Endangered species
16 Dec 2010
ZELIM NEL, in SA Rugby magazine, examines how the new law interpretations have reduced the impact of fetchers at the breakdown.
A decade after possession-pilfering openside flankers exploded on to the professional scene, the pursuit of a different kind of turnover appears to be chasing fetchers to the brink of extinction. Short wheelbase fetchers are inadvertently being phased out of rugby by administrators who believe it is far easier to sell a game that celebrates fleet-footed try-scorers than one dominated by stubborn defence.
The objective of the law interpretations introduced at the beginning of the season was to promote a high-scoring game by making it increasingly difficult for defenders to halt the attacking team’s progress.
This new focus by the referees has effectively prohibited the tackler from retrieving possession, given that he must first release the carrier once grounded, regain his feet, and then ‘show clear daylight’ between himself and the downed runner, before having a go at the ball. And all of this before the first cleaner arrives to create a ruck. It’s a checklist that would have had Neil Armstrong squinting at the Apollo 11 console.
Western Province senior professional coach and former Springbok flanker Rassie Erasmus agrees that the need for specialist fetchers is consequently waning.
‘A guy who can only clean and steal the ball has become less important in a team than he was perhaps two years ago.’
Fetchers didn’t even exist until after rugby turned professional 14 years ago.
‘When I was playing for Free State in the mid-90s, we didn’t have a specific guy to fetch,’ says Erasmus, who played 36 Tests for the Boks between 1997 and 2001. ‘The perfect loose trio was one that played to the ball. And by that I don’t mean that they fetched the ball, I mean that they were there as the first cleaners on attack, and there to make the first tackle on defence.’
That’s how former Bok captain Corné Krige remembers it too.
‘In those days, creating a turnover was a collective effort to drive over the ball. You had to bind on to your team-mates and hit the ruck as a unit, and then try to blow over the ball. Most of the time the idea was not to commit to the ruck, but rather just to get back to your feet and fan out to make a defensive line.’
The Paarl Boys loose forward started at the back of the scrum but his Jack Russell compulsion to follow the ball soon saw him redeployed to the openside flank.
‘At school I played No 8 and I never fell back to catch the long kicks,’ says Krige with a laugh. ‘I was always playing to the ball because playing fetcher was a natural style for me. I’d run straight to the first breakdown, and then the next one and so on. That’s probably why they changed me to openside at U21 level.’
Krige played 39 Tests between 1999 and 2003 and was arguably South Africa’s first out-and-out fetcher, but he credits a New Zealander for introducing him to ‘the game within the game’.
‘Josh Kronfeld changed the face of rugby in the late-90s,’ Krige says of the former All Blacks flanker. ‘He would make a tackle, get up on the wrong side of the tackle, steal the ball and throw it to his peers, and everybody sat up and said “what was that?”’
Up until the early-noughties, the laws relating to the breakdown were more loosely policed than they are today, and Kronfeld’s relatively diminutive stature (1.85m, 95kg) gave him the required low centre of gravity to win the race for the ball on the ground.
Brumbies coach Eddie Jones soon picked up on the trend in 2000 and, having recognised the latent potential in a 1.80m, 100kg flanker by the name of George Smith, he set about designing a defensive plan around the 21-year-old rookie’s spectacular penchant for pinching possession.
‘Having a fetcher like George in defence meant that we could target a phase where we felt that the opposition was most vulnerable,’ says Jones.
With Smith’s skill set featured in Jones’s defensive system, Super Rugby’s bottom-feeders streaked to their first final in 2000, winning a championship the following season, and the pair applied the same blueprint to help the Wallabies to the 2003 Tri-Nations title.
‘You had to start planning around openside flankers,’ remembers Krige. ‘If you played against George Smith he was testing you at every ruck, and you’d rather commit too many than not enough, because he would steal the ball if you weren’t accurate.’
And so structured rugby was born as coaches began scripting which players would support the ball-carrier through a number of phases in an effort to minimise turnovers at the hands of opposing fetchers.
‘Rugby did become a lot more structured where every team started having set ball-carriers and set cleaners, and guys going around in pods to different places on the field,’ says Krige. ‘That was to ensure that you never had a situation where the ball-carrier was short of supporters to clean out.’
But even the most structured attacking play couldn’t always contain players like Smith, Phil Waugh, Marty Holah, David Croft or the irrepressible Richie McCaw.
