If you’ve played rugby or football you will be familiar with the phrase, “let the ball do the work”. In football it means you should pass the ball rather than run with it, if possible. Running with the ball takes time and a well-placed pass is more likely to unlock the defence.

In rugby the phrase doesn’t necessarily refer to passing instead of running, but rather to making lots of passes instead of one big looping miss. Every pass fixes an opposition player, so the more you have the better your chances of finding a gap, generally. However this is not always the case and, so it is a question of when is the right time to use a miss pass?

Let’s look at the chronically-misfiring Bath team first. Early on in their game versus Newcastle they were presented with the above situation. There isn’t an overlap here; in fact it’s a three on five, with a Newcastle winger who can’t be seen. The odds are against them. The question to ask is: what is the likely best case scenario here? It is that the miss pass goes to Banahan who cuts the angle depicted and beats the last defender.

The miss pass doesn’t create an overlap but it does give Banahan a one on one opportunity with the Falcons’ player. The Bath winger doesn’t beat his opposite number but he’s in no danger of getting turned over either. Conclusion, a miss-pass turned this 3v5 to a 1v1 – good decision.

Above is an example of when not to use the miss pass. Saracens have a 4v5 against Leicester, but the only way to exploit this is to pass the ball along the line and ‘let the ball do the work’. Instead, Alex Goode flings a miss pass towards Chris Wyles on the wing which is poorly executed and ends up in touch. Would this move have worked well if the pass was executed well?

Let’s look at the same move from above. Here we can see that Wyles has a clear running lane but, because Goode throws a miss pass, the Tigers’ defence drifts over and even if he had caught it he would’ve needed to do a lot to gain any yardage.

What does this mean for the miss pass then? Well, if you have an overlap then you should avoid the miss pass because it allows defenders to easily drift across. It sounds simple, but the amount of times you see professional playmakers butcher an overlap by chucking a cut-out pass is staggering.

If, however, the defenders are more numerous then the miss pass can help exploit a previously unforeseen advantage out wide. It can also be a useful tactic if the defence have blitzed and a shorter pass is therefore cut-off – this is a more difficult skill, however, as the pass tends to need a bit of air-time.

The message to take away is this: if in doubt, let the ball do the work.

By Sam Larner (@SamLStandsUp)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images