Why do teams pick and drive near the line?

[Ragey Erasmus]

I've never understood this tactic, a team that would have worked their way up the field with ball in hand clearly knows how to get over the gain line yet as soon as they reach the line, it is constant pick and drives. It is possibly the easiest thing to defend and I don't understand why so many teams persist in doing this. Wales highlighted it perfectly in the world cup how easy it is to defend when 13 Aussies were able to keep the Welsh off their try line because, by just picking and driving, the Welsh were negating their own numerical advantage.

Sure, teams score tries from it but they also have plenty of pick and drives being held up. Many times teams would have a better chance of scoring if they just did what had allowed them to reach the try line in the first place, assuming they had got at least some of the distance with ball in hand.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Offside line is closer, I guess.
Rather than the ruck it's the tryline - as soon as the ball is passed back (which is a matter of metres, to get a proper move going), a decent linespeed/blitz just moves the whole thing backwards.
Pick and drives are easy to defend against in theory, but there's such fine margins. The ball only needs to graze a blade of grass with chalk on it - hitting the defender a few inches to the side, so you slightly overpower him, is all it can take.

Do agree though, it is often frustrating see teams play so well up to the line, then just spend phase after phase doing absolutely nothing.


One thing I always find weird, as well, is how many tries are scored after the hooter.
Like, you can score it in the 85th minute - why not put that effort into scoring it in the 65th minute, so you don't give everyone a heart attack?

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I don't understand why more teams don't run the ball off a penalty in the opp 22.

Lineout is never 100% your ball.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Because forwards don't like passing? (Coming from a forward)

- - - Updated - - -

I don't understand why more teams don't run the ball off a penalty in the opp 22.

Lineout is never 100% your ball.

Would be great to see teams using the school boy tactic of "pass it to the big guy and let him run" off their penalties but sadly rugby's gotten far too boring now to let one of the Vunipola bros charge onto the ball with 20 metres of momentum behind them. Would be brilliant to see though.

 

[big ginger 8]

Backthree don't have to cover in behind so there's more people in the line with less space to attack. You're less likely to lose ground or possession. It sucks defenders in so going wide become more of an option and there's a very high chance you'll draw a penalty advantage.

Makes a lot of sense imo even if it can occasionally be frustrating, especially when teams/players are really stupid about it.

 

[Peat]

I don't understand why more teams don't run the ball off a penalty in the opp 22.

Lineout is never 100% your ball.

Neither are rucks.

If you go for the lineout, you can tie up their forwards in the maul and create space for your backs even if it doesn't go over; go for the tap penalty and unless it's quick, there's no space for the backs.

 

[Colombia]

The opposition's backline defence is a lot closer. Passing it out risks hospital passes, fumbles and intercepts.

 

[lhprop1]

For a lot of the reasons that were mentioned above.

1. Offside line is closer.
Which leads to
2. High risk of a knock when passing it out with a fast-closing defense.
2a. High risk of being tackled far behind the gain line.
3. It's easy to gain 1/4 or 1/2 a meter on a crash ball. Do it enough times and you'll eventually touch it down.
4. Pick and crash next to the ruck enough times and you'll suck in an undisciplined defense. Then you can go wide.
5. Playing defense is a lot more tiring than offense. Do it enough times and you will tire the defense and break through.
6. Forwards don't like to pass.

All things considered, picking off the ruck within 2-3 meters is definitely the best strategy.

 

[otapouri]

When I played in Rotorua NZ for Kahukura 16 years ago our top try scorer by the nickname of Tank was a hooker , he scored all his try's by joining the back of a good driving maul off a five metre line out . When done right unstoppable , the springboks ten or so years ago were masters at it.

 

[ZeroTwo]

When I played in Rotorua NZ for Kahukura 16 years ago our top try scorer by the nickname of Tank was a hooker , he scored all his try's by joining the back of a good driving maul off a five metre line out . When done right unstoppable , the springboks ten or so years ago were masters at it.

