Mark Ella - Ella The Player - The Flat Attack

The Flat Attack

Playing at five-eighth, Mark Ella was a proficient exponent of a style of attack often referred to as ‘the flat attack’ – a close-quarters game built on constant support. The style is applied in one specific area of play – open-side attack by the backline with the ball in hand. There are several obvious characteristics of this style. Firstly, rather than standing deep, the attacking backs stand flat. The philosophy being that an attacking team cannot put the opposing defence under pressure until it comes under pressure itself. (Dwyer, 1992, p. 24) In the case of an attacking side making a break the opposition cover defence will possibly be deprived of the necessary time to make the defending tackle. Because support play is crucial when utilising the flat alignment, standing flat had its advantages.

Mark Ella explained these advantages in the book Running Rugby: “When receiving the ball you must be almost abreast of the player passing to you. If you take the ball a few metres behind him, he is automatically out of the game until you move ahead of him. This means several moments are lost before he can run in support, which is a delay no team can afford.” (Ella, 1995, p. 17) Because rugby laws require that players pass the ball backwards, standing flat makes it easier for the ball carrier to run ahead of his support, thus bringing them back into the game.

Secondly, the backs are required to literally run straight, parallel to both side lines, to commit their opposite number into tackling them. This provides the attacking team an advantage in numbers. Bob Dwyer explains this advantage in his autobiography The Winning Way: “It (the attacking team) can always inject the fullback or blind winger, or both, into the backline and so end up with an extra man, or men. The opposition cannot do this in defence, of course, because not knowing where the attacking team is going to direct the ball, it has to keep all parts of the field covered. It has to have a fullback in the fullback’s position and a blind-side winger. Once the attacking movement is under way, however, the attacking team begins to lose its advantage in numbers whenever an attacking player passes the ball without in some way engaging the defender. If there are five attacking players opposed by four defenders and the first attacking player passes the ball without occupying the first defender, the attacking players will then be outnumbered by the defenders four to three.” (Dwyer, 1992, p. 24)

Because proponents of the flat alignment are expected to execute their moves near the gain line, where they subject themselves to the sudden pressure of the opposition engaging them, it is also vital that players stand close together, so they do not become separated or isolated from each other. Standing close also increases the opportunity for support, which is vital when players commit themselves to be tackled. In regular circumstances, standing flat often allows the opposition a quick opportunity for an intercept. Standing close together ensures the ball can be moved along quickly as the opposition line rushes towards you, making it less likely for the opposition to intercept the ball. This requires safe handling skills and refined passing ability as it drastically increases the speed at which the game is played. Players are expected to employ “sympathetic passing”, which means passing the ball in a manner that makes it most likely for the player to catch the ball.

This is a rare and seldom seen style of rugby as it involves considerable risk. As a method of attack it requires players be well practised, disciplined and have confidence as it is liable to break down. In particular, it enforces tremendous pressure on the attacking inside backs. Mark Ella explains the difficulty involved in applying oneself to this method of attack: “A team has to have an enormous amount of discipline to play the running game properly. The running angles need to be just right, the support play has to operate like clockwork, the forwards have to be exactly coordinated, and all fifteen players have to be tuned to the same wavelength.” However, the application of the flat alignment by the Wallabies in the early 80s, with Ella as the chief architect of their plays, brought Australia what was then, unprecedented success in their rugby history.