The Original All Blacks - Innovations and Tactics

Innovations and Tactics

The Original All Blacks introduced several innovations to rugby in France and the British Isles. At the time of their tour many critics in the Northern Hemisphere blamed the use of the wing–forward for the All Blacks success. These critics claimed this player—who fed the ball into the scrum—would obstruct opposition players, and that the only reason they were not being penalised was due to poor refereeing. Their success however was due to a combination of factors, the most important being the team's discipline and organisation, which was described at the time as a scientific approach.

Each forward in the team had a specific role in the scrum; they would each have a predetermined position within the scrum. This was different to their opposition— their forwards' position in a scrum was determined by the order in which they arrived. This was described as "first-up, first-down", and meant that the All Blacks were better drilled—giving them a significant advantage. The All Blacks had also practised their line-outs, and as a result had a very good understanding between the player that threw in the line-out ball, and the player who was supposed to receive it.

The All Blacks back-line formation was also different to that in Britain. They played two five-eighths, a position invented in New Zealand, that refers to the player between the half-back and three-quarters. These two five-eighths gave the All Blacks a defensive advantage. The British press were also surprised to see All Blacks fullback Billy Wallace attacking so often—They had generally viewed the fullback as a defensive position. The All Blacks also thought that every player, whether a back or a forward, should make themselves available to take a pass in support of an attacking player. The teams they encountered had forwards that understood their main role of winning possession for their backs, but would not support them when attacking.

The other major factor that helped the All Blacks to success was their superior fitness. In New Zealand each half was 45 minutes, not 35 like in Britain. As well as that, the All Blacks spent much time on fitness. This enabled them to play with speed much longer than their opposition.