To understand the journey, you need to return to its starting point. When Warren Gatland took over as Wales head coach in late 2007, he found a group of players not fit enough, in many cases not big enough, and, as a whole, in desperate need of clear direction.
They were a group that needed leadership not leeway. In short they needed to be told what to do.
So it is probably little surprise that a game plan that has since been christened “Warrenball” was the result. It involved players getting bigger, getting fitter (remember those legendary trips to Spala in Poland that Wales used to undertake?) and having clear directives.
It worked nicely. Grand slams were won, and we should not forget how far Wales went in the World Cup in 2011. They lost their semi-final to France by a point, despite playing for much of the game with 14 men. You would have fancied them against a petrified New Zealand in the final.
But here is the interesting thing. Much of Gatland’s style of play for Wales was developed on the British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2009 when he was an assistant to Ian McGeechan. The pair were previously together at Wasps. As McGeechan has said: “We think the same way and we develop teams in a similar way.”
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Funny how “Geech” was never disparaged for the way his teams played. For “Warrenball” is a disparaging term, coined by a coach, Brian Smith, whose paltry palmarès pale into insignificance against Gatland’s grand slams, European Cups and a Lions series triumph in 2013. It is easy to see why Gatland was miffed yesterday. The Lions’ lacklustre showing in their first game of the tour was little to do with the style of play, much more to do with lassitude, looseness and imprecision.
One of the better responses to a question about “Warrenball” was Jamie Roberts’ “I don’t know what that is, pal,” in New Zealand last year. Roberts became synonymous with the term, with his hard running from inside centre getting Wales over the gainline. He did it rather well for the Lions too.
In 2009 McGeechan reckoned that Roberts and Brian O’Driscoll were the best centre partnership in the world. And when asked to propose one modern player from each country for the cover of his recent book on the Lions, McGeechan chose Roberts from Wales. It is not just Gatland, you see.
Huge men running hard at the defensive line is the way of the modern game. You get over the gainline early and attacking becomes much simpler. Front-foot ball is the key.
Different sides do it in different ways. England have used the No 8 Billy Vunipola to great effect in recent times to do it, while Wales and Roberts have been stymied by opposition not conceding lineouts in their own half, from which Wales traditionally let Roberts loose. Wales’s game has suffered accordingly. They do not have others who take on such a huge workload, but it was noticeable that probably their finest performance of recent times — albeit in defeat against England this year — was characterised by the likes of Ross Moriarty and Jake Ball carrying like never before.
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It is also why they would like wing George North to be involved a lot more.
And that is why Eddie Jones was recently bemoaning England’s lack of size in the back line. He is worried that opponents will work his side out, just as they have Wales. He is looking for other options to get over that gainline. Ben Te’o, the centre, may provide one.
Rivals on ‘Warrenball’
It involves very big, extremely powerful players taking the ball round the edges and equally big, powerful wings making dents infield at a high-tempo set from half back.
Brian Smith, former England attack coach, said in 2013
My worry is that we could see a group of players stretching themselves in the provincial games, and then the Test team reverting to type with a variation of Warrenball. If they go for the latter approach they will lose.
Shane Horgan, former Ireland and Lions wing, said last month
They are looking to attack like Wales, with big gainline runners, not much ball movement. You’ll struggle to beat the All Blacks like that.
Eddie Jones, England head coach, said last month
Every team he’s coached has played the same way so I can’t see why he would change now.
Steve Hansen, New Zealand coach, said last month
Of course, Gatland’s game plan involved multiple phases across the field, going the same way until the touchline had been reached, with his front five forwards going around the corner at each ruck, and then repeating until a mismatch appeared on the way back.
That is now redundant as the pace of the game, sharpness of the breakdown work and slickness of the front five’s handling have moved on considerably. This is mainly as a result of enhanced fitness. Until recently a lock would clock on average 65 to 70 “high-speed metres” — distance covered at more than 5.6 metres per second — in a game. In Wales’s second Test in New Zealand last year Alun Wyn Jones ran 285 metres.
Gatland knows all this. Indeed the last time Warrenball was in action was probably the Lions’ third Test in Australia in 2013.
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Wales did not try to play Warrenball in New Zealand last year. There was pace in their game. Some of their counterattacking was sublime. But they ran out of puff, and their decision-making in the last 20 minutes suffered.
How you use front-foot ball is, of course, crucial and it is no coincidence that Gatland’s Wales have probably attacked best with the more intuitive Rhys Priestland at fly half. Get over the gain line, quick ball, use it smartly. That’s what the Lions will be looking to do. It sounds simple. But it’s not, just like Warrenball wasn’t.
