The systemic weakness in Ireland's watertight defence the All Blacks must target
Ireland’s watertight defence has been a hallmark of their game under Andy Farrell, conceding just four tries in this year’s Six Nations. While on the other side, the 24 they scored themselves gave them the best net differential in the tournament by far.
Their high possession attacking game does aid their defence, holding the ball for long periods certainly helps reduce the chances for the opposition, but their discipline and resolve without the ball has completely smothered sides.
Wales would have been nilled if not for a chance intercept try by Taine Basham when Ireland were pushing the pass inside their own 22 with less than five minutes remaining.
England, who were down to 14 men, could only manage penalties along with Italy. Scotland crafted 14 phases for a barge-over try from close range for their lone score in their 26-5 defeat.
France managed to score two of those four tries against the stingy Irish defence. The All Blacks, who also scored two tries in November, will have to work hard to break down what is a very strong system when at full strength.
There are few systemic weaknesses but there is one, and that is when Kiwi halfback Jamison Gibson-Park defends on the backside edge following a lineout.
The smaller, shifty halfback is left out there to defend large territory without the help of speed athletes at times which leaves Ireland vulnerable to mismatches.
When France scored inside the first two minutes in Paris, they were running a launch pattern to target Gibson-Park’s edge.
They took a quick lineout and worked all the way to the left-hand touchline, before orchestrating play back right towards the lineout formation where Gibson-Park was defending.
They deliberately left Uini Antonio (3) out wide to use as crash runner to use on the way back to crater Ireland’s line. Ntamack (10) found his runner Antonio with the perfect target lined up, smallish wing Mack Hansen (11).
The force of the monstrous French prop punctures through Hansen and indents the Irish defence, sucking in multiple defenders and leaving Gibson-Park (9) isolated on the outside.
France ended up with a situation where Hansen and Gibson-Park, two smaller backs, were manned on the thin short side against the entire French backline.
This is what France wanted to manufacture and they proceed to exploit two of Ireland’s smallest defenders with a numbers advantage. Hansen and Gibson-Park slid out which allowed Ntamack to take on the line. He flung a fortuitous pass back inside to Antoine Dupont which was gathered for a try.
Later in the half, they target Gibson-Park again from a multi-phase set-piece launch, this time isolating his halves partner Joey Carberry on the short side with him.
Communication from wing Damian Penaud to Antoine Dupont identified the space outside the Irish halfback and the French No 9 whipped an incredible long ball over the top into the space.
The pass to Penaud led to a line break which resulted in three more points for France.
From two set-piece launches hitting Ireland where Gibson-Park was defending, they found two line breaks and 10 total points.
England and Scotland found success targeting the same defensive set-up through a blindside raid directly off the maul.
Scotland had Gibson-Park isolated with a two-on-one against Ali Price (9) and Duhan van der Merwe (11). The Irish halfback did a great job of shading both players and forcing Price inside, but Scotland still peel off a massive line break.
England spent a lot off first-phase ball on kicking, so did not attack often from set-piece, but in the second half they created the same blindside setup by mauling infield.
Harry Randall (9) broke away down the blind before he linked with Marcus Smith (10). England weren’t able to manufacture a clean break but did march a long way upfield before winning a penalty a few phases later.
The All Blacks have used a similar maul play borrowed from the Crusaders’ playbook in the past that involves deliberately pushing the maul infield to create more space on the short side.
Halfback Aaron Smith (9) breaks to the open side before playing Richie Mo’unga (10) underneath on a switch line back to the short side. The Crusaders used this play against the Blues in the Super Rugby Pacific final.
First phase switch plays from the maul can be a way to get wingers Caleb Clarke, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Sevu Reece or Will Jordan matched up on Gibson-Park.
The multi-phase patterns that track back down the short side are a perfect tool to find that mismatch where Gibson-Park can be isolated against powerful ball runners like Akira Ioane or Ardie Savea floating out wide.
Either way, the All Blacks must find this match-up and make the most of it because the Irish defence is otherwise very strong and has not offered much else to opposition sides.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments