Fox's recipe for Bledisloe victory

By JAMIE PANDARAM - SMH | Friday, 25 July 2008

Former All Blacks five-eighth Grant Fox explains how he would coach New Zealand to victory in Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup test match at Olympic Stadium in Sydney.

Set pieces

"The Wallabies will target the All Blacks lineout. I have thought for a little while that we have been too deliberate at lineout time and lacked a bit of tempo. We have waited for the opposition to set up before making the calls. We need to make the call early and just get it done. There shouldn't be any hesitation, get it in as quick as possible.

"The other thing I would like to see is more use of the short lineout option. I like to attack off short lineouts, I like the ability of having a couple of big buggers out in the middle of the field for carries. It is a good attacking launch platform. But the key is, you have got to win it first. From memory, I believe South Africa tried the short lineout three times against Australia, they won one, lost one and had one disrupted, which is not a good strike rate. The All Blacks will still fancy their chances at scrum-time. Australia have improved, but how much? We'll find out."

Defence

"Our frontline defence is very, very good, but at times our cover defence is not as good as it should be. The errors are not systematic, they are individual errors. When Ricky Januarie went through for the try [Keven] Mealamu made an individual error [he took the dummy and allowed Januarie to run inside] and in my view [halfback] Andy Ellis also made an error. He was two wide of the ruck, what was he doing out there? "[But] the defence around the fringes of the ruck is not a concern for me this week, because they would have identified it and worked on it. I have concerns in two areas for the All Blacks. One is the cover defence. We made far more line breaks than South Africa but they just scramble back so well. We need guys in behind the line.

"The other area is our receiving of the high ball from broken play. There have been situations in the past couple of games where hookers are back there catching the ball. Using the high ball under the ELVs is part of Robbie's coaching philosophy. In the second half against South Africa they used it quite a bit and used it from their own half of the field, and the Crusaders did it as well this year. The organisation under the high ball needs to be addressed."

Breakdown

"You find these days that 30 per cent of the ball you get will come from the set pieces, and that leaves 70 per cent from breakdowns, which is a hefty chunk. So at worst, you want parity at the breakdown contest, and what you'd hope for is dominance. In the past few years the All Blacks have enjoyed dominance in this area against Australia.

"South Africa got so many numbers on the ball carrier in Dunedin, they were far more individualistic against Australia last week. Dunedin meant so much to them, they celebrated like they won a World Cup, they didn't get those numbers in against Australia's ball runners. I don't think Australia will be afforded that luxury this weekend.

"Australia will work hard in that area. South Africa will target players like [Daniel] Carter individually, sending Butch James at him, but Australia will work to the theory that if you gain ascendancy at the breakdown, it puts pressure on the kickers, they have less time, and you target them that way. [New breakaway Daniel] Braid has been in very, very good form this year. Daniel has just had this guy in front of him [Richie McCaw] who is a once-in-a-lifetime talent. Whoever wins the battle of the breakdown will go a long way to winning this match."

What do you think of Grant Fox's assessment of what it takes to win? Post your comments below.