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#Post#: 151016--------------------------------------------------
Kick chasing
DIR By: never sleep
Date: March 16, 2026, 6:53 am
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Watching the u20's yesterday and one area that England were
really coming out 2nd best was in the kick chasing of box kicks.
Basically, Friday was putting up box kicks that looked like they
were competitive. (He seems to have a very good kicking game).
But the England chasers seemed to insist on jumping and trying
to tap the ball back rather than catch it.
But - generally, we either knocked on - or France just left a
player in an offside position ready to contest the knocked back
ball. (I think that France once gave away a penalty as they had
knocked on rather than England tapping back).
During the 2nd half, Noah Caluori changed his approach and
started trying to catch and seemed to have far more success.
So why is there this approach to tap back the ball rather than
catch it?
To me, it seems a worse than 50/50 chance of success.
I would be interested to know if there are any stats regarding
this area.
#Post#: 151018--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: FrostAndFire
Date: March 16, 2026, 7:07 am
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I don't know the stats, but I tend to agree with you. There was
a period when tapping back seemed to work. But the moment other
teams figured it out and put players around the jumping player,
the tap back became too much of a gamble.
#Post#: 151022--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: Yareet
Date: March 16, 2026, 7:56 am
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Isn't it just that it's easier to tap back rather than catch -
you only need the finger tips of one hand rather than a whole
hand/both hands?
As you say, now that teams leave players ready to pick up the
crumbs, it's much more of a lottery than it was but I'd imagine
that coaches will soon find a way to remove that balance.
#Post#: 151026--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: never sleep
Date: March 16, 2026, 8:06 am
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You would think that it is easier to knock it back rather than
catch.
But, I think the issue is that due to the momentum of the run,
you have to knock it back hard - otherwise it will travel
forward at the same velocity as the runner and be a knock on.
The laws for knock-ons are different that passing. (i.e. Passing
is okay to go forward if the player passes backwards relative to
his velocity).
Hence it feels like a knock on is always a likely outcome.
The other issue is that if the kicker only kicks forward 10m and
the jumper manages to get up in the air and give it a hefty
whack backwards, then you really haven't gained much.
In my head, the risk doesn't match the reward.
#Post#: 151028--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: RodneyRegis
Date: March 16, 2026, 8:47 am
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Speaking of which, taking Friday off was a great idea. Similar
to Marcus in the 2024 AIs, he stays on we win that.
#Post#: 151034--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: dinsdale
Date: March 16, 2026, 9:37 am
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--- Quote from: Yareet link ---
>
> Isn't it just that it's easier to tap back rather than catch -
you only need the finger tips of one hand rather than a whole
hand/both hands?
>
> As you say, now that teams leave players ready to pick up the
crumbs, it's much more of a lottery than it was but I'd imagine
that coaches will soon find a way to remove that balance.
>
--- End Quote ---
You also reduce your chance of knocking on.
NZ used to do this frequently and part of Eddie Jones's tactics
when we beat NZ in the 2019 world cup was sending Curry past the
receiver on kicks to interfere with this - successfully.
#Post#: 151035--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: never sleep
Date: March 16, 2026, 10:08 am
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--- Quote from: dinsdale link ---
>
> You also reduce your chance of knocking on.
>
--- End Quote ---
Yes - this is what you would expect.
But - I don't think that it is true in practice.
I would love to see some stats regarding the frequency of
knock-ons.
#Post#: 151036--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: never sleep
Date: March 16, 2026, 10:47 am
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ChatGPT suggests that the best kicks are: (***my comments
are in brackets)
With a Hang time: ~4.4 seconds
Distance: ~10–20 metres forward
~45–56% of box kicks produced a “positive outcome” for the
kicking team depending on distance and hang time.
Even though the kicking team only regains the ball about 15–20%
of the time (I guess that the other 20%-30% are defer
knock-ons, etc)
The tactic still works because:
Possession is fragile anyway (most teams randomly lose
possession after 5.4 phases)
Territory improves.
Errors are forced.
Defences become disorganised.
#Post#: 151040--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: JammyGit
Date: March 16, 2026, 11:19 am
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I asked a pigeon and it said that most players probably prefer
to try and tap it because if they go to catch it and get it even
slightly wrong they tackle the opponent in the air
#Post#: 151046--------------------------------------------------
Re: Kick chasing
DIR By: never sleep
Date: March 16, 2026, 2:05 pm
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But, that doesn't make sense either.
A lot of players turn their body on the air so that they have
their backs to the oppo. This could lead to more yellow/red
cards due to duty of care for not looking at the opposition
jumper.
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