Be honest, lads. This Highlanders backline only clicks when Aaron
Honestly lads, half the forum still kisses the ground Aaron Smith walked on and I reckon you've all been watching a different team than me ๐คก Every time we slice teams up it's a quick tap and the ball's out wide before anyone's set a line, sure thing, mate, that's footie not a box-kick highlight reel. I put a cheeky multi on us at the TAB when the tempo's up and it pays way more often than the slow-ruck dreck. Miss the box-kick era? ๐ I miss winning, that's what.
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โHonestly lads, half the forum still kisses the ground Aaron Smith walked on and I reckon you've all been watching a different team than me ๐คก Every time we slice teams up it's a quick tap and the ball's out wide before anโฆChloe, sounds good, but try watching a full season rather than highlight reels, on condition that you show me the numbers, the box-kick still gives us field position that makes those quick taps possible.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Nah Robbed, field position without points gets ya nowhere ๐ค Remember when we ran the Chiefs ragged off a quick tap? That's Dunedin footie, tempo wins ๐ฅ๐ชOne love, one side โค๏ธ
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Chloe's onto something, and I'll back her with the pattern I've tracked: our quickest tries since the 2015 crew moved on have all come off quick taps and wide shifts, tempo before the defence sets. Robbed's field position point has a nuance though โ the tap itself creates the position, we don't need a box-kick to earn it. Ben's Chiefs memory is exactly the case study, so I'd say keep Smith on the bench for the derby and let the tempo side win that argument.
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back in my day we stood on the Carisbrook terraces watching the ball go through ten sets of hands before the bloke with the whip had even finished his pie, and i'll tell you, Aaron's box kick had its night under the lights, it won us test after test. but rugby moves on, and watch as long as I have and you'll get it - tempo like Ben says was always the Dunedin way, the kicks were just the fashion of the era. seen worse ideas than a quick tap ๐Been here longer than some have followed.
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Question for Robbed: field position worth anything if the chase arrives after the receiver has already passed it on? I've watched Aaron play at Forsyth Barr plenty of times, and the best stuff always came the moment the tap went, defence still drifting, line unformed. Kick it and everyone resets, tick tock. Underdog's got a point about the box kick winning nights, sure, that era's history's real. But ask yourself why every winger we've blooded since looks twice the player when the ball skips past nine. That's Dunedin footie talking, not a highlight reel.Sample first, conclusions after.
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Hannah's got the read I keep coming back to when I do my tape notes: the threat was never the kick itself, it was the seconds after it, when the chase had them half-set and Aaron could pick the seam. That nuance gets lost when people just say "box kicking slowed us down". Where I'll hedge with the group, though - I could be wrong, but I suspect some of what we're crediting to "tempo" is just better finishes. Try timing off quick taps and wide shifts, and the defence is unformed, so the sample flatters the play. Strip that out and I'd want to know how many of those tries survive against sides like the Crusaders who jam the first receiver. Track it round by round and the pattern holds until we meet a line speed that punishes a tap taken two metres from our own posts. Still, sitting up in the stand at Forsyth Barr, I'd rather watch the ball go wide off a tap any night than pin my ears back waiting for another garryowen. Field position earned by running beats field position punted up. ๐Do the math before you argue.
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Careful Chris, next you'll tell me chasing็ป่ฎก stats is nuance ๐ remind me of your ROI on "nuance", mate? Quick tap every day of the week.
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Nah Rob, nuance won us a World Cup ๐ฅ watch the tap vs the box in the same game, tell me which one sets the deck up ๐ชOne love, one side โค๏ธ
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Strewth, some of you young ones talk about Aaron like he was a bloke pulling a handbrake on the whole side ๐ I sat in the old terraces long before any of this, and I'll tell you what I saw: the box kick was never the point, the next ten seconds were. Chase arrives, defence frozen halfway between two jobs, and suddenly your wide shift has numbers before the line even sets. Half those "lightning" tries you're all celebrating only existed because the deck got stacked three phases earlier. Quick taps are lovely, don't get me wrong, best tries of the last few seasons came off them, no argument from me there. But watch the tape properly instead of remembering highlights: the 2015 crew didn't win a title because they ignored field position, they won because Aaron knew when to tap and when to make the other lot think about it. Seen it all before with playmakers, everyone blames the pass when the chase doesn't turn up. Old school view, take it or leave it ๐Seen it all, lads.
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Fair point from Ultra88 about those next ten seconds, that's where I keep landing too when I re-watch the tape. My question for the thread: how do you count it when a quick tap works brilliantly for three weeks against the derby sides, then dies against a drop-off defence that's set? Depends how many rounds you weight, I reckon, and until we've got a full season of both styles side by side I'm happy leaving the argument open. ๐Numbers > vibes.
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BadBeatKing's question is a fair one. Back in the day we used to say a tactic is only as good as the defence letting you have it that week. A quick tap against a derby side that's been on the drink all night is a different animal to one against a set line with numbers back. I've watched enough Test rugby to know defences coach for it inside a fortnight, so if it dies, it dies because someone's been watching the tape too ๐ For me the real tell is whether Aaron reads it. If the tap's on and he takes it, good. If the defence is set and he still forces it, well, that's when the old boys in the terraces start muttering. Seen worse though, plenty worse. Ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.