By Melissa Woods
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Wallabies defensive coach John Muggleton doesn't believe the Australian side can replicate the iron curtain defence which laid the platform for its 1999 Rugby World Cup triumph.
But he says the defending champions won't have to.
The Wallabies only conceded one try - to the USA in a pool game - throughout their entire six-game tournament in 1999.
Even their World Cup final opponent France, which prides itself on innovation and attacking flair, couldn't get across the Australian line.
Muggleton said yesterday that defence would still be the key to World Cup success, but he predicted the top sides would most likely concede an average of one try per match.
"It would be an amazing effort (to again only concede one try)," Muggleton said.
"It's usually been the team with the best defensive record that's won it, so obviously we're working pretty hard on that.
"But any team that has less than five tries scored against them is going to do extremely well."
The Australians' tryline has been crossed 16 times in seven Tests this year.
The rampaging All Blacks scored seven tries in the first Bledisloe Cup clash in July.
The former rugby league international, who became Australia's fulltime defensive coach just prior to the last tournament, said the evolution of the game and attacking styles were behind the increase in tries scored.
"The problem for defence comes from unstructured play ... teams are trying to score tries all the time now whereas in '99 there was a lot of hit-up rugby," Muggleton said.
"A big strong runner would take the ball forward and then you'd try to get through their defence after that.
"Now it's on for young and old."
He said sides used to prepare with a "general attacking philosophy" but now used many different types of situational defence, dependent on where and how the ball was turned over.
The seven-try concession against New Zealand in Sydney was rated by Muggleton as the worst Australian defensive display he had been associated with.
He attributed it to a lack of combination and unfamiliarity with positions, and poor individual tackle execution.
Muggleton was pleased the All Blacks were kept to two tries in the return Bledisloe three weeks later, and believed Australia would show further improvement during the World Cup.
The current crop of Wallabies were the fittest and the tight five the strongest he had seen.
"It's (fitness) done wonders in their getting around the field, and that's before they make contact," Muggleton said.
"Take the example of Dan Vickerman, the extra strength he's got in his legs and the extra confidence he's got in his strength in his upper body has made him a much better defender, he's much more agile."
AAP
Thursday, October 2, 2003
Wallabies defensive coach John Muggleton doesn't believe the Australian side can replicate the iron curtain defence which laid the platform for its 1999 Rugby World Cup triumph.
But he says the defending champions won't have to.
The Wallabies only conceded one try - to the USA in a pool game - throughout their entire six-game tournament in 1999.
Even their World Cup final opponent France, which prides itself on innovation and attacking flair, couldn't get across the Australian line.
Muggleton said yesterday that defence would still be the key to World Cup success, but he predicted the top sides would most likely concede an average of one try per match.
"It would be an amazing effort (to again only concede one try)," Muggleton said.
"It's usually been the team with the best defensive record that's won it, so obviously we're working pretty hard on that.
"But any team that has less than five tries scored against them is going to do extremely well."
The Australians' tryline has been crossed 16 times in seven Tests this year.
The rampaging All Blacks scored seven tries in the first Bledisloe Cup clash in July.
The former rugby league international, who became Australia's fulltime defensive coach just prior to the last tournament, said the evolution of the game and attacking styles were behind the increase in tries scored.
"The problem for defence comes from unstructured play ... teams are trying to score tries all the time now whereas in '99 there was a lot of hit-up rugby," Muggleton said.
"A big strong runner would take the ball forward and then you'd try to get through their defence after that.
"Now it's on for young and old."
He said sides used to prepare with a "general attacking philosophy" but now used many different types of situational defence, dependent on where and how the ball was turned over.
The seven-try concession against New Zealand in Sydney was rated by Muggleton as the worst Australian defensive display he had been associated with.
He attributed it to a lack of combination and unfamiliarity with positions, and poor individual tackle execution.
Muggleton was pleased the All Blacks were kept to two tries in the return Bledisloe three weeks later, and believed Australia would show further improvement during the World Cup.
The current crop of Wallabies were the fittest and the tight five the strongest he had seen.
"It's (fitness) done wonders in their getting around the field, and that's before they make contact," Muggleton said.
"Take the example of Dan Vickerman, the extra strength he's got in his legs and the extra confidence he's got in his strength in his upper body has made him a much better defender, he's much more agile."
AAP
