Henshaw at Fullback yesterday

I was watching Henshaws performance yesterday and it got me thinking about what is the primary function of the fullback in defence. Is it to cover the backfield for kicks/grubbers through or is it being the last man in defence.

In some of the defensive systems I have worked with we have always used the fullback as the man to cover for kicks/grubbers through not necessarily being the last man in defence. Let me elaborate. In first phase ball a defence can use drift defence which means there are enough backs to cover the opposition backline without the fullback being needed to tackle the last man. This is very effective and in essence gives you an extra man defensively if all the backs push out and make their hits.

Wherethis defence sometimes gets pulled out of shape is on phase play where there might be a forward in the defensive line who doesn't push up and out off 2nd/3rd/4th etc phase play. This in turn requires players to hold in on their man and can create overlaps for the attacking team. The fullback is then required to make it up from backfield into the line to hit the last man. What Kearney does so well is not making up the ground to put in the hit, he simply forces the defender through pace to make an early decision and invariably he calls the bluff correctly by hitting the attacker if he dummies or using the touchline as a defender if he passes in a 2 V 1 situation. It's not his ability to make up the ground which makes him a top class last line defender it's his ability to force the attacker into making a decision then reading this correctly and making the hit.

It struck me watching yesterday that Henshaw was always trying to make up the ground in defence and get to the gainline by the time the ball had gone to the last man. With the spaces a fullback has to cover this simply isn't possible. Henshaw should have done a Kearney and covered the backfield for kicks without sprinting to make it to the gainline by the time the ball went to the last man. This might leave a 2V1 or a 1 V 1 but what Kearney is so effective at doing defensively by getting there that half second later is forcing the attacker to make a decision or to hesitate by closing down the space quickly when he breaks the last line. Kearney is good in double bluff situations and usually the attacker with only a half second to decide what to do usually runs straight in to Kearney and his superior bulk usually takes him down.

This brings me back to yesterday's game and Henshaw trying to get up to the gainline too quickly at the expennse of covering the backfield for kicks. What should he have done? He should have held back for kicks and only when one didn't go through force the hand of the attacker. This game of double bluffs usually cuts the odds for defender in half by taking away the decision making from the attacker by covering for kick through. With the only option of running with the ball the defender now has a 1V1 simply to defend or a 2V1 where he has the touchline and can cut down space to force a decision from the attacker.

It's a very high skilled situation and happens across 20 to the 30 metres of space but with guile and smarts the fullback can tilt the odds in his favour while still covering for kicks through. It's a very difficult skill to master as it happens at full pace and across massive space but if mastered creates a situation where the fullback doesn't have to make it up to the gainline in defence and can cover for kicks.

I think this knowledge was where Henshaw was off yesterday and he wasn't holding back for kicks through trying to make it to the line too quickly. It's a skill that takes composure and smarts to master and Robbie was off just slightly on yesterday.