New All Blacks attack coach Mike Blair says that he has worked hard to change the mindset of Kobe players after Sir Wayne Smith\u2019s success at the club.<\/p>\n
Smith has a long association with the Japan Rugby League One club and was a director\/manager at the team when they last won the top division in Japan back in 2019 \u2013 when the tournament was the Top League.<\/p>\n
The former All Blacks assistant, who obviously had a big say on the team\u2019s attacking structures, had Dan Carter running the show that season and the fly-half was named MVP.<\/p>\n
The club now looks on track to possibly end their trophy drought this season under Dave Rennie\u2019s tutelage before he takes on the All Blacks<\/a> head coaching job, and Blair<\/a> has been by his side since the ex-Wallabies boss joined Kobe in 2023.<\/p>\n Getting rid of Wayne Smith\u2019s rule<\/p>\n While Smith<\/a> would have laid a strong foundation for Blair and Rennie to build upon, the Scotsman has revealed that one rule that the attack guru instilled has been a real challenge to overcome and taken almost his entire stint at the Kobelco Kobe Steelers to get rid of.<\/p>\n He disclosed as much as he detailed the difficulty of coaching in Japan as he has had to alter his approach with the players\u2019 skillset differing from that of those in Scotland.<\/p>\n \u201cA big part of our game is how we can structure the defence. So, we talk about turnover ball, creating counter-attacking ball and to do that, you need good jacklers or a defence that\u2019s able to force errors. But equally, you\u2019ve got to kick to the opposition to get them to kick back to you so that you find the unstructured defence as well,\u201d Blair explained on Aotearoa Rugby Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWayne Smith coached Kobe in 2018\/19, I think, when Kobe last won it, and he had a rule that if nines box kicked, then they didn\u2019t play the following week.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I\u2019ve been trying to get rid of that kind of mantra a little bit to make them understand that you\u2019ve got to kick to the opposition to get them to kick back, then break up a defence. That has probably taken almost a whole three years to do that because there has been a resistance to that because Kobe rugby is offloading, playing from your own line, the only kicking that you do would be attacking kicking.<\/p>\n Jason Ryan: What Dave Rennie has \u2018acknowledged\u2019 about the All Blacks pack amid \u2018really clear expectations\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSo that change of philosophy has been difficult, but for me, one of the most interesting parts of being an attack coach or understanding the whole game is understanding the players that you\u2019ve got as well and what suits the players that you\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n \u201cSo for the first year, we had a lighter pack, so we\u2019re able to move the ball around more. Our super strength this year is more the back five, our scrum and our centres. Actually being able to win the gain line and get lightning-quick ball, and then staying on top of the opposition has been more the focus this year.\u201d<\/p>\n