England shouldn’t feel too relieved that they don’t have to confront David Pocock on Saturday — Australia keep producing top-quality Test openside flankers and Michael Hooper is the latest.
The Wallabies seem to have a production line of outstanding No 7s. There was Phil Waugh, then George Smith (the best of the lot), Pocock and now Hooper, who has been the ‘find’ of the year for Australia coach Robbie Deans.
There is a particular emphasis on this position in Australia. It might be because their main rivals are New Zealand and South Africa, who are normally big, powerful sides and the Wallabies do not have that same physical presence, so they have to find clever ways of competing. They are smart all over the field, but especially at the breakdown.
Dangerman: Hooper is a top operatorEngland will know that to be successful, they must be able to counteract another superb Aussie openside. How will they do it? People assume that the breakdown is a brutal area, all about aggression, but players who are smart — good decision-makers — make the best ‘clearers’.
If a top openside is over the ball and you smash him in the wrong place, at the top of his back for example, there is no way that will shift him. There is no point just flying in wildly, using brute force. Someone trying to clear out at a ruck has to employ correct technique and astute judgment.
In the build-up to this game, England will have focused a lot on this issue. They might have had a player wearing a bib in training, acting as Hooper. Other players will have worked on blocking his line to the breakdown, or running close to him and almost tackling him just as he arrives.
Training day: Hooper takes on his team-mates in a session ahead of the matchBut if Hooper does reach the breakdown and get over the ball, that is when England will have to use one of two clearing methods; one based on biology, the other on physics. If someone’s head makes contact with your nose, it is basic biology, human nature, to move your head out of the way.
1 GOLD DUST
If the player trying to clear out can get their head between the openside’s face and the ball, they will slide into that gap so the back of their head makes contact with the openside’s face (see below).
That will make him instinctively stand up, so you can get your head in further, under their chest, then stand up and they are cleared out. What makes it ‘Gold dust’ is that you are then over the ball.
Using that method, you can cheat slightly. The law requires you to support your whole bodyweight with your feet, but if you can slide under the openside’s face quickly enough, you can rest your hands on the floor, with your body in the press-up position, then use your hands to scrabble forward and bring your feet up.
2 THE JUDO MOVES
If they are in a better position, with no chance of your head getting under theirs, the best option is to wrap an arm around their neck and roll them away from the ball. This move is stolen from judo, but the downside is that it also takes you, as the person clearing out, away from the ball.
Another judo principle is the use of unexpected movement. An openside over the ball will expect all the force to come from their front, so it can be effective to grab their hips and roll them forwards.
They will not be as well balanced going that way. If the openside has one foot in front of the other, that will leave them slightly side-on, giving you an easier target to get under their ribcage and use a shoulder to roll them away.
Tough test: England captain Robshaw will go head-to-head with HooperI don’t think Australia having Hooper at No 7 rather than Pocock will make much difference — he is equally adept over the ball. He has the right mindset and gets himself into the right body positions. If England are to beat Australia they have to nullify him and win that breakdown battle.
The Wallabies will come out firing after their heavy defeat in Paris. As underdogs they are extremely dangerous, but England should have the upper hand in the scrum and if they are on top of their game overall, I think they will win — let’s say 24-16.
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