SYDNEY : Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has made it quite clear that he does not share the antipathy of many of his compatriots towards tactical kicking and said his team would put boot to ball when circumstances demanded it.
Perhaps because of the dominance of the rugby league code, where possession is sacrosanct, kicking away the ball in the hope of deriving an advantage is one of the most frequently heard criticisms of the 15-man game in Australia.
Michael Cheika, who led the Wallabies to the last two World Cups, decided that tactical kicking was not part of the identity of the Australian game, which he saw as running rugby.
Jones would not have made it through seven years as coach of England without having a more balanced game and said accurate kicking at the right time had always been part of the game.
“We only want to kick to get the ball back. If we kick well, we get the ball back and we’re happy to kick,” he told reporters at a Wallabies training session at Coogee Oval last week.
“If you look at any modern game there is a lot of kicking, if you look at any old game there was a lot of kicking.
“There’s this fascination that rugby is a game where all you do is pass and run. When I played the game, some of the best kickers of the ball were the best runners of the ball.”
While Cheika enjoyed some initial success with his running game and the Wallabies reached the final of the 2015 World Cup, the lack of a kicking option made it easier for opposing defences to stop the Australians as his tenure wore on.
Ireland and France, who top the World Rugby standings, both have excellent tactical kicking games and are favourites to win the World Cup later this year.
Jones will face the first test of his second reign as Wallabies coach when Australia take on world champions South Africa in Pretoria next week.
The Springboks have never been reluctant to kick, particularly on the Highveld at Loftus Versfeld where the altitude helps the ball carry further.
The Rugby Championship opener is the first of five tests for the Wallabies before the World Cup in France, where Jones has promised to launch a “smash-and-grab raid” to bring the trophy back to Australia for the third time.
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