Italy's 'anti-rucking' might not be to Eddie Jones' taste but I'm a fan... It was guerrilla warfare and gave England something to think about

  • Italy adopted an innovative approach to rucking in a bid to disrupt England
  • For long periods Eddie Jones's side struggled to cope with the 'anti-rucking'
  • The Italians' tactic was within the rules and they should be lauded for using it
  • By working it out England may have found impetus to see off a buoyant Scotland
  • Six Nations 2017 rugby: Follow all the latest news and more 

I totally support Italy and their use of their innovative and inspired tactics at Twickenham on Sunday, it was one of those rare moments in Test rugby that, as a former coach and player, make you sit bolt upright in your seat and think, 'Wow, this is different, this is new'. What on earth do England do next?

Italy are scrapping for respect and pride, both personal and national after many have criticised their right to an automatic place in the Six Nations. 

I myself strongly believe that some time soon there should be a pathway —via a promotion/relegation play-off — between the Six Nations and the Six Nations B. That is not anti-Italy or pro-Georgia, it is something European Rugby generally must aim for.

The Italians adopted an alternative approach at the breakdown by refusing to engage in a ruck

The Italians adopted an alternative approach at the breakdown by refusing to engage in a ruck

The tactic sought to deny England the ability to move the ball from the breakdown fluently

The tactic sought to deny England the ability to move the ball from the breakdown fluently

Conor O'Shea and coaches should be lauded for their intelligence, says Sir Clive Woodward

Conor O'Shea and coaches should be lauded for their intelligence, says Sir Clive Woodward

What we did see at Twickenham was a very gutsy and clever, if ultimately unsuccessful, response from a wounded Italy side that felt under pressure — the sort of pressure you encounter when seeking promotion or trying to avoid relegation. Pressure can be very good for a side.


Against a superior team and a rugby nation with infinitely more resources, Italy went down fighting and scheming and plotting. It was behind the lines — literally — guerrilla war and I found it compulsive viewing. It's what David always has to do if he is to stand any chance against Goliath.

In the past two weeks the brains trust of Conor O'Shea, Brendan Venter and Mike Catt burned the midnight oil to work out how they could make life as difficult as possible, within the laws, for England and they came up with what has been termed 'anti-rucking'.

I had never seen it at this level, although I understand the Waikato Chiefs sometimes use it in Super Rugby and O'Shea said afterwards that they had seen Toulouse use it for short periods — and Australia for a brief spell against Ireland last autumn.

The England players were left baffled as to how to deal with the unorthodox Italian 'Fox' tactic

The England players were left baffled as to how to deal with the unorthodox Italians 

 

I've also seen under-age sides around the country tweeting to say they often employ it. The tactic is entirely legitimate and was fascinating to watch it unfold in a big-match situation.

It's a long time since I've seen some of the best modern-day rugby brains, like Jonny Wilkinson and Lawrence Dallaglio, up in the ITV studio so exercised and involved in an issue. The texts and tweets were flying in from all quarters, almost all supportive of Italy employing these tactics.

It was great. Laws are not always about being restrictive, they can be looked at positively as well, an opportunity to come up with something different, a loophole if you like. Every time a new law is introduced I can promise you club and international coaches go into overdrive thinking how to circumvent it or use it to their best advantage.

And Conor O'Shea is absolutely right about it being wrong for people to jump on this, because Italy have had the guts to utilise the tactic for 80 minutes at a packed Twickenham.

They were forced to adapt and play a more offload reliant game that reduced rucking

They were forced to adapt and play a more offload reliant game that reduced rucking

If New Zealand or one of the big boys had come up with it in a big game, we would be hailing a tactical master-stroke.

It won't work every time, opposition teams have seen it now and will always factor the possibility of anti-rucking when they play Italy, but on Sunday it confused and bewildered England to the extent that the 70-point trouncing some had anticipated never looked like happening. In fact, Italy had chances to make this considerably closer and those late England tries made for a cruel scoreline.

What was really interesting to watch was the England players and management trying to cope and adapt to this on the hoof. As the referee Romain Poite correctly said when questioned by James Haskell and Dylan Hartley, 'I'm the referee, not the coach.' It was never up to Poite to tell England what to do, they had to work that out for themselves.

In my day we used to have a call — Kitkat — which meant somebody needed to go down with an 'injury' so we could get the doc or physio on and get round in a huddle for 90 seconds to sort something out if it was gong badly wrong. That's what England neded to do in the first half.

Jack Nowell ended the game with two tries as he came off the bench to finish off the Italians

Jack Nowell ended the game with two tries as he came off the bench to finish off the Italians

In the cold light of day, or up in our warm studio, the solution seemed simple. Avoid going to ground and therefore prevent rucks in the first place. Switch to an off-loading game and when you do finally go to ground, drag in as many Italian defenders as you can to prevent them standing off and denying you the ruck you want.

Failing all that just pick up and go — and burst through the middle where there were huge holes to be exploited.

England struggled to adapt but in all honesty most teams probably would. It is a big lesson and invaluable experience for this team. And I tell you who else will not have enjoyed it: Scotland. They would have been hoping for an England try fest, a massive thumping win that might, perhaps, have led to a little England overconfidence in the Calcutta Cup.

England will know they must play better if they are to repeat their Grand Slam of last year

England will know they must play better if they are to repeat their Grand Slam of last year

Now, for the next two weeks, England will have a fair bit of anger and frustration to work out of their system and a determination to produce something very special against Scotland next month. And there is plenty to work on.

Let's not ignore other aspects of this game. A penalty count of 10 in the first half by England was way too high and the Italians would have punished them much more severely if they had a Test-class goal-kicker.

England were also slow out of the blocks and inaccurate for long periods of the game.

But after all is said and done, the bottom line is that England still scored six tries, secured the bonus point safely and head the Six Nations table.

This will actually play out very well for England and I am confident, by way of a reaction, they will produce their best performance of the season in the Calcutta Cup.

Which they will need to do against an impressive Scotland side who will have nothing to lose.

The last 10 minutes were cruel on Italy as England added a scoreline their display didn't merit

The last 10 minutes were cruel on Italy as England added a scoreline their display didn't merit