Six Nations 
1
England stole Ireland's game plan and did it better than them
England’s famous win over Ireland showed that last year’s Grand Slam champions are far from unbeatable, thanks in part to some great tactics by coach Steve Borthwick.
ADVERTISEMENT
“It looked like Ireland and England had switched shirts,” explained Sam Larner to Bernard Jackman in this week’s episode of analysis show Beyond 80.
“Pretty much everything England did was almost directly copied from what Ireland had been doing in the previous games.
“For example, England made Ireland miss 25 tackles. Ireland hadn’t missed that many tackles in the whole world cup and the whole Six Nations so far. If you think, they’ve played New Zealand in that time, they’ve played South Africa. They haven’t got anywhere near that number of missed tackles.”
A standout performer for England was forward Ben Earls, who appears to be playing without a number on his back.
“He was absolutely exceptional. In the tournament so far, he’s made the second most meters.
“We have to go all the way down to number 18 on the list to Alan Wainwright before we find another forward. So Ben Earl is essentially playing like a back, he’s playing like a centre, and he’s been unbelievable in terms of the carries that he’s making.
England’s changed smart kicking game also came to fruition, with the numbers telling an interesting story.
ADVERTISEMENT
“One of the things England did was they kicked a lot less, they kicked less than 30 times. In fact they only kicked 21 times. They also passed 164 times, so at no point in that 11 game stretch have they passed more than 160 times and kicked fewer than 30.
“So it was a completely different game plan from England. And I’m not sure if Ireland would have necessarily been expecting that. We all knew England were evolving something different, but I think what they’ve actually shown up with is astonishingly different.
“I also think that Alex Mitchell was a fantastic part of England’s game on Saturday. His average pass length was 8.2 meters, further than any of the other two scrum halfs on the pitch, and that just helped England get on the outside of Ireland’s defence and also cut down a lot of numbers.
“So obviously if you can pass 8 meters compared to 6, you might knock out one or two defenders staying in close to a ruck and that was massively important for England to just get round on the edge to play this expansive game plan that they have.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Defensively England’s work rate was impressive too, as the Felix Jones defence setup looks to be taking shape.
“Ireland’s game plan has been built on really small, short passing, so less than 5 meters. In every single game they’ve had more than their opponents. In this game they had 49 and England had 84, so England were not only able to steal that part of the game plan, but stop Ireland from using it as well.”
Jackman and Larner have broken down all of round four’s Six Nations matches, including how Italy upset Scotland, so you can watch that now on RugbyPass TV or the RugbyPass Youtube channel.
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments