Interesting article in the Telegraph.
Ronan O'Gara has ditched ruck pragmatism for KBA risk as La Rochelle lead a razzle-dazzle revolution in the northern hemisphere
If the views of Ronan O’Gara, La Rochelle’s head coach, offer any glimpse into the direction in which rugby is heading, then we should all be popping the antiemetics, buckling up and holding on for dear life. Last year might have been one of the most dispiriting, turgid 12-month stints in rugby memory – mirroring the wider mood of a pandemic-hit planet – but after O'Gara's post-match comments on Friday night, rugby might just have started to turn a corner.
“We're trying to get speed on the ball and keep it alive," the former Ireland and Munster fly-half told BT Sport after his side defeated Gloucester in the Champions Cup last 16. "There's a risk with that but you have to weigh up the risk and the reward... but that's the beauty of the game.
“I think there's a massive ruck focus in the northern hemisphere and then when you go to the Crusaders it's ‘KBA’ - keep ball alive."
O'Gara spent two seasons with the Crusaders in 2018 and 2019, winning two Super Rugby titles, and the KBA ethos that he picked up has seen him develop into a cultured coach on the Bay of Biscay, shedding his playing reputation of a pragmatic, skilful fly-half with the sharpest game management but who was not famed for a penchant for expansive rugby.
O'Gara thrust KBA into English rugby’s consciousness last week, but it is not an initialism that has been recently coined. It is New Zealand rugby's "bread and butter", according to Glenn Delaney, the Kiwi head coach at Scarlets.
"KBA has been around for a while," Delaney tells Telegraph Sport. "The idea of keeping the ball alive is the foundation of a continuity-based attack where, if you don’t take a breakdown, then the defence never gets a chance to reset. So you’re always attacking in the ascendancy.
"Every attack coach will always want to keep the ball alive and never slow the play down. If you’re not setting a breakdown then there’s never an offside line, so the defence have no reference point on which to set.
"Defence coaches want breakdowns, offside lines and order, whereas attack coaches are trying to keep the game as unstructured as possible. KBA is probably the best tool with which to do that."
An appreciation for KBA is one that, in New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, is chiselled from the grassroots up.
"They will have been brought up playing a lot of touch rugby," Delaney adds. "And in touch you have to keep the ball alive because if you don’t then you have to stop.
"Ball sports with the hand are really important. Players in the UK often have a football bias – like my two sons, who play football. I can’t – I’m terrible, hopeless! But I grew up playing volleyball, basketball, cricket – sports with your hands – and when you’ve built up that hand-eye coordination and dexterity that adds to skill sets."
While KBA is a handy tool, it is one that still requires some sharpening. The primitive talent of La Rochelle's Fijian centre Levani Botia, who seemed to be beating Gloucester almost single-handedly at times, is all well and good, but giving these jewels licence to play must still trickle down from the top, from O’Gara.
If the views of Ronan O’Gara, La Rochelle’s head coach, offer any glimpse into the direction in which rugby is heading, then we should all be popping the antiemetics, buckling up and holding on for dear life. Last year might have been one of the most dispiriting, turgid 12-month stints in rugby memory – mirroring the wider mood of a pandemic-hit planet – but after O'Gara's post-match comments on Friday night, rugby might just have started to turn a corner.
“We're trying to get speed on the ball and keep it alive," the former Ireland and Munster fly-half told BT Sport after his side defeated Gloucester in the Champions Cup last 16. "There's a risk with that but you have to weigh up the risk and the reward... but that's the beauty of the game.
“I think there's a massive ruck focus in the northern hemisphere and then when you go to the Crusaders it's ‘KBA’ - keep ball alive."
O'Gara spent two seasons with the Crusaders in 2018 and 2019, winning two Super Rugby titles, and the KBA ethos that he picked up has seen him develop into a cultured coach on the Bay of Biscay, shedding his playing reputation of a pragmatic, skilful fly-half with the sharpest game management but who was not famed for a penchant for expansive rugby.
O'Gara thrust KBA into English rugby’s consciousness last week, but it is not an initialism that has been recently coined. It is New Zealand rugby's "bread and butter", according to Glenn Delaney, the Kiwi head coach at Scarlets.
"KBA has been around for a while," Delaney tells Telegraph Sport. "The idea of keeping the ball alive is the foundation of a continuity-based attack where, if you don’t take a breakdown, then the defence never gets a chance to reset. So you’re always attacking in the ascendancy.
"Every attack coach will always want to keep the ball alive and never slow the play down. If you’re not setting a breakdown then there’s never an offside line, so the defence have no reference point on which to set.
"Defence coaches want breakdowns, offside lines and order, whereas attack coaches are trying to keep the game as unstructured as possible. KBA is probably the best tool with which to do that."
An appreciation for KBA is one that, in New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, is chiselled from the grassroots up.
"They will have been brought up playing a lot of touch rugby," Delaney adds. "And in touch you have to keep the ball alive because if you don’t then you have to stop.
"Ball sports with the hand are really important. Players in the UK often have a football bias – like my two sons, who play football. I can’t – I’m terrible, hopeless! But I grew up playing volleyball, basketball, cricket – sports with your hands – and when you’ve built up that hand-eye coordination and dexterity that adds to skill sets."
While KBA is a handy tool, it is one that still requires some sharpening. The primitive talent of La Rochelle's Fijian centre Levani Botia, who seemed to be beating Gloucester almost single-handedly at times, is all well and good, but giving these jewels licence to play must still trickle down from the top, from O’Gara.
"The coaches have to enhance this philosophy by putting guys in situations in training that help them to build the confidence to express their skills, but the players have to have a baseline ability in order to do that," Delaney says. "And when you get those things combining, you can play an exciting game."
Tasked with trying to stop it this weekend is Alex Sanderson's Sale. The Sharks hammered Delaney's Scarlets to qualify for their first Champions Cup quarter-final since 2006. Their reward? A trip to the Stade Marcel-Deflandre on Saturday to dance with O'Gara's KBA cabal.
"KBA... thanks Ronan – we’re using that this week," Sale's director of rugby says. "How do you combat it? Well you can’t keep the ball alive if you’re going backwards. It’s impossible to offload if you’re facing your own try line. We have to own the gainline through our line speed and then win that physical battle.
"It’s so difficult to focus on one or two when they have power and offloading ability across the board. We have this thing here called ‘shark bait’, where we look to target a few players who give teams momentum. Well, half the team is ‘shark bait’ this weekend – but you can’t go after half the team. You have to look to bang everyone – all the time.
"But is there any other team in the Premiership who is more suited to matching them physically, bar us? I don't believe there is."
If physical dominance is the key to stopping La Rochelle's KBA modus operandi, then God help the rest of Europe if Sale's juggernauts fail. And should O'Gara's side qualify for their first ever European semi-final this weekend, there would be no greater validation of his grand designs for a northern hemisphere rugby revolution.
Topic: 'Keep Ball Alive': The phrase that is rugby's new mantra (Read 1440 times)
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