RUGBY/Six Nations Championship: Gerry Thornley on the importance of converting goal-kicks in the modern game and the influence of kicking gurus like the former Bristol scrumhalf
One of the ironies of last week's encounter at Twickenham, when England outscored France by two tries to nil but lost the match, thanks in the main to France's superior goal-kicking, is that accuracy levels in the RBS Six Nations over the preceding five campaigns have been steadily decreasing.
It's worth stressing that this has bucked the trend of the game globally, as has the diminishing reliance on goal-kicks (4.6) compared to tries. Nevertheless, the opening two weekends strongly suggest that the Six Nations' trend may be reversed this season, given try tallies to date are down, perhaps due to the confusion surrounding the breakdown area, less continuity, as well as ever-improving defensive systems .
But rugby will invariably have days like last Sunday at Twickenham, when the accuracy or otherwise of goal-kickers will still decide the outcome. To the trained eye of a specialist kicking coach like Ireland's Mark Tainton, there will inevitably be tell-tale signs when events unfold like they did in Twickenham, especially last week, when Charlie Hodgson and Olly Barkley missed six kicks between them.
"Kickers can get tight. With Charlie last week, I don't know what was happening in training, but it looked like he got tight after the first kick. He was pushing a few and then he over-compensated and actually pulled one. But you just need to relax, and Charlie has got a pretty good technique. It's not going to take him an awful lot to get back on the road to success."
It can be, he admits, a very frustrating experience for kicking coaches when days like that evolve for there's little a specialist such as himself can do from the stands.
"With Ronan, if he misses the first kick, you just get the message on to relax and remind him of the process," adds Tainton, who is, he admits, a big man for what he calls "the process". Each kicker also has his own idiosyncrasies, and a key part of the kicking coach's remit is to identify and reinforce, say, the three "triggers" which are unique to each place-kicker, which is why trust built up over a long-term working relationship is invaluable.
Kicking coaches are there more for fine-tuning than re-building and if not careful, can be too intrusive. Tainton cites the example of Carlos Spencer, who never recovered from having his kicking technique radically redesigned by Grant Fox, a legend in his own playing days but with a style that was unique to him and never suited Spencer.
A prime example of the correct approach came after O'Gara surprisingly hit the upright with his first kick at Twickenham last year. With a reminder from the sideline of his triggers and process reinforcing O'Gara's own sound temperament, he didn't miss a kick thereafter.
Tainton is well pleased with Ireland's overall goal-kicking average of 74 per cent since the last World Cup, which leaves them joint third in the overall rankings alongside France but, as he points out, effectively behind only New Zealand of the leading rugby nations given the first-placed country, Canada, would take comparatively few kicks at goal.
As for O'Gara's own average of 68.57 per cent, which leaves him 16th in the individual table globally, his percentages have risen markedly since an excellent autumn. His ratio isn't helped by having Lansdowne Road as his home Test arena, where the stadium design and the customary Dublin winds make kicking conditions more capricious than at most venues.
Last season's games against Italy, played in a gale, and Scotland were prime examples. By contrast, that early blip against England was O'Gara's only miss at either Paris or Twickenham.
Tainton will have no split loyalties next weekend, even though the long-standing Bristol outhalf played for the English schools and the English under-21s, who were then coached by Brian Ashton. When Tainton retired from playing after a career he sums up self-depreciatingly by saying "I was lucky enough to play with some good scrumhalves", he was invited into the England set-up as a kicking coach by Jack Rowell.
Tainton was also head coach at Richmond until that club fell into financial difficulties and went "pear-shaped". He returned to do some club coaching at Bristol before, at the end of the 1996-'97 season, Ashton was in situ with Ireland and through him, Munster first invited him to conduct some kicking sessions with O'Gara and their kickers.
Eddie O'Sullivan then invited him into the Irish set-up for the 2003 Six Nations, at first for about two days in the weeks of Test matches, before he was co-opted on to the Irish management staff at the World Cup.
In January of last year he signed a full-time contract with the IRFU and now supplements his work with the Irish team by travelling around the provinces. Tainton would be loath to criticise Dave Alred, the original English kicking guru, but does admit that after the last Lions' tour it took about a year to redesign O'Gara's technique to a level the player was again fully happy with.
"Obviously with the England game next week there'll be a lot of tension during the week so actually I'll be trying to keep the players relaxed. I know it sounds daft but we say you've got to be relaxed and focused at the same time during training sessions in the week of a Test match, because you don't want them getting anxious. And if the session isn't going 100 per cent there's no point in carrying on. You might as well walk off and come back tomorrow. More isn't always better."
Tainton reckons a top-class goal-kicker is 50 per cent technique, and 50 per cent temperament. When coupled with intelligence and a work ethic, as is the case with O'Gara and Humphreys, Tainton has all the ingredients he needs.
An obvious example, of course, would be Jonny Wilkinson. "I remember working with him when he was an 18-year-old kid with the England schools. I said 'put the ball down, have a kick and let's have a look'. He put the first one down and kicked it with his left foot, then put the second one down and kicked it with his right foot. I said 'fair enough, I think you've got a bright future'."
Ollie Campbell was one of the place-kickers Tainton admired the most in his own playing days. "He just had a very simple technique," says Tainton, who's favourite among modern-day players is Matt Burke. "When he was at his peak he had a similar process to Campbell."
So, ultimately, what makes a great goal-kicker? "Temperament and process. A great goal-kicker will always have natural ability before anyone gets a hold of him. I don't believe you can make a great goal-kicker out of someone who can't kick a ball. There's got to be a certain degree of natural talent already in that person.
"Otherwise, you'd work on someone like John Hayes, who has tremendous power and you could give him the same technique and process, and he'd kick them from his own 22."
COUNTRIES
(Since the 2003 World Cup)
1 Canada 81%
2: New Zealand 81%
3: France 74%
4: Ireland 74%
5: South Africa 73%
6: Wales 73%
7: Scotland 71%
8: Italy 70%
9: England 66%
10: USA 65%
11: Pacific Islanders 58%
12: Australia 58%
INDIVIDUAL KICKERS
(Since Rugby World Cup 2003 who have taken 10 or more shots at goal, % success rate in brackets)
1: A Peclier (Fra) 14/15 (93.33)
2: R Wakarua (Ita) 19/21 (90.48)
3: A Mehrtens (NZ) 12/14 (85.71)
4: D Carter (NZ) 50/61 (81.97)
5: G Henson (Wal) 34/42 (80.95)
6: P Grayson (Eng) 15/19 (78.95)
7: F Michalak (Fra) 11/14 (78.57)
8: D Yachvili (Fra) 17/22 (77.27)
9: P Montgomery (SA) 59/78 (75.64)
10: D Parks (Sco) 9/12 (75.0)
11: J Barker (Can) 14/19 (73.68)
12: M Giteau (Aus) 24/33 (72.73)
13: F Contempomi (Arg) 18/25 (72.0)
14: C Paterson (Sco) 38/54 (70.37)
15: S Jones (Wal) 44/63 (69.84)
16: R O'Gara (Ire) 40/58 (68.57)
17: J-B Elissalde (Fra) 17/25 (68.0)
18: M Hercus (USA) 24/37 (64.86)
19: C Hodgson (Eng) 22/34 (64.71)
20: J Roff (Aus) 18/28 (64.29)
21: G Du Toit (SA) 10/16 (62.50)
22: O Barkley (Eng) 10/17 (58.82)
23: R de Marigny (Ita) 11/19 (57.89)
24: L Orquera (Ita) 7/13 (53.85)
