So why do teams kick so much in modern rugby? 

This video is silently sponsored by Faf De Klerk and Springbok management.

this is fantastic. why have i had to wait through 10 years of commentators bemoaning 'kick tennis' for someone to stand up and explain what is actually going on? i genuinely think this video might transform my appreciation of the game. thank you!

"Haha, that pitch looks a lot like ours in that aerial footage. And those jerseys. And the opponent's jerseys. Wait, what is going on?!?!?" Well, being featured on a Squidge Rugby video is definitely our greatest achievement so far! Thanks for throwing in some grassroots rugby from the northernmost club in Finland!

The fact you have made a 24 minute video on how kicking isn’t boring is just fantastic

Interesting how France focuses on precision as they have two of best kickers, but South Africa focuses on disorder as they have the 2 of the best chasers. This video was massively enlightening, thanks!

When I was learning rugby as a teenager at Cartha Queens Park in Glasgow in the early 90s we were sometimes invited to go down to the club on hot Saturdays in summer for kicking practice. I was a big lumpy lock but it was for everyone. You weren't allowed to run, only walk; you could only kick from where you picked up or caught the ball. The idea was to push the other team back until you could kick it over their goal line. Only many years later did I realise the genius of what I thought was just a fun pastime for days too hot for training. Our appreciation for the tactical kicking game, for where to find holes and how to plug your own, was excellent. I've no idea if other clubs did this but I think it was indicative of how Cartha moved up several tiers in the following couple of decades, to the second tier where they stand today.

Seriously appreciate how much work you put into making every aspect of rugby enjoyable! All the commentators and pundits should watch this, and then add a kicking coach to their teams.

Since finding this channel, I have completely changed from some that doesn't like kicking to someone that now would kick at every opportunity

I love how Squidge mixes both guys and girls game in his videos. Also i learned a lot with this one. I can also confim that Galthié first reason for selecting his 15 is the length and quality of the player's kick (Jaminet, Ramos...).

Would love to see more content like this. It really helps further my own knowledge of rugby

Well explained. I used to play rugby 28,29 years ago but i was crap. You made that make a lot of sense, so as i watch a 6n game over 3hrs youve allowed me, and other numpties like me comprehend what we are watching. Thanks again Sir. m

A great explanation video! Here’s a relevant example from recently: In our tag rugby league I’m recognised as ‘the kicker’. There was this one game where we were on last play, and the ball gets passed to me. The defender shouts ‘He’s going to kick and chase it’ (which I had been planning on doing) except half their team drops back to cover the backfield, leaving their defensive line with more holes than swiss cheese! Easiest 50meter dash I ever made, simply because they knew we could kick!

it takes a special kind of talent to combine this much insight into such a well edited package. not only is the info critical, but the rhythm of the cut used to deliver it. smashing.

I feel kicking has a bad connotation to it because 10-15 years ago, a lot of kicking was kind of aimless. (same way the topic of the breakdown was dull until...) in the last few years its been properly looked at and strategized so that each kick has a defined purpose. Loved this video, really does enough to explain just how important kicking has become (always was) and how to better realise what kicks we're seeing happen in the game and the likely aim the kicker is trying to achieve.

I have been watching this channel for a number of years. This is the first time I have commented; absolutely fantastic work. Well done Squidge. The idea of educating casual fans to enjoy something that is often maligned is a tight rope of a topic. You nailed it! Great job!

Was fully expecting to see Ntamack's in goal bit of magic in this video. Started to worry I wouldn't see it. But Squidge is like Ntamack's hair, always reliable.

It's also difficult to see how "kick tennis" works to the average spectator when the camera pans with the ball and you cannot see positioning of the players sitting back out of frame. Also this is very difficult to train at club level because you will have four props yelling at you after three volleys.

The rugby world needs you more than ever! Please continue with your work! The sport is growing exponentially ❤

Great informative video! Would be nice to have a series on different areas of the game like this. This will be really helpful for introducing rugby to new people

Superb video ! With the new 50-22 rule I always wondered why it wasn't so common in the game ?

Such an amazing insight into the kicking game. You say that this is only scratching the surface but I would love for you to gouge your way through any subjects like this that you can. You're making the game more accessable and enjoyable to the viewer, thank you.

