Analysis: How Ireland changed their defensive system to shut down the All Blacks
Much was made of Ireland’s rush defence, or umbrella ‘outside-in’ tactics to close off the All Blacks attack in the post-match hysteria of the win.
Interestingly, this type of defence is not how Ireland usually defends and not how they played during this year’s Six Nations. There were distinct changes made to dial up pressure on the All Blacks, which is fascinating that they changed the scheme for their biggest test of the year.
Ireland does usually bring line speed but typically play up-and-out defence. In some cases, they will automatically default to a slide defence to account for a numbers disadvantage.
They will generally eat up the space by bursting forward off the line but then slow and hold off, jockey outward and push play to the edge, staying alive as long as possible as a line and allowing the opposition to reveal their hand.
In phases where the opposition has succeeded in creating an overlap, Ireland are willing to concede ground downfield using a jockey/slide system in order to keep guys on their feet and buy time to restabilise the line.
Against Scotland earlier this year, look at how they ‘manage’ the threat of Stuart Hogg off set-piece by playing passive slide defence almost from the start and then re-set to dominate the gain line.
From the lineout, Scotland play wide by using Peter Horne (12) out the back behind a Huw Jones decoy line and succeed in building a three-on-two on the edge, but Garry Ringrose (13) and Keith Earls (14) have already diagnosed the play and are fully aware of this.
They begin to backpedal and bail, happy to give away metres downfield as long as the ball keeps moving wider.
Horne (12) releases the pass without committing any defenders, allowing Ringrose to slide, slimming the assignment down to a two-on-two.
Stuart Hogg carries down the left-hand side for a nice gain but is tackled by the backtracking Ringrose, creating a ruck on the far left-hand side.
Scotland achieve a 20-metre gain on first phase but Ireland’s defensive line is pretty well set for the next phase. Everyone is set ready to now win back the yards from a far more manageable situation.
Ireland’s forwards chew up the space by pressing off the line on the second phase and Scotland achieve a 5-metre loss.
The third phase is the same and Scotland’s runner drops the ball in the face of pressure, conceding a turnover back near the 40-metre line.
With Scotland employing a width game frequently on the first phase, Ireland conceded ground deliberately with a jockey/slide system but never broke, putting Hogg and co. in a shrinking box and choking them out of room to the sideline.
Against the All Blacks on first phase, they played it completely differently. Every scrum play was high-risk rush defence, jamming outside-in to collapse in on the All Blacks midfield.
The statistics will show that a high percentage of the All Blacks scrum plays are part of their ‘javelin attack’ – short-pass midfield crash plays. Ireland seemingly gambled on this information and took the risk to clot the midfield channel.
The ‘outside-in’ rush defence in this situation leaves the fullback completely open but pressures every option inside him.
If the flyhalf is making the pass, a difficult double cutout or kick-pass is required to hit the open fullback. Every other pass is a hospital ball ‘in waiting’ if the outside backs can bring the heat.
Ireland’s centre Garry Ringrose (13) and Keith Earls (14) were phenomenal in pulling this tactic off. It’s highly disruptive in theory but actually executing it and containing the opposition is extremely difficult.
You are effectively leaving the outside channel exposed so you can’t afford to miss your assignment or have the ball get past the centre. However, if you succeed you put the opposition on the back foot with gain line losses.
Earls succeeds in swallowing up Goodhue, but you can see Barrett is left wide open steaming past on the outside.
Ireland did this on every set-piece play, in direct contrast to how they played first phase against Scotland, Wales, and England during the Six Nations.
All of the All Blacks openside scrum plays were to the left, but they were all throttled inside leaving strike weapon Rieko Ioane with zero touches from scrums.
Instead of trying to ‘manage’ the All Blacks’ outside threats with a passive up-and-out line like they do with their Six Nations opponents, Ireland went all-in on preventing the ball getting there in the first place.
It was prevalent during phase play that this was also a directive.
If we re-visit the Six Nations we can see Ireland’s normal defensive system in place when faced with an overlap.
After six phases Scotland have created a numbers advantage on Ireland’s left edge towards Stockdale’s wing.
Again Horne finds himself with a three-on-two. Conor Murray (9) and Jacob Stockdale (11) push up initially but then play jockey coverage, with hips turned out, backpedalling to buy time and push play to the edge.
For the second time, Horne throws a pass without committing anyone, allowing Ireland’s fractured line to recover and shut play down on the outside.
The pass is wayward anyway and the opportunity is lost. Five minutes later, Horne attempts to throw a long pass without committing anyone for the third time, Stockdale jumps the passing lane and takes an intercept 50-metres the other way.
Against the All Blacks, on a high percentage of plays, Ireland showed a desire to keep the ball inside by continually jamming in.
To maintain this pressure for the full eighty minutes without any lapses in execution was a masterful display of high-pressure defence.
Integral to pulling off this tactic was Ireland’s centre Garry Ringrose, who might be the best defender in the game at 13.
His tackle success rate has been elite in 2018 and he showed he is able to execute on different game plans devised by Andy Farrell, playing aggressive or passive as required.
Against the All Blacks, he made 14 tackles and missed one for a 93% completion rate whilst playing high-risk rush defence. To bring that much pressure and execute consistently during any game, let alone against the world’s best, is a testament to his fitness level, determination, and defensive ability.
The back three of Earls, Stockdale, and Kearney also have a huge role to play in Ireland’s defence, each bringing unique talents to the table. Earls is a kick-bait king, Stockdale is a ball-hawk and Kearney covers a huge backfield with anticipatory vision.
Ireland runs a back-three pendulum, but the only constant in the backfield is Kearney.
They trust the wingers to know when to drop into kick coverage, and the supporting cast of Earls and Stockdale aid Kearney well in covering the backfield. In this game, the wingers were tasked with ‘barracading’ the edge more than they usually do, and Earls, in particular, was excellent in assisting Ringrose.
The scariest part of all of this shows that Ireland is thinking two moves ahead of their opponent, looking to stack the odds and adapt their style to whatever they think will work best, and they have the coaches who generally get those decisions right, and the players who can execute it.
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Comments on RugbyPass
My heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
74 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
1 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
74 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to commentsOur very own monster teddy bear Ox😍💪
17 Go to commentsThis is might be the most generalised, entitled, patronising, out-of-pocket cultural indictment on a group of people you’ll ever see on what is supposedly a sports publication. I can only assume the author is weak like a woman or homosexual. I’m feeling an incredible range of emotions but I am not quite sure how to express them. I might go beat up a hockey player - assuming that’s okay with Duane and the boys? 🙂
9 Go to commentsBest thing the Welsh clubs could do is apply to join Gallagher prem surely be more exciting matches for there support than they have now.
2 Go to commentsRugbyPass writers are useless! you guys should get a real job because you all suck at writing about rugby!!!
9 Go to comments