[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”4″]R[/su_dropcap]ed cards change games in rugby. Two red cards (for the one team) twists games into weird training scenarios that leave you feeling unsatisfied, like dropping a chicken fillet roll in a car park after one bite. If the opposition picks up two red cards – in the first half, no less – your chances of winning the game radically increase but a lot of the value of the win gets lost in the shuffle.
Munster had no say in the red cards, obviously, and neither did the referee who was left with little option based on what Connacht showed him. The impressive Abraham Papili’i gave Frank Murphy no option after his neck high shoulder shot on Conor Murray. It had to be red and it was red.
Nine minutes later, Shane Delahunt was spotted leading with his elbow into CJ Stander’s throat and, despite Frank Murphy’s initial generous interpretation that he hit Stander’s sternum first, the TMO rightly pointed out that the initial contact had been high and dangerous. It was another iron-clad red card.
The game was a mess but that’s what happens when guys can’t keep their discipline. The initial urge is to blame the referee here and you could maybe make that work if these were marginal decisions but they were Powerpoint examples of a reckless high tackle and leading with the forearm in a carry.
What happened afterwards was as messy as you’d expect. In a game where there was already a lot of penalties, Munster were caught for a sequence of infringements during a close-in defensive set and both sides finished the half with 13 men.
Munster started the second half a bit iffy but once the numerical advantage was restored, the game played out as predictably as you’d expect. Munster cut loose, put on a pretty healthy scoreline without suffering any further injuries and managed to stretch our legs offensively, albeit with the advantage of two extra men for 35 minutes.
One of the tries was particularly satisfying; a long-range special from just inside our 22.
Once Stander whipped this back to Hanrahan, the break was on and the work from there was top class. De Allende’s initial early pass to Farrell drew the reduced cover across the field and opened up the inside break. Farrell burst past Masterson off a strong right-footed plant, found Beirne running a top-class support line and the work from there was outstanding – Beirne offloaded to De Allende, De Allende beat three defenders before popping the ball off to Andrew Conway, who’d run a lethal diagonal support line after Farrell’s initial break. Awesome.
The biggest issue with playing reduced numbers is having to endure the Rugby Back In My Day crowd who presume that because Connacht have 13 men, the only rational way to play is to fire the ball wide at literally every opportunity. There was one play where I felt that applied.
In this instance, I think Hanrahan wanted the ball when Farrell got it – you can see him react after the pass – and his decision to break back towards the ruck when he got the pass on the next phase had a lot to do with the picture he saw on the pass.
Connacht were all shooting out towards the touchline so the overlap that looked like it was there actually wasn’t. Instead, JJ had a cut back against the grain knowing that every Connacht defender on the openside of the ruck was shooting hard towards the touchline.
That leads to a try on the very next phase from Jeremy Loughman.
The idea that “wide is where space is” would only be true if Connacht weren’t aware of that very fact. If you look at the way Connacht defended, they were essentially using three midfielders to cover that space in the wider channels. Have a look at this attacking phase sequence off a lineout maul. There are 12 Connacht defenders in the picture.
The 13th defender is standing just out of the picture. If we go to an aerial representation of the picture, we can see where the space is – it’s outside the last defender in the picture above. So ideally Munster want to attack between Green #11 and Green #14.
But Connacht know this too. We loaded up in the lineout maul to overpower them where we had a clear mismatch – in the forwards – and we won a penalty in short order after a good territory gain. Connacht didn’t commit all their forwards The plan off the maul break is to get the ball to Daly and see if he can beat the Connacht track across the field.
But Connacht are always going to get across and cover the wide space because that’s where their defensive focus was always going. The actual space was going to be in the gap between the midfield press and the ruck defence.
You can see it right here on the very next phase.
Beirne takes the space outside the ruck defenders and inside the new edge defenders to run straight through the middle. His try in the second half attacked the same position.
You can see the backfield defender flying across the field to cover any wide play. Why were Munster hitting narrow off #9 while Connacht were down to 13 players? We wanted to compress their defensive line into a position where we could expose this kind of spacing. If they have to defend the ruck and their edge defence wants to push up and out, the space is in that middle space between them. Putting multiple passes on every phase to find the wide spaces would be easy for Connacht to defend because that’s exactly where they were structured to have numbers. Combine Bundee Aki – who was brought on the field after 20 minutes and was the difference between Connacht shipping 60 and the relatively handy scoreline we saw – with the new breakdown interpretations and you have got a recipe for dumbass rugby.
Why did the long-range Conway try work? Because Connacht had to compress on the ruck after Munster won the restart. With Aki bound into the side and Masterson guarding the edge, there was space to attack wide.
When it was 15 v 15, we had no issue putting the ball through the hands to attack Connacht in the wider channels and I thought our 1-3-2-2/2-3-2-1 forward shape looked pretty sharp. Getting CJ Stander into this kind of position is exactly what we’ll be looking to scheme for the remainder of this season and the season to come.
As for the rest of the game, I thought we showed off one or two nice kick transition set plays that were a hair away from coming off. Keep an eye on Conway for this called strike play.
Everything from the pass from Farrell to Earls on the cut back to the almost offload to Conway is 100% planned and it’s a good example of what we’re trying to build in our backline and back three in particular.
What I saw of our work against 15 was encouraging and I think that we’d have still won quite comfortably without the aid of Connacht’s indiscipline in contact. Our ruck defence was really interesting – I’ll look at that in the GIF Room – and I’d be encouraged based on the pace and energy we started the game with and the way we built into the game as it progressed.
The win booked our now annual away PRO14 semi-final against Leinster in a replay of our restarted season opener. The majority of the Leinster side that will likely start this Friday were sitting at home for their game against Ulster but that’s the reward for a season unbeaten and enviable depth. Munster, on the other hand, will have a day of recovery today (Monday), a day of training on Tuesday, a captain’s run on Wednesday or Thursday before the game on Friday.
That’s just the way the season has fallen and despite carrying an injury list that’s robbed us of four certain, key starters – Kilcoyne, Kleyn, Snyman and Carbery – we’ll take the field knowing that we have a game that can, in theory, hurt Leinster. Our offensive and defensive breakdown coupled with our lineout (the best in the PRO14 from a success percentage and 3rd best from a steals perspective) are areas where we could have an advantage but this is Leinster – the only way we’re taking their 100% record is the hard way. The question over match sharpness and whether or not playing two consecutive weekends will be a help or a hindrance will only play out on Friday night so it’s hard to know what to take from this game other than we scored some good tries, won a semi-final spot and earned another shot against the unbeaten PRO14 champions.
This is a big week.
The Wally Ratings: Connacht (H)
The Wally Ratings explainer page is here.
Players are rated based on their time on the pitch, if they were playing notably out of position, and on the overall curve of the team performance. DNP means the player did not feature and N/A means they weren’t on the pitch long enough to warrant a fair rating.
| Names | Rating |
|---|---|
| Jeremy Loughman | ★★★ |
| Niall Scannell | ★★★★ |
| John Ryan | ★★★ |
| Fineen Wycherley | ★★★★ |
| Tadhg Beirne | ★★★★★ |
| Peter O'Mahony | ★★★★ |
| Chris Cloete | ★★★★ |
| CJ Stander | ★★★★ |
| Conor Murray | ★★★★ |
| JJ Hanrahan | ★★★★ |
| Keith Earls | ★★★★ |
| Damian De Allende | ★★★★ |
| Chris Farrell | ★★★★ |
| Andrew Conway | ★★★★ |
| Shane Daly | ★★★★ |
| Kevin O'Byrne | ★★★ |
| James Cronin | ★★★ |
| Stephen Archer | ★★★ |
| Billy Holland | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Donoghue | ★★★ |
| Craig Casey | ★★★ |
| Rory Scannell | ★★★ |
| Jack O'Sullivan | ★★★ |
Notable Players
This was a pretty good performance in the circumstances.
I thought Niall Scannell had an excellent game. His work at the offensive breakdown was really good and he pestered the Connacht ruck with decent efficiency too. I thought his lineout work was outstanding – he showed excellent accuracy all through the line. This one was a highlight from a lineout scheme perspective and Scannell’s throw is flawless.
This is kind of accuracy and support forward display that could put him back in the Irish frame, especially with a showdown looming with The Next Big Thing. A really strong display. ★★★★
I really liked what I saw from Chris Cloete in this game. This was a picture of “on the edge” openside play. He worked his socks off in the tackle and spent the majority of the game harassing the offensive Connacht breakdown, buzzing in support of our breakdown and playing his part in a good mauling display.
This is the best I’ve seen out of the Gunshow in a good long while and I feel there’s more to come. ★★★★
Fineen Wycherley doesn’t get a lot of the press that other young players in his position have got. There’s not a lot of fireworks in his career to date, sure, but at 22 years of age, Wycherley has already amassed 40 Munster caps and shows the kind of growing maturity that makes him a coach’s dream. His lineout work here was sharp and disciplined. He mauled incredibly well. His work at the offensive breakdown was relentlessly physical, effective and legal – in today’s game, that counts for a lot. Wycherley was one of our primary defensive hitters and played an excellent 80 minutes doing buckets of dirty work. ★★★★
Tadhg Beirne hasn’t played since January thanks a nasty ankle injury picked up against Saracens. Did he come back rusty? No chance. This looked like the Tadhg Beirne that tore up Europe and the PRO12 a few years ago. Everything he did was athletic. Breakdown steals? Check. Lineout explosivity? Check. Tries? Check. Linebreaks? Offloads? Support lines? Check, check, check.
When Beirne plays like this, there’s very few who look like matching him and we’ll need this plus a lot more on Friday night. Outstanding. ★★★★★
