2017 RLWC: Niggly Notebook #2
Maybz Robbie should defend better.
In the depths of a Rugby League World Cup, we are led to believe that rugby league is well along its growth journey because the Pacific Islands are flourishing. Maybe you heard how great the Samoa vs Tonga game was for rugby league, or maybe you've equally noted how immense the atmosphere at Papa New Guinea's home games is, or maybe you've simply followed the yarn about the decision of Polynesian players to represent their wee nations and how that is wonderful for international rugby league.
What I have learned from these first two RLWC rounds is that we are only at the beginning and this stems from the borderline terrible performances of the minnows. Scotland, Wales, United States of America and even France have been so mediocre, that I'd counter your positive vibes about the Pacific Island teams by pointing right at these teams. What I don't want us all to focus on though is how negative this is, because as I said; we are only at the beginning.
We are not long removed from a RLWC when Aotearoa fielded two teams, an Aotearoa Kiwis and Aotearoa Maori team. As we grow rugby league around the world and raise the level of competition, we simply have to endure this period in which we find ourselves in, where teams are getting smoked and the difference in quality is excessive.
It's completely logical that the Pacific Island nations are fairly good at rugby league as many of their players live in Aotearoa or Australia. Growth in the Pacific Islands will increase and rugby league will eventually hold a greater market share than rugby union, yet we should judge the growth of international rugby league in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
Right now that doesn't look so good and you'd be forgiven for being Debbie downbuzz about international rugby league based on current results. I'm certain we are moving in the right direction and we only need to look at Italy as an example of where we are at and where we want to be; Italy has a rugby league team in this RLWC, via NRL players who want to play in a RLWC and we want to be in a position where Italy fields a competitive footy team with players from Italy - or Lebanon has a competitive team from their local competition.
We are not there yet, but the seeds have been planted because Italy and Lebanon are in this RLWC doing their thing. Shake your head at rugby league eligibility - 'it's such a farce omg' - but loosening up the eligibility now, will have long-term benefits. Through these eligibility rules, the seed has been planted and the end game is that the seed blossoms into homegrown international teams.
Just look at USA. They aren't very good and by the time the next RLWC rolls around, USA will have greater competition for qualification from Canada - who have a team (Toronto Wolfpack) playing in England. Right now the benefits of Canada's rugby league revolution haven't made their way to the RLWC level, they've definitely been felt in Canada though and the seed for improvement/growth has been planted.
I'll get way deeper into this after the RLWC, so stay tuned. It's super lazy to judge international rugby league's strength on what Australia, Aotearoa, Papa New Guinea and the Pacific Islands are doing because that's a small corner of the world that has the best league competition in the world on its doorstep. Look beyond this, embrace the bigger picture with a global perspective and you'll see that we are have a long way to go, we're merely at the beginning of the revolution. And the seeds are being planted around the world.
We only need to think back to Aotearoa's win in 2008 to understand the Wayne Bennett influence and how England build their way through this RLWC has me intrigued. They beat Lebanon 29-10 and the Bennett influence isn't felt in a tournament like this through tactical decisions, how Bennett rallies his troops and has them confident in their ability as a team is what could make England dangerous later on in the tournament.
When Bennett talks about that Kiwis World Cup win, he says that the Kiwis needed belief that they could beat Australia and as England have the personnel to offer a funky attacking threat, along with a players who are all-effort in defence, a little belief will make the difference. Bennett artillery to work with though in a tactical sense and England have the ability to set up with a sweeping backline move, starting in the far right corner and scoring in the far left corner.
Gareth Widdop (W) is the first receiver and he passes on to Sean O'Loughlin (OL) who has three options; Tom Burgess inside, Chris Heighington outside and Josh Hodgson (H) sweeping out the back. Elliott Whitehead was at dummy half, allowing Hodgson to set up in the backline and this will happen a lot with Hodgson, although Hodgson doesn't actually receive the footy here and O'Loughlin instead goes with a sneaky fourth option of passing to halfback Luke Gale (G).
Lebanon's defence is compressed by the presence of Burgess, Heighington and Hodgson and O'Laughlin's brilliant passing ability is the weapon in this play. There aren't any forwards in this World Cup who you'll see thrown a long pass in a set-play like O'Loughlin did here.
Hodgson's out there in the middle of the backline and we know how slick he is out of dummy half. Ben Currie's try was created by Hodgson, who ran out of dummy half down a short-side where Lebanon had marked up with equal numbers (3 vs 3). Hodgson runs at Mitchell Moses though, creating an extra number and put Currie through a hole:
Keep in mind that this play was run just before half-time and Burgess/Heighington are on the field, having replaced James Graham and Chris Hill. We know Graham is a slick passer, don't sleep on Hill's passing ability though either as he gets the same opportunities as Graham. Hill slides into first receiver with Graham on his outside shoulder and O'Loughlin out the back, Hill replicates classic Graham work by running direct, then passing out the back:
O'Loughlin could be the best ball-playing forward in the WC, we know Graham is a passing forward and now we're seeing Hill do the same? That's a recipe for funk and they all do this with their foundations in gritty middle forward business; tackles and hit ups.
England then have Tom Burgess coming off the bench, with Heighington. Heighington is the perfect foil to Burgess because he's quick, nimble and agile while Burgess is massive and if Burgess is finding his belly like this, England are rolling;
England also enjoyed plenty of action down Lebanon's left edge where Robbie Farah defends as a halfback. Farah is usually a hooker and while hooker's make plenty of tackles through the middle, it's a different story out on the edges where it's your decision making that gets tested more so than your ability to tackle.
England's right edge had a far greater impact than their left, with far greater workload as England pushed the play down Farah's edge. Jermaine McGilvary had 16runs/188m and Kallum Watkins had 18runs/183m, compared to John Bateman's 11runs/118m and Ryan Hall's 9runs/104m. You could point to the difference in Curries stats on the left (14runs/136m) to Whitehead's (9runs/72m) as a counter, Whitehead was often used as a decoy though to get the ball to Watkins or Whitehead was the play-maker.
England targeted Farah blatantly in the first half and Farah was caught making the wrong decision every time. Here Farah moves in to cover Hill, with Lebanon already marked up against Hill and O'Loughlin. Farah still drifts in, thus pulling his centre in and generally mucking up the spacing of their edge defence:
That spacing is also evident in this play as Lebanon are nicely marked up against Graham and Hill (note Graham's passing to Hill this time) Tim Mannah is even sliding over to help out from the inside, as is Alex Twal (#10. Yet Farah is still far too close to his forward. This creates un-even spacing between Farah and his centre:
And then Farah doesn't even bother to push up with his edge forward, throwing Lebanon's defensive line into a fluff:
Farah knows how to defend as he tackles big boppers week in, week out. Farah does not appear to understand how to defend on an edge which is completely understandable as he's never really done it before. Shout out to England for running all these plays at Farah and I'm going to be interested in how Australia go about dismantling Farah's edge.
Who has been the best player so far in the RLWC? Garry Lo. Easy.
All of PNG's stats looked good vs Wales, yet Lo backed it up with 19runs/200m vs Ireland. Lo operates on the left flank for PNG, yet his 19 runs was the most of any player on the field and the next best wing/fullback was Ireland winger Liam Kay's 15 runs. Like all PNG players, Lo goes hunting for the footy and wants to be involved in every play, so he's not special in that regard, but when you combine that with his freakish explosive power; he's a monster.
He scored a beastly try against Ireland, here's some of his career highlights so salivate over:
Peace and love 27.
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