Northern flops are exposed says Holah

Marty Holah

He's a man who knows what he's talking about, which is why the Lions should listen to Marty Holah's advice to stop flopping over the tackled ball.

The discarded All Black openside believes the Lions need to follow New Zealand's lead and retrain players to be smarter at the breakdown.

So far, the first Lion to arrive at the breakdown has generally been diving off his feet to secure the ball. Not only is this tactic illegal, when spotted by the referee, it has not been effective in helping the Lions retain or steal possession.

Holah said New Zealand players used to have the same approach. He believes the Lions could fix the problem by staying on their feet, hitting contact lower and using the first two men to seal off the ball legally.

"I think it is the way Southern Hemisphere rugby has developed in the last year," said Holah when asked to explain the key differences in the approach of the Lions compared with New Zealand teams. "In the Super 12 it has been a key area to have guys attacking your ruck. We took a little time to come to grips with that and had to come up with little strategies. I think they [Lions] are going through that process now.

"Flopping on the ball is the way they are allowed to play in the Northern Hemisphere. We did that to a certain extent. The way things are going now, you send two guys in to be a pain in the arse. They disrupt as much as they can and if you have got someone who is flopping over the ball he normally gets knocked over backwards.

"I thought the Lions' body positions were a fair bit lower when they played Wellington and they had more urgency."

There's no doubt that this was a direct consequence of the embarrassment felt at being so outplayed at the breakdown by Holah and New Zealand Maori a few days earlier.

Holah was quicker in thought and deed than his opposite Martyn Williams. The Chiefs player also made some explosive bursts and pulled off a match-winning tackle on Lions halfback Matt Dawson late in the game. Despite all that, Holah came off the pitch at Waikato Stadium to have his delight dampened by All Black coach Graham Henry.

"I had a quick chat with Graham after the game and he enlightened me as to what was going on."

As to whether his omission was a fair call, Holah would only say: "I don't know. I don't really have any comment on that. It was a pretty big disappointment but life goes on."

What he was sure about is that specialist opensides are not a dying breed. There is a trend now for versatile loose forwards who can cover more than one position. Holah, though, has seen ideas come and go and is confident there will always be a place for a low-to-the-ground, ball-winning openside.

He said: "It comes in cycles. When I was trying to break into the scene I was always told I was too short. All of a sudden, a few shorter players were a bit better on the ground and that side of the game developed."

The blow of missing test selection has been softened by being named in the Junior All Blacks, who head to Australia this week. Holah is unsure of his test future so is happy enough to join the Juniors with no expectations, who will face Queensland and Australia A.