Squat opensiders harnessed their short levers, perfecting the ride tackle by riding the ball-carrier to ground like a lassoed bull, and using the momentum of the tackle to swing back to their feet, ready to snatch the ball as it was placed.
Fetchers immediately began to pose a prohibitive risk to continuity and possession-based rugby. Such ball-hawks proved to be handfuls at the tackle point, forcing teams of cleaners to account for the threat, and as a result they provided the defensive line with a constant numerical advantage.
Coupled with the tendency of the referee to penalise the attacking side the longer they held on to the ball, most coaches soon reverted to investing their resources in a territory-based philosophy which handed possession – and therefore risk – to the opposing team.
The Bulls dominated the Currie Cup during the middle of this decade and won three of the last four Super 14 titles with stifling pressure tactics that inevitably became the modus operandi for the 2007 World Cup-winning Springboks under Jake White.
Heinrich Brüssow rammed the point home against the gallivanting British & Irish Lions during last year’s tour of South Africa. The staunch Cheetahs fetcher repeatedly turned the expansive Lions over during his side’s close-fought 26-24 reverse against the tourists and again spoilt the visitors’ attacking plans for much of the three-Test series against the Boks.
At 1.81m and 101kg, Brüssow is built for the ground game, and he has fine-tuned the ability to get position on the ball immediately after the tackle so that the cleaners blast him back to his team’s side of the tackle.
But the 24-year-old Cheetahs fetcher saw enough of the new law interpretations during his brief stint in this year’s Super 14 – before suffering a season-ending knee injury in March – to know that his role will be radically different when he returns in 2011.
‘The rules are very strict, and they make the margin work more against you, which means you have to be more technical and precise, and your decision-making has to be a lot better,’ says Brüssow. ‘The tackler can’t steal the ball, so you have to take yourself out of a position to tackle.’
Brüssow’s admission is a massive blow to pint-sized fetchers. If the player with the best opportunity to pinch possession is now the second defender to arrive on the scene, why pick a stubby flanker when you can field a 1.93m, 112kg bruiser whose lineout and ball-carrying ability compensate for a slightly weaker ground game?
The fact that the turnover battle no longer pivots around the tackler’s ability to get to his feet quickly, but rather the momentum he brings in making a dominant hit, reinforces White’s assertion that bigger is better, and that fetchers belong near the bar fridge.
In Smith’s day, fetchers could single-handedly steal possession, making their influence on the outcome of a game decisive. But this season, matches have been won and lost at the gain line where stopping the ball-carrier’s momentum in the tackle has replaced lone-wolf turnovers as the common thread in successful sides.
‘Momentum is everything in this game, and if you don’t get it it’s hard to get points,’ says coach John Plumtree, whose Sharks topped the Currie Cup log with a competition-high 62 tries this season.
‘Nowadays, teams seldom have a specialised fetcher,’ says Erasmus. ‘Just look at our loose trio at the Stormers – Schalk is on the openside but he plays the situation like a No 8, Francois Louw is our fetcher and he’s on the blindside, and Duane Vermeulen is our momentum-getter from eight.
The Stormers management team were far quicker to predict the effects of, and adapt to, the new interpretations than their bumbling Bok counterparts. And this explains why Louw – who fed off Burger and Vermeulen’s driving tackles within a savvy Stormers defensive system during the Super 14 – found himself isolated behind a retreating Bok pack.
Erasmus believes that the versatility of the Stormers loose trio – all three players are more than capable with the ball in hand, at the lineout, in the tackle and at the breakdown – was instrumental in the team’s success this year, and that the new focus has necessitated a more collective approach to fetching.
‘If the law interpretations mean that refs are going to penalise the defensive team more, and you teach your one guy to run around the field and steal at rucks, he’s going to open holes in your defensive line.’
Does this spell the end of the fetcher?
‘I certainly hope not!’ says Smith, who is plying his trade with French club Toulon. ‘As a traditional No 7 I think there is still a place for them, you can see how they can change a game when they’re the first man to the ruck.
‘You still have fetchers today like David Pocock and Richie McCaw who have adapted really well to reacting quickly after making the tackle.’
Brüssow also isn’t about to join the unemployment queue.
‘I think you can still make a lot of steals close to the rucks, it’s just out wide where you’ll have to make your tackles.’
But the Bloemfontein ball-hawk will have to man up and dominate those tackles in 2011 to prove that vertically-challenged fetchers haven’t been made redundant.