He wasn't talking about the maul though. It's the static pick and drive which fails to be effective so often.

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

For a lot of the reasons that were mentioned above.

1. Offside line is closer.
Which leads to
2. High risk of a knock when passing it out with a fast-closing defense.
2a. High risk of being tackled far behind the gain line.
3. It's easy to gain 1/4 or 1/2 a meter on a crash ball. Do it enough times and you'll eventually touch it down.
4. Pick and crash next to the ruck enough times and you'll suck in an undisciplined defense. Then you can go wide.
5. Playing defense is a lot more tiring than offense. Do it enough times and you will tire the defense and break through.
6. Forwards don't like to pass.

All things considered, picking off the ruck within 2-3 meters is definitely the best strategy.

You also see more teams aiming for the base of the post which seems a slightly easier target than a proper grounding.

Quite often drives seem to be just setting up another phase for its own sake at the expense of actually looking at the opportunities available. Fully agree that we should see more of the big men dropping off and steaming onto the ball at pace; very difficult to stop with a decent body angle.

Also surprised that carriers don't seek to set up a maul more often as they are so difficult to stop from short range.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

You also see more teams aiming for the base of the post which seems a slightly easier target than a proper grounding.

Quite often drives seem to be just setting up another phase for its own sake at the expense of actually looking at the opportunities available. Fully agree that we should see more of the big men dropping off and steaming onto the ball at pace; very difficult to stop with a decent body angle.

Also surprised that carriers don't seek to set up a maul more often as they are so difficult to stop from short range.

Yeah I'm suprised more mauls aren't done. I also don't know why, if they insist on picking and driving, they don't crab across to the posts and ground it there, it is much harder to stop as obvsiouly a defender can't stand where the post is.

 

[ZeroTwo]

Yeah I'm suprised more mauls aren't done. I also don't know why, if they insist on picking and driving, they don't crab across to the posts and ground it there, it is much harder to stop as obvsiouly a defender can't stand where the post is.

I was wondering this the other day. How on earth can you stop a grounding against the post from the position where the ball is at the base of a ruck, on the line, next to the post? Could you legally plant your legs either side of the post behind the line but your body in front and lean on the ruck?

 

[j'nuh]

When you're attacking halfway up the pitch, you aren't attacking against a full defensive line. There is often a scrum-half sweeping and two, maybe three, players dropping into the pocket to receive the kick. Defending teams may also throw one or two extra bodies into the ruck to slow things down. Teams defending their line have a much fuller defensive line, which makes it very difficult to pull off a decent backline move.

Also, when you attempt a backline move halfway up the pitch and it fails, you have an ace in the hole - you can kick away possession on the next phase to win some territory/contest the ball in the air. If your backline move fails close to the line, then you simply lose meters; there isn't much territory left to "win" via kicking, and not much room to kick into anyway.

Worth bringing in the backline if you have numbers. Otherwise, keeping it with your forwards is a lot less risky and gives you a lot more options. You can burrow over, attempt to create numbers on the openside, set up a drop goal, set up a kick from your fly-half, create a tight blindside to attack.

I don't understand why more teams don't run the ball off a penalty in the opp 22.

Lineout is never 100% your ball.

Unless you have a dodgy hooker, lineout is pretty much yours. Few teams contest the ball so close to the line because they don't want to lose the initial shove in the maul, so the main risk is your hooker making a hash of it (and with Hibbard as Glos' hooker, I'm painfully aware of how often that can happen!). But the potential to score tries and "win" yellow cards is definitely worth the risk.

 

[otapouri]

Yeah I'm suprised more mauls aren't done. I also don't know why, if they insist on picking and driving, they don't crab across to the posts and ground it there, it is much harder to stop as obvsiouly a defender can't stand where the post is.

Have a think about how far the posts are from the side line my god there are easier ways to score than push for 25 odd metres sideways