Where rugby defences and Dennis Rodman converge IT CUTS so quick in the edit that it feels like Dennis Rodman is picking up pace as he describes his bewitching ability to collect rebounds on the basketball court. “I’d just sit there and react, react,” Rodman says in one episode of The Last Dance, a Netflix documentary series chronicling the exploits of the powerhouse Chicago Bulls side of the Nineties, a team led by the irrepressible Michael Jordan. In the latter stretch of the team’s run they had Rodman – a colourful character whose antics belied an athlete who made a science of reading the flight of the ball and traumatising attackers. Explaining how he honed his instincts, Rodman explains that he would get friends to throw ball after ball at the backboard, from different positions. He adds: “I just practised a lot about the angle of the ball and the trajectory of it. You got a Larry Bird, it’s gonna spin. You got a Magic (Johnson), it’ll maybe spin. When Michael (Jordan) shoot over here, I position myself right there. “Now it hit the rim, it’s boom. Click, go back this way” – as jerking hand movements come in – “Boom, here, here. Click, go that way. Boom, that way. Click here, this way. So basically I just start learning how to put myself in a position to get the ball.” There is an art to being in the right place at the right time. Do it in attack in any sport and you are painted the hero. But do so in defence – especially in rugby – and nuance can be lost; the artistry missed. See a walloping hit, a timely rip, a much-needed turnover and often we ignore the steps preceding the incident. Defence can be a savage dance, but we often only laud the last brutal movement. On the court, Bulls coach Phil Jackson found the maniac he could trust, writing of Rodman in his book Eleven Rings that: “Dennis played the game with such wild enthusiasm that he soon became a fan favourite. People loved to watch him hustle for loose balls and pull down rebounds to ignite fast breaks.” In rugby, there are plenty of untamed characters prowling along defensive lines. “Jacques Burger was obviously known for the big hits and the venom in his tackles,” ex-Scotland and Saracens flanker Kelly Brown says of his former team-mate. “And that was a big part of it because he was very aggressive in the contact. But a lot of it was down to his anticipation. He knew where to get to in the defensive line so it would give him a chance to make these hits. “His timing in the collision was very, very good. You get someone like Jonny Wilkinson, for example – he is not a big man, but he could smash people and a lot of it is down to timing. “The power in the collision comes from your feet, through your legs, up … Continue reading Where rugby defences and Dennis Rodman converge