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28 Comments
16 Dec 2010, 06:53 am
fetch me my beer dragons
16 Dec 2010, 07:34 am
In a year where Mccaw picked up another IRB player of the year award, George Smith won the Brumbies’ Player’s Player award (again), and Pocock looks set to take the ARU John Eales award, saying that it is the end of the fetchers seems like a ridiculous statement.
All that the new rule interpretations will do is force these player to adapt, as the three above have clearly done so far (and I expect a player like Brussow to do so as well).
What it may be the end of is one-trick ponies, who have no all-round game outside pilfering the ball. Phil Waugh has already fallen down this path, and Francois Louw and Deon Stegman may soon follow suit unless they can develop the rest of their game.
16 Dec 2010, 08:15 am
certainly the rules have had an influence. But we must not revert to the dark ages again. Look at the baa baa test….no fetcher and we dont see the ball or slow down oppo ….and despite having the huge size of J Smith and Alberts its 6 love, all over rover, goodnite nurse. We must be careful…..and not go into major games without a specialist fetcher….fight fire with fire imo.
bissy assists in this regard….throw in a fully fit brussel sprout or steggmann….bobs your aunt…
16 Dec 2010, 08:16 am
Who the fark is Zelim?
Josh Kronfeld is a legend. And at 1.85m he’s a real midget too
I have never been a fan of the “out & out” fetcher as their role is limited, but as Donut says, Richie,Pocock,et al brings far more to the game than just trying to steal ball.
If I were bok coach I’d do away with the role and play a loose trio of Smith, Burger, Alberts with Spies and Deysel on the bench.
The forward domination you’ll get from these monsters in the collisions would far outweigh the advantage of an out and out fetcher.
16 Dec 2010, 08:25 am
@grant10 :
Stegmann? I won’t let him fetch my beer! Brussouw is brilliant at his job and I hope to see him back at his best, else play a big boy instead.
16 Dec 2010, 08:31 am
@Pam Anderson’s ( . )( . ) : play your big 6 in an unbalanced loose trio…..and enjoy the losses…
Steggmann was coming back from injury, dont forget the huge games he had against mc caw and pocock in super 14…..steggies is class….dont judge too harshly.
16 Dec 2010, 08:31 am
@grant10 : martyn williams KILLED us un that baabaas game!
16 Dec 2010, 08:35 am
@Transformation : ja….and these okes still dont learn!!
Saffas got such a sizeist hangover…..and it simply doesent work. We go in against aussies or kiwis without an out and out fetcher ,its goodnite nurse…..thats a guarantee you can bank my man!
16 Dec 2010, 08:50 am
@Transformation :
Who didn’t?
16 Dec 2010, 08:58 am
Who killed your province team this year?
S14 – Alberts,Deysel,Kanko.
CC final – Alberts, Daniel, Kanko.
No fetchers there. You were out-muscled.
16 Dec 2010, 09:02 am
@Pam Anderson’s ( . )( . ) : ja
stormers and wp dont have an out and out fetcher either….F Louw and Schalk certainly not a brussow type.
But stick to your theory …..lets see what happens….pocock and mcc caw will have a free luch….again.
16 Dec 2010, 09:09 am
@Pam Anderson’s ( . )( . ) : Tight five of Sharks killed WP’s, you cant get parity afetr that. Look at Eng/oz game, Oz loosies much better than Eng but couldnt get into the game.
It is still the tight five even with the new rules.
16 Dec 2010, 09:31 am
It always is the tight five. Always has been and always will be.
When they are adequately doing their job the loose-trio has an easier job to effect and the backs get good go-forward ball to trouble the opposition.
Without that everything becomes just pressured and cumbersome for the rest of the team and mistakes accrue leading to opposition putting points on the scoreboard.
16 Dec 2010, 09:47 am
Well written and informative.
16 Dec 2010, 09:59 am
Jan Boland Coetzee was always a fetcher and he’d leave the ranging runs to Theuns Stofberg. Piet Greyling was the fetcher counterpoint to Jan Ellis’s running.
Anyone who claims specialist fetchers didn’t exist before 1995 is simply ignorant and wrong.