All right, here goes. I've enjoyed most of your videos, and this one was long overdue. As a casual but passionate rugby fan, I had not much of an idea of the importance and real impact of kicking, and now I think I'm beginning to get it. I actually found myself trying to analyze the kicking in the France - Ireland, Wales - Scotland and England - Italy games (can't wait for your input on that so I can compare it with my own xD). Thanks mate, you gave me a whole new appreciation for the game I love ! ^^

Honestly really well presented, as someone who actually plays rugby professionally it’s hard to explain to family and friends what’s happening why kicking important. And as a prop people have a similar view on scrums so thank you for making it easier to understand!

GREAT VIDEO, loved it. Especially (as an italy fan) the quick analisis of the kick against Australia (Lamaro is great ).

It should be a requirement for every dad/pub man to watch this video before the WC

Fab video. Love the old offloads and all, but a great kicking tussle is great too. But will definitely be keeping an eye out for some of the things you pointed out. Its going to enhance my watching for sure. Well done - your videos are great, but i thought this one was particularly so.

I don't get why people think kicking is boring because I personally find it very entertaining. Only time I don't like kicking is when it's constantly going back and forth for like 5 minutes but otherwise I'm pretty cool with it

Please keep making videos focused on tactics alongside the team and match reviews!

This was absolutely great. Really cool to see something you've mentioned a bunch in your other videos fleshed out a covered in details. Would love to see more like this! Keep up the good work Squidge

the hatred for kicking has always confused me

This was great! I would love to watch more of these breakdowns. You explain it so well!!

Thank you for this. I really enjoyed last weekend's Six Nations matches. I'm an American with limited exposure to rugby. Without quite knowing why, I don't enjoy watching Rugby League. You're videos have helped me realize what a casual viewer like me suspected already, there's far more strategy going on in rugby union. I'll be watching next weekend's matches with a more educated eye, though surely will miss much.

What perfect timing to come across this video! I really don't know much about rugby but I had on on tv the other day because why not it is always interesting to watch when I don't know really what is going on. There was a moment I was watching when for like two minutes straight the guys in the back field kept kicking it back to each other and that just made no sense to me why they kept doing that. After watching this video I understand what was happening there much better and has boosted my interest in the sport more because I understand the strategy a little bit more thank you!

Well explained, far too much hate for kicking which has always been a part of the game, what I love about rugby and which sets it above football for me is that there is so much going on in rugby and so many important parts of the game, kicking being one of them!

Awesome job Squidge! Please keep the strategy and tactics coming. Not just for viewers but for the casual players as well

Great video, love it when the videos are about tactics of the game and are more than a review of the latest international fixture. A lot of work goes into this. Its great to see your intellect for the game on show, reason I started watching this channel.

Thank you. I have always wondered why so much kicking.

Thank you for explaining this . I love rugby, have for 20 years, but you have blown my mind on how much more is going on. Hope I can appreciate the coming games more with your teachings Professor Squidge.

A brilliant paradox, being that this is an example of a great breakdown about the kicking game.

The kicking game is a bit like some WW2 battles, like Midway, where you are trying to understand where your enemy is, where you can project power, and how to get your opponent off balance or at enough of a disadvantage to the point where a well placed shot gets you to your goal. Love your analysis and totally agree about your view on kicking. Instead of 'kick tennis' a smart commentator would start talking about winning that chess match the same way the try to make scrummaging like chess when it's not even checkers - more like Connect 4 to me.

Superb analysis and editing as ever!

Having finally caught up on this video, I was struck by a few things: 1) People complain about kicking in rugby, despite the sport being rugby union *football* 2) Some of those complaints are because of the fruitless kicking that happened late in the amateur era -- the era of 10-man rugby (I'm looking at you, Rob Andrew -- but not exclusively). 3) Modern kicking helps create space, in some of the same ways that the midfield maul and 6-7 man ruck -- and lack of substitutions -- used to 4) There's a comparison between the balance of kicking and running in modern rugby and the balance of running and passing in the gridiron game. In gridiron, pass-heavy teams still need a ground game, or the defense will focus on the receivers; and run-heavy teams need to pass to keep running lanes open. Kicking in modern rugby helps keep the running lanes open for the attack.

