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Mortlock: 'Teams can put you to bed'

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:47

Stirling Mortlock is happy with the changes in law application this year but says that defences face tough challenges.

"It's very pleasing to see a lot of positive rugby being played. It's a great thing," said Mortlock, chatting in Cape Town ahead of the Brumbies match against the Stormers at Newlands on Friday.

But he warned that since the greater attacking continuity being encouraged was geared towards more tries being scored, there could be no let-up on defence for the full duration of the 80 minutes.

Mortlock will be playing in his 120th Super game, and with 80 Test caps to his name too, he is in a good position to assess the emphasis on allowing continuity to the attacking team being applied by referees this year. The 32-year-old made his Super 12 debut in 1998 and played his first game for Australia in 2000, and has been through all the various law changes, ELVs and variations in interpretations over the years.

There have been differences in opinion expressed about the wisdom of the 2010 law applications, especially at breakdown, with Wallaby coach Robbie Deans's view that the current interpretations had struck the right balance between offence and attack contrasting with that of Waratahs captain and veteran Wallaby Phil Waugh, who is concerned that contests are being removed from the game, particularly at breakdown.

While Waugh believes passive ball carries are getting rewarded and dominant tackles are not being rewarded, Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper's opinion is that "we've got it about right; I just think it's got to be better for the game. It's got to be better to attack than defend." .

Mortlock spoke of the challenges being made on teams' defences.
 
"It's good to see a lot of tries being scored. It's almost too many tries, so we have to go back to the drawing board and make sure our defence can deal with sustained pressure from the opposition because at the moment that's what you can get."

"Teams can put you to bed, score two or three tries in five minutes. So you've really got to be on your game for the full 80 minutes," Mortlock said.

In the game between the Chiefs and Lions in Johannesburg last Friday, 18 tries were scored, with defences clearly not having adjusted - but in truth it was not only defensive systems that were shown up but more particularly the number of one-on-one tackles flunked. In contrast there were only three tries scored in the Stormers vs Waratahs game at Newlands and only two in the Sharks vs Cheetahs match.

It will be fascinating to watch how referees and teams adjust in the weeks ahead.

Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has said all along that referees would be pedantic in their policing of the breakdown in the first few weeks of the Super 14 and then ease up, and Crusaders and All Black skipper, Richie McCaw agrees with this view. 

"They've made everyone change their habits at the breakdown," McCaw said, but added: "I think they'll come back [with] a wee bit of equilibrium to make sure it's still a contest."

By Len Kaplan

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