‘You never want to take that away from a player’ – The risk of the offload

We take a look at the issue of offloading and ask ‘when is the right time to offload?’

THERE’S BEEN QUITE a bit of discussion around Simon Zebo’s offload attempt in the build-up to Nick Phipps’ try for Australia against Ireland on Saturday evening in Dublin.
The Irish player in question means it’s arguably been more of a talking point than it might have been if, for example, Tommy Bowe had attempted the same action. Others may point out that Bowe simply wouldn’t have looked to offload in this instance.
First of all, it’s worth looking again at the specific incident, which came in the 18th minute of the first half.

The context here is that Ireland have built a remarkable 17-0 lead at this early stage of the game, setting themselves up encouragingly for the remaining 62 minutes or so.
Robbie Henshaw claims a Johnny Sexton garryowen superbly and sends Ireland back onto the front foot. Zebo is present as first receiver, accepting the pass from Conor Murray and then immediately spotting that Bernard Foley is shooting up in defence.

The Australian out-half’s decision to rush up closes off the direct pre-contact passing option for Zebo to Sexton on his left, but it absolutely opens up space in behind Foley, exactly the gap that Zebo spots.
The 24-year-old wing stretches out a right hand as he is tackled by Matt Toomua, attempting to release the ball behind Foley’s back. Unfortunately, the Australia out-half has already turned back downfield and manages to get a hand to the ball………………this article is supported by video and images to see more got to :- http://www.thescore.ie/simon-zebo-offload-ireland-australia-1798711-Nov2014/