Absolutely brilliant, has really improved my appreciation of tactical kicking, Squidge you are the MVP

Good stuff as always. I can't say I'm entirely sold on "Kick Tennis Is Beautiful" but the main point stands repeating; kicking wins rugby matches. I have banged on for years about how the famous RWC99 NVvFRA semi-final is lauded as perhaps the ultimate example of "French flair", when in fact it was ENTIRELY built on kicking, with not a single try-scoring pass involved in France's barrage of 33 unanswered points. Creative, opportunistic tactical kicking rather than a strategic masterplan, but still, a victory for the boot. :-)

Love the content...so much to learn from videos like these. Thanx!

I've always preferred a bit of "kick tennis" to the endless running it and running into a brick wall you often get without kicking. Close range pushover tries, like the ones you mostly see in the Premiership these days have now become the staple of boring rugby, imv.

As an explainer, this is incredible. Top stuff Squidge, I'd love to see more content like this from you.

Amazing as always! Your analysis on South Africa's kick and chase a few years ago greatly increased my enjoyment of watching that tactic. Thank you so much for expanding on this topic, and for all you do to explain the sport without preaching the same old boring rhetoric!

As a french (and Toulouse) fan, I still prefer to see Ramos trying impossible and dumb breakthrough rather than a Jaminet kick as it's much more entertaining. But now I understand well why Jaminet was preferred last year. I consider myself as someone who understand rugby pretty well but this opens a bunch of new perspectives that I never explored before, thanks a lot ! This is a brilliant video, really one of the most interesting one's I've seen on RU-vid.

Great breakdown of the underrated kicking side of RUF and well timed with the WC 2023!

Great vid. As an avid rugby fan I think I knew this but the way you detail it obviously is better then how I could ever articulate it. Well done

You had me at lil' piss boy. Nice one Squidge, keep it up.

Hugely, absolutely massively looking forward to Squidges video on Wales Ireland. Simply cannot wait for it

Great to learn more about this side of the game. Appreciate all the work you put in to your videos. On the subject of kicking, why is so little use made of the drop goal these days, or indeed ever? Seems such a useful way of racking up some points when tries are so hard to come by. Would love to hear your thoughts on that.

Awesome video yet again. Thank u. Best rugby analysis around

Great explainer, thanks Squidge! Very useful for a casual rugby fan, and an excellent antidote to the shit-tier punditry on major broadcasters. I would be all for more of this kind of "video essay"- style content around a central theme rather than (or better: as well as!) the breakdowns of individual games/teams/players.

Great video. Only Australia and NZ hates this kicking game. Cause of the league bias, which actually kick every 6th tackle, lol. Kicking was always at the heart of rugby.

Thank you for another well researched and brilliantly presented piece. At school (1970s) we were forbidden from kicking, I often wonder how much more we’d have had enjoyed the game with a few more options available to us. If memory serves, Michael Cheika followed a similar approach back when he was coaching Oz. One wonders if he’s applying a similar approach today. With him coaching Argentinian, with their often brilliant employment of accurate kicking.

What a great video and explanation, I was coincidentally discussing this with my friend, whilst watching Scotland beat England at the weekend, not a pleasant sight I can tell you.

My favourite part of this video? HAS to be the Squarespace advert. All the little puns and jokes in the footage is perfect.

Please make a video about the late 2000s Bulls.. the way they implemented their kicking game was basically cheat code. The kicking ability of Fourie Du Preez and Morne Steyn, combined with the line out ability of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha was something special.

I play rugby in France and I’d love to share your videos with my teammates but there are no subtitles. Love your videos man keep it up!

Well if ever there was a need for someone to pull back the curtains on the kicking game in rugby...Great job, Squidge. The videos are impeccably put together and are enriching our understanding of the game.

Great one! and yes please, more depth on kicking and other tactics

What we need to make the 'tennis' of the kicking game more exciting is a camera angle from above or behind the try line, like in tennis, or at least zoomed out enough to see the whole pitch. Even Djokovic v Nadal in a GrandSlam final would be considered dull to watch if the camera view was from the side constantly swinging left to right and just tracking the ball.

The integration of ads get me every time 🤣 "Do you know what else he could launch..." 🤣

Great video you help a lot for understanding rugby in to a next level

Love these tactical videos. So good, looking forward to the Six Nations even more now as I understand kicking a wee bit more!

Thank you, your understand of the game is second to non. Now I feel rugby supporters including myself will understand the kicking mind set and the value of kicking in the game much better. You deserve recognition from RWU with your education skills, plus you are just gass/ so funny. I hope you will pick the fruit of success in the Rugby World. Man I go so far that I think Russie should appoint you for marketing :)

Great stuff as per usual Squidge!

genuinely superb work, thanks squidge!