16 Dec 2010, 10:15 am
the baabaas game was more a case of an inexperienced backline not knowing what to do with the ball and having little to no experience of playing together as a unit imo.
defensively, the first half hour settled the game in the baabaas favour though if the boks young guns (lambie and elton) had had their kicking boots on the outcome would have been different.
in the second half in fact, the defense tightened up and the tight five (as others have mentioned above) took the game tot he baabaas and the cracks appeared (remember beast shoving neema up his tialata?).
ja, fetchers, ja. not such a big thing imo if your tight five dominates and if biz is on teh field, why would we need another fetcher?
we dont in fact. let biz disrupt (he is the second strongest bok in gym testing, beast being numero uno) and let guys like schalk, alberts, spies and juan HURT the opposition with kanko coming on late to seal the deal.
yes, this is the future.
btw, good luck at the lions kocky. i know the desperation you felt to cement your place as a starter made you desperate to shine but all it did was make you seem a little selfish.
and now we have hoffman and mcleod so i guess you decided to head off. all the best man and thanks for all your efforts!
16 Dec 2010, 10:34 am
Good article. We didn’t need a fetcher on the NH tour. It’s only the exeptional who can stamp their mark in a pure fetcher role nowadays.
Can’t think of anyone this year apart from Pocock, and even he wasn’t consistantly effective.
And don’t go all Richie on me. He’s no longer a fetcher. He’s evolved far beyond that.
16 Dec 2010, 10:43 am
Mutated
16 Dec 2010, 14:06 pm
@rangerman : Can the Boks afford the luxury of having Kanko on the bench anymore ?
What if the game doesnt “open up later on” ? Kanko is ok but is a “Spies-lite” if you will.
Better to have Alberts who can play 6 7 and 8.
16 Dec 2010, 16:36 pm
Brussow needs to come back asap. With the dynamic ball playing ability mixed with grunt from victor & bekker (us Aussies can’t believe you still persist with bakkies!) the pack will be so well balanced alongside schalk at 6 and your pick of Joe or Spies at no.8. With these guys setting a platform for a very cable back line (without Morne) the Boks will be extremely dangerous opponents for NZ in the Semis.
Loving the start of the test series against India. This Ashes series is painfully forecasting tough times for us over the next 4-5 years…
16 Dec 2010, 16:43 pm
@bananas : mate, kanko is so hugely underrated its laughable.
he bested duanne twice this year, i was there both times. and he was better than spies the entire season.
if he is given a game here and there at test level with changing combos all the time, is he really supposed to shine?
hell, flouw and stegmann have both had more consecutive games than kanko? how the hell is that possible?
16 Dec 2010, 17:24 pm
@rangerman : because they’ree better than him.
Well, in FLO’s case anyway.
16 Dec 2010, 17:48 pm
I feel very sorry for Brussow, all the hype about him and if he doesn’t perform miracles he will be in the dwang with some of you, he is a very good player not just a fetcher.
16 Dec 2010, 17:52 pm
“Up until the early-noughties..”
The nineties, they were naughty too.
16 Dec 2010, 20:30 pm
The thing about Brussouw is that he is also a master tackler, has an incredible work rate in getting around the field, has soft hands and manages to get over the gain line despite hsi size by running SMART lines and having good body positioning and technique.
Anther aspect is that, yes, you can either try and dominate the tackle, or you can get speed off the line in defense, and bring the ball carrier down around the legs for the next man to try and get his hands on the ball. If I was playing Brussouw, I would play him at 7 or 8, and instruct the other flankers to get off the line and tackle around the legs, with Brussouw ready to steal it as next man, or go for an intercept from an offload. I would also commit a klow number of players to the ruck, because its case of win it or dont, and if players are rushing up on defence, they can miss tackles and you need more players in the line.
If no specialised fetcher in the team, I would have the line move up slow and steady, and dominate the tackle point to disrupt their momentum. Two big layers per tackle,and commit slightly more players to really slow their momentum. Counter rucking is key here, and players tehn ned to be taught to not stop after teh tackle, but to keep blowing over the ball.
16 Dec 2010, 20:34 pm
Its actually pretty cool how different teams can choose different (but effective) ways to play that play to their strengths. That is what makes union a thinking mans game (as opposed to the same old same old crash bash of league).
Its high speed, physical chess, combined with the heart of boxing. What a game!! Its just a pity that Divvy is nowhere near a grand master…
17 Dec 2010, 02:51 am
@grant10 : lol, knew you wouldn’t like this article, can’t deny its veracity however.
One thing I would say is that fetchers still have a place under NH referees, our refs haven’t applied to new breakdown regulations with the same stringency as SH/S14 referees so I think every nation (and possibly team) should have one in their squad at least.
17 Dec 2010, 02:53 am
Also I think Pocock is the best fetcher in test rugby, he has superceded McCaw in that department in terms of winning ball. If Oz were smart they should make him captain so he can get away with more.
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