importantly, was a world-class offensive and defensive kicker of the ball. To get the most out of Ford’s kicking – where you could predict a lot of lineout scenarios – you needed to invest in forwards who could press well on kick chase, impact the lineout on both sides of the ball and maul strongly.

With that in mind, would Leicester signing someone like, say, Semi Radradra make sense? No. Leicester will rarely be a team that dominates possession in their current guise – they have the lowest number of passes in the Gallagher Premiership by some distance – so someone like Radradra would be a bit of a waste in that system. In Matias Moroni, Matt Scott, Jaco Taute, Guy Porter and Dan Kelly at the moment, they have a great value group of midfield options who are excellent, wide-radius, varied defenders, willing chasers, good handlers and solid finishers when called upon.

None of the five is the same type of power athlete as Tuilagi – few are – but I’d wonder about the value of that archetype to Leicester’s plans at the minute.

If Leicester kick a lot – and they do – then the work rate, kick tracking and defensive acumen of their midfielders will be of more value to them than a ball-dominant “hitter” profile midfielder like Tuilagi. In Leicester’s system, a power winger like Nadolo, who can rotate in as a backline hitter (alongside Steward) off the set piece is, in my opinion, more valuable from a contracting and playstyle perspective.

The players they’ve signed and will sign play into the vision of how they currently play and where they want to improve. The kicking game is a focus right now so they must be a good defensive transition team. With that, they are also a very solid unit at the scrum, lineout and maul on both sides of the ball so the next areas of focus will be – in my opinion – top-end power in the second row and maybe another ball carrying option in the back row while they set aside some budget for a power winger to replace Nadolo.

Yet, when you look at Leicester statistically, they don’t show up well at all.

They have the fourth-lowest points, the third-lowest number of tries scored, the second-lowest numbers of metres gained, the least number of carries, and the second-lowest amount of clean breaks and defenders beaten. Yet they are outperforming these stats to find themselves in sixth place in the Premiership and got to the Challenge Cup final.

They are far from the finished product but with guys like Dan Kelly, Joe Heyes, Freddie Steward, George Martin and Jack van Poortvliet all building well alongside their core of test players and veterans like the Youngs, Wigglesworth and Cole, I think the Tigers will be a force in the years to come, as long as they can keep adding to their ranks in line with their game plan and retaining key young players.

Keep an eye on who the Tigers sign over the next few months and seasons and how it plays into Borthwick’s vision.

I would suggest it’ll be players who fit the following concepts;

• More size in the second row and ball carrying impact – this beefs up their kicking end-games and adds to their ball carrying rotation.
• Power winger – this will be to replace what Nadolo currently brings them in their primary scheme.
• Weight in the front row; tighthead and hooker specifically – this beefs up their offensive ball carrying and allows them to play phase possession with more freedom from further out.