England are kicking more than any team in the Six Nations. Is it working?

The forwards start caterpillaring at the back of the ruck. Alex Mitchell scrapes the ball to the back while the referee shouts, “Use it!” The fans know what comes next …

It goes without saying that a successful sports team needs a clear gameplan; tactics agreed before kick-off and refined on the training ground to provide a blueprint for victory. Teams also need to be able to adapt to what the opposition are doing and how a match evolves.

For England, kicking has long been a fundamental part of their strategy, used to gain territorial advantage, force errors and create attacking opportunities by piercing defensive lines. But how, where, and when are they deploying this approach in the Six Nations? And, crucially, is it working?

Kick, rinse, repeat

After three rounds of action, England have put boot to ball 120 times in open play. That’s 20 more times than any other side and almost 50 more times than Scotland (71), who have kicked the least of any nation.

England have opted to kick 16.4% of the time when presented with the choice to carry, pass or kick, the highest percentage of any team. Conversely, they opt to pass in such scenarios just 50.5% of the time – the lowest rate of any team in the Six Nations.

Location-wise, they show no hesitation in kicking even after advancing into attacking positions. Fifteen of their 120 kicks have come after crossing the opposition’s 10-metre line, the highest total in the tournament. Scotland, by contrast, have done so just twice.

Unboxing England’s tactics

The box kick has been England’s primary weapon, accounting for 44 of their 120 kicks. A further 12 have been bombs/Garryowens/up and unders (delete depending on your preferred nomenclature).

But their kicking arsenal is varied, featuring chips, crossfield kicks, grubbers and a significant number of territorial punts.

When teams choose to kick, they typically have three goals: relieve pressure, gain territory, or retain possession and create an attacking platform.

Generally speaking, when teams use high kicks – like a bomb or a box kick – the aim is to regain the ball, either directly or indirectly by forcing an error. Despite their willingness to employ these kicks, though, England have a pretty low retention rate (11%). Only France have a lower retention rate (8%), with leaders Ireland way out front on 21%.

For reference England managed a 26% retention rate at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the second-best rate of any side to make the knockout stages (Argentina, 29%).

A box-kicking heavy gameplan can frustrate fans, particularly when it appears England are simply handing possession back to the opposition and turning down the chance of playing attacking rugby with ball in hand.

The effectiveness of such a tactic is heavily reliant on the quality of both the kick and the chase. Mistakes in either can lead to dull passages of “kick tennis” that quickly turn the crowd off.

But the data supports why England persist, and it will be the numbers that the players focus on, not the noise in the stadium. For those doubting why England (and other sides) persist with high kicks, there are a couple of numbers that might help.

In this year’s Six Nations, the average metres gained from a retained bomb/box kick is 19.8m. And that’s just for the kick itself, without taking into account the additional metres gained (6.7m on average) that likely ensue as a team attacks a jumbled defence.

Compare that to the average of 12.9m gained for possessions that don’t end in kicks and England’s approach starts to make some sense.

England have also been effective with their territorial kicking, finding space with regularity. Just 21% of their territorial kicks have been caught on the full, a figure bettered only by Italy. Additionally, 18 of their 39 long-range kicks have found touch. The combination of these two highlights that England do not give their opponents easy ball to run back at them in space.

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One speciality kick England have clearly worked on in this Six Nations has been their low kicks, looking to get in behind opposition defences and create try-scoring chances where otherwise they might be running into a brick wall.

Their propensity for these types of kicks is highlighted by the fact that 10 different England players have accounted for their 19 grubbers. Everyone is having a go, including a couple of forwards!

Unfortunately, similar to their high-ball retention rates, their execution has again been lacking. Their retention rate of 16% is well below the other three sides to attempt 10+ such kicks (France 44%, Ireland 27%, Italy 18%), meaning more often than not they are giving away the ball in attacking scenarios. It’s worth saying, though, that the reward of retaining a grubber is really high, with successful outcomes often leading to a try if not at least a line break.

Guess who

Unsurprisingly, Alex Mitchell has been the main protagonist with the boot for England. He has been responsible for 38% of the team’s total kicks so far. The scrum-half averages 17.5 kicks per 80 minutes for England in the Six Nations, compared to just 12 per 80 at Northampton this season.

His 36 box kicks further highlight a significant shift in his role for the national side. He box kicks 14 times per 80 minutes for England and just 8.7 times for Saints.

Although it is the players that ultimately make the decisions on the field, it is clear that these tactics are pre-planned. Ultimately, England’s approach is no surprise. It mirrors the tactics Steve Borthwick used while leading Leicester to the Premiership title the 2021-22 campaign, putting the flourishes on a CV that secured him the England job.

That Leicester side built their success around kicking. They averaged 35.7 kicks in play per game, six more than any other side, and 15 more than all of Bath, Exeter and Bristol, none of whom even made the playoffs.

Territorial kicking was more critical to that gameplan, with Leicester making 2.5 more such kicks per game than other side. Despite that, they still ranked second for grubbers (3.1) and box kicks/bombs (13.5).

All coaches have their go-to strategies, and for Borthwick, kicking is a fundamental pillar of his game model. It can be divisive among fans and the media, but if it can deliver positive results like it has in this Six Nations, don’t expect there to be a shift away from it anytime soon.

This is an article by Nick Bentley for Opta Analyst

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