GREAT video Squidge, thank you so much !

its so paramount. As a Sale Sharks fan I greatly appreciate the art. Gus and George are a treat to watch.

I feel the the 50:22 will be huge this RWC and has been sandbagged up to now. We might see more of it in this 6ns.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. With you, A fullback

Brilliant video. Learnt loads!

Thanks for this! Really useful information.

Brilliant, I learned so much about a game I watch a lot. Thanks 🙏🙏

Always love your videos. This was a great insight for me (a filthy casual) I hope you do a review of the French/Italy game round 1. That was a great match. Keep up the good work

Brilliant video. Needs to be watched by every juniors team: 1. So the kicker understands and practices where they need to kick with relative field positions of both teams (and not just kick blindly down the field), and 2. So the piggies don't bash their own kicker for kicking it away all the time. Although I played with a few #10s that would kick every damn time because they were scared of getting tackled - this may not help them...

Nice. Thanks for this, really well explained.

I'd love more content like this !

As always fantastic analysis 👏🏽

amazing as always Squidge!

What makes for the best Rugby is "ball in hands running and passing the ball to "keep it alive moving forwards to the try line"." Rugby League evolved under professionalism for several or more decades before Union and converted to this above form of Rugby. In League you can kick anytime but because of the rules, it's generally for 2 main reasons: 1. 6th Tackle to gain more territory from which the opposition has to run the ball forwards to your try-line 2. Statemate-Breaker on the tryline to put up a 50-50 or wide ball to wing or grubber behind the defensive line to convert more visits to the opponents 10m line from their try-line. 3. This is a modern rule change: 40-20 kick for another set of 6. But again it adds to the game not detracts. Now that's the fundamental difference with RU: RU is kicking simply because running with ball in hand is SO INEFFECTIVE and RISKY with the breakdown for penalties as well as too many players and fresh subs on the pitch meaning there's not enough space while all players are bigger and faster than ever before eg Stewart at full-back is a good eg. This whole video is pure advertising for "putting lipstick on a pig". RU is: 1. Random penalty (more kicking) 2. Kicking contest and hoping for a mistake 3. Breakdown lottery/risk (more penalties) It's a broken rule-set and game design.

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! An absolute masterclass in his to analyse the kicking game. You videos should be staple at grass root levels rugby.

Just watched this video and 10 minutes later the start of the Wales Ireland game, 2min in and Ireland score with a TEXTBOOK rendition of what you said... amazing!

Wow. Thank you for this. Incredible!

Your segues to Squarespace are getting better every video! Genuine lols!

I remember a time when SA were eing hammered for kicking too much, but now surprisingly its key to the game but no credit given to SA for revolutionizing a small part of the game.

Man, you speak fast. You know, you COULD have a little mercy on some of us who are not natural english speakers. GREAT VIDEO!!!

Great video, mate!

these are the videos i need to improve my game. thanks mate!

Amazing video! Interestingly, if World Rugby developed a slightly softer ball that flew half the distance off the boot then teams would be turned off kicking and penalty kicks. But so long as the ball flies so far; kicks are crucial to any teams success.

Good job Squidge - can you do one on the scrum and what modern strategy / technique is now?

This should be required watching for all the commentators who lazily bemoan "kick tennis". Very happy to hear these exchanges referred to as kicking duels more and more often. That is a much more apt characterisation.

Bloody hell that was amazing thank you!

As a newer Rugby fan, i think one of the weak points on the broadcasts is the angle doesn't allow you to see the angle of kicks very easily. They all look roughly down the middle a lot of the time until they land, which can make it difficult to see the players' ideas. Also, the pitch is so damn big that they can't be relatively zoomed in and still be able to see the men that are back deep to see kicking opportunities, they just kind of happen as the players do it so it can be difficult to see as a fan. I think rugby is a sport that is challenged this way, the large playing surface and the spread of the players sometimes make it difficult for the broadcast to capture everything. This is much less of an issue in football because the is rarely kicked 30m+ except on goal kicks and the action can be easily contained in one shot with the players out of that shot playing little importance at the time. For this reason, I've liked sitting on the touchline stands at matches because it lets you really see the strategy on kicking and also the mismatches and overloading

Oh wow you really outdone yourself with this well! 👏

I think the William Webb Chicken joke deserves more appreciation, actuallt a really clever joke.