Ruck holes

Everyone knows by now for the dummy half to take advantage of 1 marker situations but are there opportunities if this is not the case?

Late in the tackle count middle forwards get tired and forget to close gaps coming from the inside in defence – especially the ‘A’ gap on the other side of the ruck and the gap between markers. See below for the gaps I mean (marked with blue arrows).

In the image above Liu is the ‘A’ defender on the far side of the ruck and needs to trail Friend who needs to trail Butcher across the field in case the ball is switched back. A failure by any one of these players opens up good attacking opportunities.

Even if they do defend correctly there is a strong chance for a fast play the ball due to the shoulder positioning of defenders.

You can clearly see Butcher (second marker), Friend and Liu all have their shoulders pointed to the sideline which makes it difficult to affect a strong tackle. In the video below the gap I’m talking about is not exploited (as a further pass is required) but it does show how hard it is to make a dominant tackle.

When the switch from first receiver (or even from second receiver as in the Sharks example) is followed up with a pass these ‘lazy’ gaps can be exploited.

I’d love to see some further attacking variations to take advantage of these ruck holes – a second man play following the switch could be particularly effective.