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Rising coaching star Nick Evans is a fan of LQB rather than KBA

(Photo by Getty Images)

Former Ireland outside half Ronan O’Gara is getting his La Rochelle team to embrace the concept of Keep Ball Alive (KBA) as they bid for European glory but All Black Nick Evans prefers LQB as he steers Harlequins towards a Gallagher Premiership title challenge.

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Former All Black Evans admires O’Gara’s KBA edict but sees the key to Harlequins success the delivery of Lightning Quick Ball (LQB) which he drums into the players as attack coach, a role that looks certain to take him to the top of the sport. Like O’Gara, Evans is already being tipped for an international coaching role and both men are helping give European rugby an exciting attacking edge supplemented by a clearly defined kicking strategy rather than the aimless kick-tennis that disfigures the game.

Since the departure of Paul Gustard as head of rugby in January the potency of the Quins attack has increased with a different emphasis. Gustard’s area of excellence was defence and it is clear the balance in the team’s play has moved to attack as Evans explained: “There has been a bit more freedom and that is related to the way we train now with a lot of gaining space drills and a lot around off loading to create LQB.

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Brown and Alphonsi guest on The Offload:

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Brown and Alphonsi guest on The Offload:

“With the players we have got, I don’t want to put them in a box and say “in this position you do this”. We have a detailed framework how we want to manipulate teams but we want guys to make decisions on the pitch and create scenarios and to find different solutions. “

Evans dismisses the notion that LQB means running the ball at every opportunity and points to the Premiership statistics that show that while fourth-placed Harlequins are top of the list with 491 points and second behind Exeter with 59 tries, with 2,000 passes they are nearly 600 behind Bristol.

Evans set out his attacking vision for RugbyPass with kicking a key component explaining: “I know that O’Gara has talked about KBA and we have a similar thing with Lightening Quick Ball and our kicking strategy is designed to create something which could force a turnover contest or kick for set-piece so that we can attack their set-piece. All our language around kicking is about attack and our players understand it is part of the game and when we don’t get LQB we have the ability to kick and create.

“If you look at the Premiership statistics we are top in the number of kicks per game. Everyone looks at us and talks about us throwing the ball around and attacking from anywhere but we average 28 kicks a game. Granted some of those are attacking kicks but we have a clear philosophy around our kicking and we are ranked sixth in terms of time in possession of the ball compared to Exeter or Bristol but when we do have the ball we are pretty lethal.”

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Nick Evans
Nick Evans /Getty

Evans has a clarity of thought and good communications skills which underpinned his own playing career that brought 16 All Black caps and allowed him to finish his career with 1656 Premiership points putting him fourth in the all-time list. England scrum half Danny Care has revelled in the attacking game plan Evans has created and sees his former half back partner going all the way as a coach.

Care said: “Nick wants to go to the very top. He’s willing to put in the work, willing to put in the learning, his aspirations are international rugby, I’m sure. Whether that’s back home in New Zealand or over here, I’m sure he’d snap the opportunity up wherever it came. I think he’s really happy as a coach at Quins now, the freedom that he’s given to make our attack tick, he’s loving that freedom.

“He’s a brilliant rugby mind, he always was as a player, he’s the same as a coach. Some of the moves he comes up with are things that I don’t see when I analyse teams, but he sees it. I think he’s a great coach, he’s willing to work hard, hopefully he stays at Quins for a while, but the coaching world is his oyster.”

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Evans is an ambitious coach and while Quins have his full attention, the chance to test himself at international level is a tantalising prospect He added: “It does to appeal to me and it would be silly if I didn’t admit to aspirations higher up the ladder. I am still learning and in the last 10 weeks I have had the most amount of autonomy I have had and feel real comfortable. I enjoy the challenge of putting my stamp on it and giving the players a voice is important and from Wilco Louw to Mike Brown everyone has their thoughts.

“Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming but I have clear ideas of how I see things from my experiences in New Zealand and here at Quins and it teaches you to be adaptable.”

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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