Analysis: How Leinster exploited Wasps' forwards on James Lowe’s breakaway set-piece try
Leinster are the current masters of line running and deception, continually coming up with new concepts and finding ways to create opportunities for players like ex-pat Kiwi James Lowe.
In their Champions Cup opener against Wasps, they opened the second half by scoring directly from a first phase play, opening up a lane for Lowe who torched Wasps for a 50-metre try which put them 21-3 ahead.
The play they used was a variation of a common concept – using a screen pass before feeding the blindside winger back inside.
What makes this version interesting is how they create the mismatch they want by using a 5-man lineout, forcing Wasps to cover the loose forward runners in the midfield with their own forwards, which Leinster then used against them.
Wasps have switched up their lineout defence, using their halfback as the hooker and their open side as the halfback, meaning their actual hooker is defending out somewhere in the backline.
Using the 5-man lineout has dispersed Leinster’s loose forwards, and they have set up with two strong ball carriers, Josh van der Flier (7) and Jack Conan (8) outside Johnny Sexton in a box formation with two backs in behind.
To counter-act the potential midfield crash, Wasps have Nizaam Carr (8) and hooker Tommy Taylor (2) as the interior midfield defence.
Wasps are missing Sopoaga’s presence inside Carr, meaning Wasps are ripe for manipulation in this area.
Carr has to monitor both Sexton and van de Flier, trusting inside help to take Sexton, while Taylor has Conan as a first assignment with Robbie Henshaw (12) and James Lowe (11) looming in behind.
There should be alarm bells ringing with so many Leinster players in such close proximity. Both Carr and Taylor are bigger, slower players and more importantly, have limited experience defending in the backline from set-piece.
One of the most difficult jobs in defence for a back is set-piece, so sending a front-rower to do it is a tough ask. Throw in a missing flyhalf and you might as well give a team like Leinster five points.
Leinster will exploit this disadvantage in personnel and experience, executing their play perfectly.
Van de Flier and Conan hold the inside defence by running lines slightly angled against the grain.
Wasps inside defenders Carr and Taylor are locked in on their first reads, and Taylor in particular, bites and prepares to tackle his first assessed target Conan.
Sexton releases the pass to Henshaw out the back. There is plenty of time for Taylor to adjust but he commits to tackling Conan without the ball, which now puts Leinster’s play in motion to open up a hole.
Henshaw bouncing out ‘pulls’ Wasps inside centre Michael Le Bourgeois (12) with him, opening up the lane for Lowe between Le Bourgeois and Taylor.
With Lowe running at full clip, Taylor cannot recover from a stationary position too far inside. The rest of the Wasps inside defence have to find a way around Leinster’s traffic, so also cannot assist.
Taylor has been isolated one-on-one with the faster Lowe and without body-on-body alignment, can do nothing to stop him breezing past.
Lowe is one of the most dangerous open-field runners in the game, with power and offloading skills to keep any movement going.
He is able to hold off the Wasps defence by looking for support and fend off a last-ditch tackle attempt by Elliot Daly to score next to the posts.
Could Wasps have done anything differently?
They were already at a disadvantage being a man-down but the question has to be asked whether Tommy Taylor was the best man to station out in the midfield, and secondly, should they have split the two forwards instead of playing them side-by-side?
Only Wasps will know the right answer with inside knowledge of all their forwards’ measurables. There must have been enough trust to use the hooker as a midfield defender instead of openside Thomas Young, but they paid the price for doing so as Leinster were clever enough to exploit it.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments