CharlieF said:
Lockyer missed the tackle. Long isn't a big man and should have been tackled. Lyon stays in the line, lockyer will still need assistance with the tackle bringing Lyon in and creating a one man overlap.
I'm not talking about defensive assignments.
Lockyer was defending three in, and yes his assignment was Long, and Lyon's assignment was Yeaman.
However 3 attackers running at a 3 man flat line is a pretty safe situation. Lyon disrupted this by running out of the line and creating a channel to Lockyer's right hand side where Lyon would of been.
Lockyer got burnt for pace by Long. This situation doesn't occur if Lyon stays in the line. I'm not blaming Lyon for not tackling Long, Long was not his assignment.
I'm blaming Lyon for increasing the difficulty of Lockyer's assignment, which in this event was a defensive failure.
I haven't been involved with any RL training, but whilst I know that the most dangerous man on the field is the one with the ball in hand, surely in a defensive line, it is man on man marking otherwise it doesn't work.
Of course in's man on man marking, you arrange yourself 1-in, 2-in, 3-in, etc and line yourself up to whoever is running that equivalent channel, you also call a switch when two attacking players cross.
What I'm saying is a straight line defence means the attacking team can't take advantages of size/speed mismatches as easily. The 1st rule of attack is if someone comes out of the line is the change your angles to epxloit that hole. Long did that and he exploited the Lyon hole by a speed mismatch he had on Lockyer.
If you miss your man, surely the onus is on you first. To say that Lyon made Lockyer miss that tackle is laughable. It was just as much Lockyers mistake.
Lockyer missed the tackle yes, well so much that he didn't have the jets to make the tackle. Lyon messed up the structure of everyone's defensive assignment. It is really.. REALLY simple stuff.
