The improvement of the Japan lineout

A look at the improvement in Japan's lineout over the past couple of years under the coaching of former England lock Steve Borthwick, which has become easily the most efficient of any Tier 2 nations.

There has been some recognition for the improvement of the Japanese scrum over the past year, at least among those who have watched their matches anyway, even if some media who've likely never seen them recently are writing it down as a weakness in some RWC previews.

Japan coach Steve Borthwick going through a lineout drill.

But what hasn't had so much recognition is how the lineout has also improved following Eddie Jones' bringing in Steve Borthwick to the coaching setup, the same time as Marc dal Maso. Initially just part time as a consultant in November 2012, Borthwick continued to work with the side since, joining the staff full time straight after retiring from playing.

Back in June 2013, in The Rugby Paper Jones gave much praise to Borthwick, crediting him for improving the lineout 'drastically' and saying the success had now risen to over 80%.

Since then, looking into the stats over the past 2 years, in matches against top 20 ranked opposition Japan's ball retention at lineout stands at 92%, their ball retention at scrum stands at 93%.

Over just the recent 8 matches in the PNC and RWC warm ups, Japan have retained possession at 85 of 89 lineouts (not including quick lineouts), and 62 of 64 scrums (both lost through free kicks). Unsurprisingly, Jones has been pleased with this, commenting after the Uruguay series where Japan did not lose a single throw that the lineout was 'excellent'.

In addition to much of that set piece ball has been cleanly and efficiently won. Jake Frechette's look at the set piece in the PNC on Rugby Wrap Up showed the Japanese had the cleanest set piece wins of the tournament.

That success at lineout is above what all the other Tier 2 nations have achieved by some distance, most of whom are around the high 70% or low 80% range over the same period. In fact, a few of those nations have lost more lineouts in a single match than Japan over all their 8 matches this year.

Japan's lineout has in turn come with an effective maul. Over their 4 warm up matches, the maul has scored 3 tries, including the match winner in the final minutes this weekend against Georgia where 10 of their 13 points came from maul.

It should have won them the Fiji match late on as well if they had backed it after a series of penalties and a sin bin, only to bizarrely opt for the scrum which although also dominant ate up all the final minutes with resets and penalties, and ended up without the penalty try.

One of the first things Jones said when it came to lineout was a reference to a lack of height in the locks (one of things Japan have always lacked is a 2 metre tall, 120kg giant at lock), and the need for variation as a result.

Japan have compensated for this somewhat with a tall back row, with lineout jumping 1.96 metre forwards picked at 6, and often 4 or so lineout jumping options in the team. Along with that Eddie Jones said Japan have concentrated on working on 'speed, movement and tactical and technical excellence'.

Whilst the match with Georgia last November was one with an high number of scrums (21) and an unusually low number of lineouts (15). The lineout played a bigger role in the recent match this weekend where the were 30 in total. It wasn't a match where the lineout was perfect, but it was again effective and varied.

As this article from lineout coach Greg Mumm explains, just purely lineout ball is different from truly effective lineout ball. Stats can be padded out by the most basic of front lineout ball, which is considerably easier to win, but also to the opposition to defend, and can become predictable to contest if a hooker is not accurate enough to consistently win ball at back.

So the front can be preferable in defensive positions where winning ball is paramount, but less so in attacking positions. And some of the ball won, particularly later in the second half was very good quality possession.

An example of the movement and use of dummy lifters in use is on this clip. On this occasion, the front lifter dummies and runs to the back, then dummies again and the prop Masataka Mikami, who was initially lined up second in the lineout ends up as the front lifter.

This just puts a little confusion and forces the opponent to think about timing of the jump, and Michael Broadhurst ends up being way above the competition allowing for slightly more margin for error from his hooker.

The good attacking ball off the back brings Japan from the 22 metre line to the 5 metre line within 3 phases. From there they got stuck, as they have done repeatedly in that position, but that's for a different topic.

That movement was used twice during the match. The other time was for the match winning maul.

Of course, there are numerous more variants used over the match, in order to keep the opponents guessing, and a few others were used during the match.

These included short lineout, which wasn't that effective attacking wise but made the opposition aware of it.

4 man lineouts, opening up space behind the lineout for the scrum half.

3 man lineouts (note this one didn't actually work as it rare error from Shota Horie in throw not being straight, but point is to show another of the variations).

Those movements, variation in length and throw are helpful for keeping opponents guessing. But the majority are still basic lineouts, with speed and timing key. Such as this ball to the front ...

Or this ball to the back ...

There are dozens of other variations used in terms of different patterns of dummying lifters over this past year, too many to point out. In fact, alongside the basic lineout, there has tended to be a different movement for each game.

Other include this movement that was used for defensive front ball inside their own 22 against Canada. This dummy lift to the centre vs Fiji. Or really simple variations, like a player simply joining the lineout from scrum half as the lifter against Fiji, or a scrum half running into the lineout against Romania (not dissimilar to Richie McCaw's recent try against South Africa).

Japan haven't always had a strong set piece traditionally, and many are erroneously writing it down as a weakness in their RWC preview articles. A dramatically and rapidly improved set piece at both lineout and scrum has been the major positive of Eddie Jones' time in charge.

Their ability in this area has often allowed them to control large amounts of possession, and despite a mixed year, it is the one thing that allows some hope still to remain of picking up a win or two at the World Cup.

It should be noted though, compared to other Tier 2 nations Japan have more time together and more training with coaches (although can't deliver the match experience their competitors get at a higher level). Possibly a drill based rugby culture has meant they've been suited to picking up the training quickly in this area of the game.

Unfortunately whilst the set piece has been superb these past 2 years. There are numerous other issues to be sorted. These include the wide defence on the wings and some really soft tries they've conceded, poor game management and decision making. And they have also been obliterated at the breakdown, conceding more turnovers and penalties at rucks than perhaps any other.

Meanwhile there are question marks as to whether the efficient set piece will be maintained after Eddie Jones departs, Borthwick departs, along with possibly others from his staff. Much will depend on who the JRFU appoint as his successor continue the work done.