Frank Greenall: Flexible match plan the key

BILL Shankly, a charismatic Liverpool Football club manager, has a famous quote: "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that." Such is the fervour at Rugby World Cup time.

Along with many sports, rugby has grown to industrial proportions. Top coaches now command stellar salaries. But given that coaches by and large fall within two well-known categories - those recently sacked, and those about to be sacked - the pressure is on.

The fat contract he may have, but now the coach also has a board of directors to answer to, particularly when the proverbial hits the fan. When it does, he's got to be able to show the board that he at least had a plan - the dreaded Game Plan (GP for short).

A GP is good. But two very important considerations must on no account be overlooked. Unfortunately, they often are. First, the only GP that matters is the one that, at game's end, shows your team with more - preferably a lot more - points on the board than the opposition. Many's the time when an assiduously crafted GP has been executed to perfection, but sadly proved to be the wrong one, and the game lost.

Secondly, any GP worth its salt must factor in the dictum of Field Marshall Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke - a 19th century Prussian military strategist of great perspicacity. His original remark was more nuanced, but essentially it says: "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy."

Basically, this means the coach has to be ready to quickly ditch all those preciously prepared plans if they don't cut the mustard on the day and trust his players. And the players have to know they can react, if necessary, in ways contrary to the original GP and not be sidelined if they do.

The GP for the AB/Boks semi-final was obviously to bring the slipper more into play - including (at long last!) our hugely under-utilised option of the easiest three points on the paddock, the droppie. The kicking game is often categorised as strategically "playing the game in the opposition's half". This is surely the most fatuous statement of tactical intent ever made. Has there ever been a coach on the planet who's declared: "OK, boys, this Saturday we're going for broke and playing the game in our own half"?

Kicking the ball up-field is no guarantee it's going to stay there. The last time I looked at the stats, there's only about a 20 per cent chance (Ben Smith notwithstanding) of reclaiming the ball. Used judiciously, the strategic punt or grubber can be a wonderful thing. (Dan, take a lesson from Beaudie on how to pop a grubber into the sweet spot!) But last weekend their continued (ineffectual) use - obviously in accordance with the Grand GP - only resulted in ceding ball control to the Boks. If the Boks had better used it, our miserable two-point final margin would have been toast.

Sometimes our magnificent All Blacks can be a bunch of All Blocks. Prior to the quarter-final against the French, much was made of the 2007 Cardiff loss. Forgotten was the 1999 semi-final against the same nation, who severely caned us. After half-time, the ABs were cruising with a comfortable lead. Jonah had touched the ball three times, and on two of them had ploughed through half the French team to score. When the French staged their remarkable comeback, it didn't seem to occur to anyone that - given his spectacular previous success - it might actually be a good idea to get the ball out to Jonah again. For the rest of the game, he got to only briefly touch the ball twice in broken play! And what sparked the French comeback? Not one, but two droppies in succession.

Go the ABs, and go Steve! But remember the only Game Plan that matters - the flexible one. The one that's got the better chance of having comfortably more points on the board atm game's end

-Frank Greenall has a master's degree in adult literacy and managed Far North Adult Literacy before moving to Wanganui.