The forwards are clearly on top and producing lots of ball but the team isn’t making progress - the backs just don’t seem to be able to penetrate - What’s going wrong?

Could it be that the out-half has caught the dreaded stepitis?

Stepitis: Temporary (mental?) affliction affecting half-backs and especially out-halves at all levels.
Symptoms: Delay in execution after receiving the ball usually indicated by the sufferer taking a few unnecessary steps before passing or kicking. Confirmation of the onset of this condition can be achieved by counting the steps the half takes before moving the ball. More than two steps after every reception provides strong grounds for belief that a severe case exists.

Etiology: Like the ‘yips’ in golf this condition may be caused by ‘trying too hard’; differs from the ‘yips’crucially in that the sufferer is rarely aware of the affliction.

The most common cause seems to be that the sufferer is concentrating on some secondary aspect of his or her game and has lost sight of the crucial need to make his or her decision before receiving the ball - and preferrably well before - so that the best option can be chosen. May be a symptom of pressure-induced anxiety which commonly exacerbates the condition. In theses cases the pressure may be self-induced.

In scrum-halves stepitis is most likely the result of poor technique - they simply haven’t been taught to pass off the ground so they stand up with the ball and then have to make a step before they can pass!

The problem with stepitis is that it diminishes the ability of the entire backline to execute by robbing the second receiver (and hence all subsequent receivers) of both space and time. Centres have to have both space and time to make their strikes but every step the out-half takes effectively reduces the space between the centre and his marker by two crucial yards! What’s worse is that consistently receiving ball and defending tackler simultaneously has been shown to severely reduce the enthusiasm of most centres.

Treatment: The malady often responds immediately to a few well-chosen words from the coach or a senior player. However, in the case of particularly arrogant or self-absorbed players it may become a chronic condition and effectively defy treatment. This is usually accompanied by a ‘loss of form’ and sudden demotion.

Curing the problem in scrum-halves is simply a matter of practice. The (probably apocryphal) remedy is to get a wheel-barrow load of bricks and pass them properly, i.e. without a step, back and forward across your back yard until the symptoms disappear!

(When commentators talk about a player who ‘knows how to get the backline moving’ it usually means he or she doesn’t have Stepitis!)