“The biggest tactical development in the game in the last four or five years has been the evolution of big, mobile ball-carrying front five players, particularly locks. New Zealand, as ever, led the way. Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock were rampaging away in the wide channels, sucking in defenders and offloading to team mates, long before the last Rugby World Cup. The rest of the world is finally catching up.
The first change of thinking in terms of the mobility of the pack was actually the concept of a ‘front four’ and a ‘back four’. Now, though, it is more like four working pairs. You need everyone in that front five to be mobile. The only way you can really develop as an international team is to have such players emerging from your system.
When you look at the strength in depth that England have in that department these days, you can see why they are starting to really put teams away. In the second row alone they have Maro Itoje, Courtney Lawes, Joe Launchbury, George Kruis. Having those big mobile ball-carriers spread across the field, working in tandem with their backs, gives an attacking team so many more options.
Having those big mobile carriers also encourages teams to make the most of the second most important tactical development of the last few years: the second decision-maker at 12.
Mauro Itoje in action
Much of England's recent success has come from the versatility of their forwards CREDIT: ASHLEY WESTERN/GETTY IMAGES
Look at the way the Lions were able to hurt New Zealand in the summer when they got the Conor Murray-Jonathan Sexton-Owen Farrell combination sorted at 9-10-12. Look at England with Ben Youngs, George Ford and Farrell.
With a good scrum-half, decision-makers at 10 and 12 and big mobile forwards all over the place, you have so many more weapons. You don’t have to just play it tight and work off ruck ball.
You can play inside or outside the 9, 10 and 12 channels. That is effectively six different running channels. You can spread it wide and cause mayhem in the wide channels.
The reason I mention this is because I feel that these two areas – the big mobile carriers in the front five, and the 9-10-12 axis – are probably the two areas in which Wales are still looking for the final answers after an autumn series in which they fired only intermittently.
The decision to drop Jamie Roberts – an outstanding servant for Wales for so long – was the right one in my opinion. A clear sign that Warren Gatland wanted to go a different route at 12. He had noted the benefits of playing a second playmaker while on Lions duty in the summer. And he was wanting to give it a try. I thought Owen Williams – who made his name as a 10 – played well against Australia and New Zealand, and he has certainly emerged as an option in that role.
But there is only a limited amount that you can do with that system unless you have the rest of the players across the field to capitalise. Wales currently don’t. Alun Wyn Jones is a warrior. A leader. A defensive totem. And one of the first names on the teamsheet. But a mobile ball-carrying lock, capable of operating in the wide channels, he is not. Wales just don’t appear to have them. They don’t have a Mako Vunipola, a Joe Launchbury, an Iain Henderson.
Toby Faletau in action
Wales' back rowers are second to none, but what about their front five? CREDIT: KEVIN BARNES/GETTY IMAGES
Their first-choice back row – Sam Warburton, Justin Tipuric and Toby Faletau – is world class. And they certainly have depth in the backs.
I thought Hallam Amos and Steff Evans had fine autumns, and with Liam Williams to return at full-back and Jonathan Davies at 13, their cupboard is pretty full. Dan Biggar kicked very well again on Saturday.
Hadleigh Parkes had a good debut. But they just don’t have the mobile and powerful front five. That limits what they can do on the field in an attacking sense.
If there is one area which I think will have frustrated Warren this autumn it would have been the lack of tries, the lack of a cutting edge on the pitch. Cutting edges appear when you have threats all over the pitch, threats who can make big yards. Saturday’s entertaining, if nerve-jangling, win over what is, let’s face it, a poor South Africa team was a case in point. Yes, they scored three tries but they came from horrendous Springbok defensive errors.
That lack of personnel has meant Wales, of all the home nations, probably pushed on the least this autumn. Scotland have got real momentum now, Ireland showed what a good team can do against the Springboks, England won all three of theirs and have a clear system.
Wales, I feel, are still trying to redefine their game.
Wales players walk a lap of the pitch after their victory over South Africa
Have Wales made enough progress this autumn? CREDIT: KEVIN BARNES/GETTY IMAGES
Having the Georgia game second up probably wasn’t ideal because Gatland changed almost the whole team to keep his first-choice players fresh for the All Blacks. It meant he sacrificed that continuity that you need to develop tactically, to build momentum.
But even had he selected his first-choice team, I’m not sure he currently has the players at his disposal to develop the type of game that other countries are now playing.
Wales are not a million miles away. But until they can find those mobile ball carriers in the front five and settle on a system at 9-10-12, their progress will be slower simply because your tactics have to follow the strengths of your best available players.”
