Analysis: How Manu Tuilagi did his damage at set-piece against Ireland
England 57 – Ireland 15
“We just want to see different ways of playing, we want to see a passing game, we were tight against Wales and as you saw last week in a test between two top teams there were no line breaks. We want to do that this weekend” – Eddie Jones – Pre Ireland on the Ford-Farrell axis.
As was evident, Jones definitely got his wish.
Whilst Ireland were obviously in a different stage of their preparation as their improvement against Wales showed, it’s obvious that England did a lot of things right.
As an England fan, the exciting part is that England can get so much better. This performance, as good as it was, was tainted with the unfamiliarity of combinations and game time in open play. With the improvements that you will see, their performance could get quite scary.
A couple of weeks ago there was an article detailing the England playmaking dynamics at 10-12/10-15. This game showed the benefits of the Ford-Farrell-Tuilagi combination quite brilliantly. Manu Tuilagi’s positioning at 13 was inspired. Stripped of the playmaking responsibilities he donned at 12, he got back to what he was good at. Hard, direct running outside of two very gifted playmakers. The work of George Ford and Owen Farrell, with assistance from Elliot Daly, combined with his angles of running perfectly. Resulting in him carrying against a thinner, compromised defensive line, leading to a more effective carry.
This comprises the first article in a mini-series! In this article, we’ll look at the effects of Tuilagi at 13 and how he combines in set-piece, while the second will show you in part two how the dynamic works in open play.
Off set-piece
England’s use of Manu Tuilagi and Joe Cokanasinga off set-piece harkens back to Eddie Jones’ days and philosophies as technical advisor to the Springboks in 2007.
Jones is very keen to establish trends in the attack off set-piece. His teams will in fact run one option within a play multiple times to ‘train’ the defence to hold for that option, or run it terrifyingly well once, before utilising the multiple options in the play to then strike at the weak points created by this commitment.
As such, we can see certain plays that England have generated and how they use this principle to enhance their other options.
Scissors
The very first move a young player will usually learn, we see the work here of Ford and Farrell on the inside. The two passes start the change from ‘Rush D’ to ‘Drift’ defence, with Farrell doing brilliantly to help it along.
He crabs across, helping Carty start his drift, whilst his motion on the pass is wonderful. Feinting a pass to Daly, he passes directly towards his line, revealing Tuilagi striking from a shielding position and again, from depth.
Tuilagi’s speed plus the crispness and deception of delivery means Tuilagi makes a run against the inside shoulder of Carty, smashing through and making considerable gainline.
Pacific Wave
This play makes use of the sheer reputation that these guys have.
We see Tuilagi and Cokanasiga, both running full steam at the opposition with Daly behind as the slice option. The move starts with Ford running to the line to buy as much space for these two as possible.
Note that with the time they get and alignment, that a pass to Cokanasiga at the line could’ve sent him through. Whilst Tuilagi is the carrier, we can understand, how the threat of these two ball carriers, will force a defence to commit.
The scramble of the Irish inside defence shows how wary they are of this setup.
The next time they run this is from a very similar position. England knows that Ireland will be wary of the crash option now having endured it in the first half.
As such, they go for the slice option in Daly, who makes a lot of ground on the outside.
One incredibly nice touch in the work of George Ford is his line. Rather than run straight, he runs at a slight angle, so he arrives at the defensive line right next to Tuilagi, giving a better chance of attracting Tuilagi’s defender for greater gainline.
This is a key reason why the Irish scrumhalf sprints over to assist in the defence. Not only that, the pass to Cokanasiga, and the tunnel pass to Daly is also made easier.
Fijian Slice
This is a slice move, where you’ll have one decoy runner taking a hard line with an option running behind known as the ‘Screen’ option or ‘Slice’.
Very basic, yet in this case, the Irish defence is put in the worst possible scenario.
You have both Cokanasiga and Tuilagi involved in this move, the difference between the two being the distribution and channels targeted.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1-o4ewAHMV/
Tuilagi receives the second pass from Ford, meaning he targets the 10-12 channel and draws in Aki, historically a very nice channel to hit for an attacker.
On the second time the concept is used, Cokanasiga receives the third pass from Farrell out the back with Tuilagi’s angle targeting the 12-13 channel which draws in Ringrose.
With the flatness of the pass and delivery from Farrell, Cokanasinga runs into a huge amount of space, scoring the try.
This combo is derived from Jones desire to establish ‘power points’, where any two of Vunipola, Cokanasinga, Tuilagi or England’s power runners combine in their lines.
In this example, the Vunipola brothers combine to form the point. We see Tuilagi and Billy Vunipola often combine in the same pod.
Designed to sow confusion in the defensive line, they have proven very effective at constricting the opposition around this point, opening up space outside.
Alternatively, the defence can number up on a player too much, allowing the other carrier a run at weak shoulders. In the above stills, Billy Vunipola combined with Tuilagi to compress the short side and bring the winger up, allowing the kick chase for the try.
The first Pacific wave with Tuilagi and Cokanasinga is another perfect example.
With this in mind, you can see how the flat play off 9 espoused by England will be effective, with the possibility that pop passes between the men in the power points may also have been developed.
In the next article, we will discuss the Tuilagi at 13 dynamic in open play, and how it can be so effective.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Well where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to comments