Ford tackles hard defensive questions

Lions Tour: The Lions' coaching staff have been earning their corn since the defeat to the Maoris, poring over videos and examining the tourists' problems in the collision areas and the breakdown, with its ripple effect on both their offensive and defensive games.

Nothing about this is surprising, and the three matches to date have rather exploded the myth that there is no contest for the ball at the breakdown/ruck areas. That may be true of the spectator-friendly, continuity-is-king Super 12, but NPC rugby is a different ballgame and, if anything, the contest is fiercer at the breakdown in New Zealand than it is in British and Irish rugby.

First, though, the problems in the tackle area starts with who bosses whom in the one-on-one collisions to begin with, and here the Lions have struggled.

Whereas the tendency among the tourists has been to rumble headlong into the tackle, and occasionally at too high an angle, the home players have been more inclined to step off one foot and attack the softer shoulder. It may only mean a difference of two or three yards, but that can be the difference between go-forward and stagnant ball.

In a refreshing and typically candid discourse on this whole vexed question, and more, the departing Irish defensive coach, Mike Ford, who is part of the Lions' management ticket, admitted: "Yeah, definitely, they've won the collisions, in both attack and defence. I think we've got to be a bit smarter and cuter. I think you saw Shane Williams a couple of times beat men with good feet, attacking the inside shoulder."

When asked what the players going in to the tackle/breakdown area need to start doing differently, Ford responded unhesitatingly: "Go lower."

He added: "We've got to target certain players before the breakdown, we've got to look at who they're employing into the breakdown, and try and target them before they get there. It's not illegal, but certainly we've got to have our heads up and look to see who's coming in to the rucks, especially the (number) sevens and sixes. We've just got to be smarter basically, and get lower than them and get them first."

In Ford's mind, rucking is a core skill along with catching, carrying, passing, offloading and tackling, and New Zealanders are peerless. "Once they get there, they're very, very difficult to shift. So we've got to think a little differently as to how to get rid of them."

In Ford's estimation, these core skills are inferior in the Northern Hemisphere to New Zealand.

"I've been coaching at Saracens as well and the core skills down at that level, the Zurich Premiership, are very, very poor."

These core skills, he said, have become secondary to winning and have been overlooked, whereas at schools level in New Zealand, Ford reckons boys are simply coached better.

To the accusation that the Lions have become too defensive in mindset, Ford disagrees. He argues that if their opponents commit four or five players to one breakdown, then the Lions should have more players at the next ruck. "So it's important at the next ruck that we try and do something dynamic. And that's the key, to not be mundane in defence and just put two in there all the time. That next ruck is the time to be aggressive."

Taking the risk of matching their opponents, by committing more people to the breakdown, is something that they are considering. "We're not going to be one-dimensional, so that Graham Henry and their coaches can look at our defence and know what we're going to do every time. Come the first Test, I won't say there's going to be a few surprises, but we want to keep them guessing."

Ford also said the Lions are going to start varying their line speed in defence, mixing up their up-and-out defence by pushing up more quickly at times. "Both myself and Phil (Larder) are up-and-out defensive coaches," he said, in reference to the more popular, lower-risk if higher attrition rate defensive system favoured by England and Ireland of pushing up and drifting out, rather than the higher risk, up-and-in blitz defence favoured by Wasps and Wales, among others. But he admitted there would be occasion to vary this defensive strategy with a more aggressive up-and-in.

"I think it's quite hard to coach the up-and-in defence after three or four weeks of doing the opposite, but certainly if we want to try and win a Test game we've got to throw this different line speed in, and it's something we're working on at the moment."

The more immediate, if not most pressing, concern, is today's game against Wellington, whom Ford admits should be a step up from previous provincial opponents.

Outside centre Ma'a Nonu, particularly, is a special running threat, but the best means of curtailing his influence would be to deny Wellington good quality ball, or to go after the 21-year-old outhalf Jimmy Gopperth, who will be starting his first game for Wellington as David Holwell's successor after playing all 12 of the Hurricanes' Super 12 matches.

"We have to put him under a lot of pressure. I don't think we've won any battle with the number 10 yet. They've had some freedom, especially Carlos (Spencer) last weekend, and we've got to try and destroy their 10s, and that's what we'll look to do tomorrow."

Without mentioning anyone by name, this could be interpreted as a criticism of the opensides who have played for the Lions to date. In a subsequent discussion on Neil Back, who will make his first tour appearance today, Ford highlighted the Leicester number seven's vocal influence and reading of the game as "the captain of our defence". A huge amount is expected of Back, while one of Simon Easterby's prime strengths is his effectiveness and sharpness at the breakdown area. With their experience, and the intensive work put in by the coaching ticket over the last few days, the Lions need to make a statement, and swiftly.

"I think the team that we've put out is a statement that we want a big performance as well. So I wouldn't say the wheels have fell off, but I think we've tripped up a little bit. We've not fallen yet, but it's good to get back on our feet and I think it's important that we show the New Zealand public that we're right back on track."

The latest player to have a cloud hanging over the rest of his tour is another backrower, Lewis Moody. It transpires that the knee injury he sustained in training two days ago is to the same knee he damaged in the Heineken Cup semi-final and which sidelined him for several weeks, but is supposedly a different injury. Ominously however, midweek coach Gareth Jenkins has revealed that Moody has already been ruled out for Saturday's game against Otago.

It also transpires that Andy Sheridan, the loose-head powerhouse whose scrummaging was hoped to be one of the Lions' prime weapons on this tour, suffered an ankle injury in the first-half of last Saturday's game against the Maoris. He has been sidelined from training and has his ankle heavily strapped while also wearing crutches.

WELLINGTON: S Paku; L Fa'atau, M Nonu, R Tu'ipulotu, R Kinikinilau; J Gopperth, P Weepu; J McDonnell (capt), M Schwalger, T Fairbrother, L Andrews, R Filipo, K Ormsby, B Herring, T Waldrom. Replacements: L Mahoney, J Schwalger, K Thompson, J Purdie, R Flutey, T Ellison, C Jane.

LIONS: J Lewsey (London Wasps, England); J Robinson (Sale Sharks, England), B O'Driscoll (Leinster, Ireland, capt), G Henson (Ospreys, Wales), G Thomas (Toulouse, Wales); J Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons, England), D Peel (Llanelli, Wales); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues, Wales), S Byrne (Leinster, Ireland), J White (Leicester Tigers, England), D Grewcock (Bath, England), B Kay (Leicester Tigers, England), S Easterby (Llanelli, Ireland), N Back (Leicester Tigers), M Corry (Leicester Tigers, England). Replacements: G Bulloch (Glasgow, Scotland), M Stevens (Bath, England), P O'Connell (Munster, Ireland), R Hill (Saracens, England), C Cusiter (Borders, Scotland), S Jones (Clermont Auvergne, Wales), S Horgan (Leinster, Ireland).

Referee: Paul Honiss (New Zealand).

Previousmeetings: (1888) Wellington 3 Lions 3; (1908) Wellington 19 Lions 13; (1930) Wellington 12 Lions 8; (1950) Wellington 6 Lions 12; (1966) Wellington 20 Lions 6; (1971) Wellington 9 Lions 47; (1977) Wellington 6 Lions 13; (1983) Wellington 19 Lions 27.

Forecast: Lions to get the tour back on track.