Unders and overs decoy play

A tackler is at their strongest when they are “on square” – front-on to the defender and able to exert maximum force in contact. For this reason, you should find ways to drag a defender or a line of defenders “off square” (see picture 1). As soon as a defender begins to favour one side of their body and turn either out or in, they create a vulnerable shoulder to attack.

The best teams use a combination of “overs” (running away from the pass) and “unders” (running towards the pass) lines to get their opponents to commit one way or the other (see picture 2).

The double unders decoy line

The first objective is to prevent the 12 from moving too far across field towards the point of attack. The unders angles from the attacking backline forces the 12 to stop and square up on them. It is likely that the defending 12 and 13 will be disconnected. The gap has been created (see picture 3 for lines of run).

The overs attacking line from the winger

If both of your centres are running this line, your winger can arrive through the gap.

The exploitation

With the opposition 13 now disconnected from 12, the blindside winger has a chance to inside or outside the 13.