The Blitz defence is a defensive method used in sports including

American Football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

Rugby union

Origins

It was brought to prominence by

Shaun Edwards Shaun Edwards, OBE (born 17 October 1966) is an English rugby union coach and former rugby league player, who is the defence coach for the France national team. A or , Edwards is the most decorated player in rugby league history, with 37 win ...

, the head coach of London Wasps. In many ways, the blitz is similar to the defence used in

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

which can be explained by Edwards's background in that code.

Method

In a blitz defence the whole defensive line moves forward towards their markedman as one as soon as the ball leaves the base of a ruck or

maul A maul may refer to any number of large hammers, including: * War hammer, a medieval weapon * Post maul, a type of sledgehammer * Spike maul, railroad hand tool * Splitting maul, heavy wood-splitting tool resembling both axe and hammer People * A ...

. The charge is usually led by the

inside centre In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

.{{Cite web, url=https://www.rugbycoachweekly.net/rugby-drills-and-skills/defence/pros-and-cons-of-drift-and-blitz-defence-in-rugby, title=Pros and cons of drift and blitz defence in rugby, website=Rugby Coach Weekly The idea of this technique is to prevent the attacking team gaining any ground by tackling them behind the gain line and forcing interceptions and charged-down kicks. However, the defending team can be vulnerable to chip kicks and any player breaking the defensive line will have much space to play because the defence are running the other way and must stop, turn and chase.

Historical record

The blitz defence paid dividends for London Wasps with the team winning the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

in 2003-04 and 2006–07, the Premiership title in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008 and the

Anglo-Welsh Cup The Anglo-Welsh Cup (), was a cross-border rugby union knock-out cup competition that featured the 12 Premiership Rugby clubs and the four Welsh regions. It was a created as a replacement for the RFU Knockout Cup, which featured only English clubs ...

in 2006. Not only this, but this style of defence played a significant role in the

2008 Six Nations The 2008 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2008 RBS 6 Nations because of sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the ninth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, the 114th series of the international championship. Fifteen ...

Grand Slam for the Welsh national team, who conceded only two tries over five games.

American football

The term blitz defence is a defensive play in

, where the defence players (usually

Linebackers Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

) pile forward against the offensive line ''en masse'' in the hope of tackling the

Quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

while he is still in possession of the ball.

References

External links

Shaun in Defensive Mode
Rugby union terminology