Former league star Phil Blake is on a mission to plug the leaky defence

[travelling_gerry]

Former league star Phil Blake is on a mission to plug the leaky defence

• Wayne Smith
• From: The Australian
• November 20, 2010 12:00AM

To say the least, Phil Blake's life has taken an unexpected turn in the past month.

And suddenly he finds himself travelling from Sydney to Perth via Florence.
That's not the route any reputable travel agent ordinarily would book, but it is a detour the former rugby league star turned Sydney rugby union club coach doesn't mind in the least.
Not only has he arrived in Italy for the first time in his life, but he has arrived there as the Wallabies' defence coach.
"Three weeks ago I was going to coach Manly again next year and since then I've got the opportunity to come here with the Wallabies, and then I'm off to Perth for two years as the Western Force's defence skills coach," Blake said.
"So a lot has happened and my life has changed dramatically.


"Here we are sitting in Florence, and the closest I've been to Italy before that is Brookvale."
That's not literally true, as he spent four of his 16 rugby league seasons playing for Warrington, but he has come a long way this year, and not just geographically.
It was only in February that the super-fit 45-year-old had a five-hour triple heart bypass operation, so his emotional journey has been almost as dramatic as the one that began when Robbie Deans, having liked what he saw when he invited Blake to conduct a couple of sessions with the Wallabies squad, asked him to join the spring tour as defence coach.
Having played for no fewer than six rugby league clubs -- Manly-Warringah, Souths, North Sydney, Canberra, St George and Auckland -- Blake is accustomed to fitting into new groups, but he admitted to being nervous the first time he had to stand in the midst of the Wallabies and spell out how he wanted them to defend.
"It was a little intimidating going from working with part-time footballers (at Manly) to having the nation's best 40 players in front of you," Blake said. "You've got to know your stuff."
And were they hard markers? "Oh yeah. When you come from the outside in, they're saying: 'OK, let's suss him out'."
Even Blake sees the funny side of his current position and can understand why it has become a talking point in rugby.
"Defence wasn't my forte as a player," he admits. "I was all about attack, scoring tries, blowing sides away. Not that I didn't understand defence. I did, totally."
He has proven that in his three seasons as coach of Manly. In his first year, 2008, his side conceded 71 tries. Last year that figure plummeted to only 46, and this year it dropped even a little further, to 44.
It's unrealistic to expect him to have the same effect on the Wallabies but something needs to be done, and quickly. Last year they let in only 15 tries in 14 Tests but already this year they have conceded 31 in 13.
Admittedly, new rule interpretations at the breakdown have made things easier for attacking sides -- on the positive side of the ledger the Wallabies have scored 40 tries this year compared with 29 last year -- but there is still no disguising the fact that Australia has surrendered its long-held reputation as the best defensive side in world rugby.
The stats might suggest Blake faces major problems, but he likes what he has seen during his first three weeks on the job.
In particular, he is encouraged by the grit the Wallabies' Test and midweek teams have shown under pressure against England and Munster over the past week.
"When it was 26-6, England had a scrum on our 22 and we went 11 or 12 phases in defence," he said. "If a side didn't have a good constitution or pride in their defence, they'd be breached, but they kept turning up, understanding that it's a character test and that you have to come through the other end."
If anything, the midweek side impressed him even more on Tuesday night in Limerick.
"We've all been around football a long time but I can't honestly say I've seen a better defensive effort than against Munster."
Even Quade Cooper's defence doesn't faze him. "I don't see it being a problem. It's a problem if you're shying off contact, and he's not. His contact is good. I don't think it's going to be much of an issue. He has addressed it and the biggest thing is the honesty in the addressing, and we've worked this week on little issues."


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225956823518

[zimeric]

I think shying off contact was exactly what coops was doing .. That was obvious with his upright posture and constant attack of the ball trying to rip it out before the player went to ground.. It may have worked a couple of times but in the process allows the attacking team an extra 5-10 m every time....
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[oxleymoron]

The biggest problem that we have with the backs in the current wallabies squad is the one-dimensional build of most of the backs. Just doing a comparison between the current spring tour squad backs and the force backs for 2011, I have noticed a couple of interesting points. Both squads have 16 backs and I have counted O'Connor in both squads.

- 7 of the 16 wallaby backs weigh in over 90kgs compared with 10 for the force and 4 are listed at over 100kgs+ (Shepherd, Dellit, Inman and Sidey).

When you see that both Genia and Giteau are both 85kgs and standing either side of a turnstile, then it's no surprise that all attack against the wallabies has been driven through the 9,10,12 channel. A solution against the i-ties might be to try and move AAC into 12 and barnes out to 13 for two reasons:
1) Moving AAC into 12 will help to stiffen up the defence through the 9,10,12 channel and barnes could easily cover 13 with a slide defensive line in conjunction with the wingers.
2) With AAC playing 12 and barnes 13, there is the option for more direct running from the first line of backs, while also allowing barnes time to assess options back off the line in the second phase attack.

[Rex Messup]

Phil Blake says ""Defence wasn't my forte as a player," he admits."

Dead set

That'll do me

Now this bloke who couldn't tackle is head coach of defence of our national team?

Have we regressed to a 3rd world backwater? Is everybody in the world laughing at us? Is the ARU the worlds most intellectually challenged administration?

Does anybody else see the farce?

Does anybody else see the irony from the audience as the stage puppets dance?

Was Phil asked by the players where they should set up camp when they have two tests on the high veldt? Was the answer Cape Town?

Are the players who can't tackle allowed to knock off early to do their hair?

[Darren]

[James]

I watched a few of last year's Force games on youtube and a good defence coach is just what we need. The injury crisis at the start of the season didn't help but some of the tackling in the first four or five games was abominable.

We face up against the Reds in the first game and our defence will need to be on song. This will be our best opportunity to beat the Reds as like us they tend to start the season pretty slowly.

[Guru]

Not having a lazy Ryan Cross in our team will help

[James]

I wouldn't say Ryan Cross was lazy. But he definitely wasn't a team player- at least not in 2010. He kept doing stupid individual things like coming out of the defensive line to rush an attacker or take an intercept but it only ended up putting everyone else under pressure. He never offloaded either. I'm not convinced we are missing out on much with him gone.

[Action Hardcore]

Jono got excited when he saw the word plug in the title

[brokendown gunfighter]

I wouldn't say Ryan Cross was lazy. But he definitely wasn't a team player- at least not in 2010. He kept doing stupid individual things like coming out of the defensive line to rush an attacker or take an intercept but it only ended up putting everyone else under pressure. He never offloaded either. I'm not convinced we are missing out on much with him gone.

he certainly wasn't a team man.After the victory against the Highlanders,I noticed he couldn't be bothered joining the rest of his team mates for the team photo