We have talked the talk but can we walk the walk?
Now that the Super Rugby season is a week away it is time to ask the question.
Will the 2016 Force be a better team than the 2015 Force?
With largely the same squad that managed to earn the unwanted soup maker where will the improvements come from? Both new fly halves certainly have more attacking skill and nous than our former 10 who liked to kick away a lot of ball mostly for no reason. These new additions also bring with them the expectation of a more attacking mentality from the Force, the same Force side who could barely muster a tackle bust or a line break let alone a respectable number of tries scored last season. The return of Godwin to the inside centre role is well overdue and should help in overturning the toothless attack of 2015. Tapuai is an interesting addition. A Wallaby at his best, a forgotten player in recent seasons, will he regain some of his best form or will the niggling injuries continue to plague him. Masiwera looks a likely type. Hopefully this Fijian winger sees more ball in more favorable attacking positions than our last fijian winger did. My suggestion? Pass him the ball more thsn once a game. Lets not waste his talents like we did Nalaga. Morahan needs to get more ball in better positions too. Last year he went missing from large chunks of games and was exposed as being not the best tackler in the team. The great Dane will continue his rise and will be one of our best again.
But i still wonder if the promise of expansive play and attacking rugby is just that. A promise.
We still have the forwards to compete with most if not all other forward packs though set piece accuracy and reliability need to improve. We need to get our set piece success percentages up from the low 80s to the mid 90s if we are to exert more pressure of oppositions. Our forwards also desperately need to develop an offload game. Too often last year we were too predictable in the way we used our forward runners, usually a tuck and carry it while isolated sort of approach was our main tactic which continuously caused us to break down too often in attack. More variety in our pod running and setups is required. We have heard a lot of noise about the integration between forwards and backs this preseason in a more expansive style but do we have the skill level required to execute such ambition. I hope so, heck i think we all do.
The last thing mentioned about the new gameplan is speed of play. This is where i think we need to make the most improvement. Too often last year we were a slow, unimaginative and unskilled team in a division above our natural weight class. Too often our halfback was waiting for options or looking to organise options which should have been done for him by his team mates. This was SSSSOOOO frustrating last year. It put people to sleep watching it. We can recruit all the backs in the world but if we give them slow ball in front of a well organized defence they will again have difficulty finding the space necessary to attack effectively. This is where we need to improve the most to start our climb back up the mountain that is Super Rugby.
For me, for the Force to walk the walk, it needs to start up front. Improved accuracy at the set piece, more variety and offloads from our pod runners and quicker service to a more organized attack. Throw in some more points from the kicking tee and we will be competitive. We won't win the competition but we will improve a few places up the ladder. I think between 8th-12th is where we will finish. But more importantly i hope we start to walk the walk because talk is cheap and we have heard it all too often.
