I have a general rule that it’s hard to fairly assess any game that you win or lose by 40 points or more and this game was a good example of that. Munster just completely outclassed Ulster in almost every single facet of the game from minute one to eighty. Both sides were without key internationals due to the ongoing preparations ahead of the World Cup qualifiers but that, if anything, was something of a leveller in that both sides were depleted. Without seeing anything of either side in the guts of two years, it’s hard to say how much of Ulster’s performance here was down to the people they had missing, rust, a lack of quality or a mix of all three.
Honestly, there isn’t much to say about Ulster really as they were decisively second best and looking too deep into a side that made constant errors in all areas would be futile. I will say this, though – how Munster put the game out of sight in the first half was pretty interesting.
Why? Well, in the last few weeks, I’ve been writing a fair bit about depth in combination with width as a key attacking principle in the modern game. Munster’s performance here was a great illustration of those concepts, even if we accept that Ulster’s defensive performance was well below what would be expected, even allowing for their time out of the game at this level.
The chief principle of playing with Depth/Width, as opposed to playing “flat” is that the primary action is designed to attack the most extended point of the edge of the opposition defence. Munster had two primary actions in this game – a flat pod of three runners off #9 with some interplay between them and deep action off the link player, Nicole Cronin.
Cronin is nominally a scrumhalf – that’s where she’s got the vast majority of her test and provincial caps to date – but her skill set really suits that pass-heavy link player role in a deep/wide structure.
You can see Munster slipping into this shape almost immediately. Cronin is standing well back from the gain line with a pocket runner on her inside shoulder and a 2+1 shape to hit outside. Keep an eye on that shape, the two pod of forwards in particular.
As a scrumhalf, Cronin easily has the passing range to hit all four primary targets and maybe even that edge runner at a push. The key to this is that there are three levels of the attack for the players to progress the ball through depending on the advancement of the opposition.
Ulster’s edge defender in this sequence – the right-wing McAlister – has to advance, stop, advance again and try to readjust as Cronin finds Allen through the screen.
Now, for proper context, I think Ulster got their primary line numbers wrong on this sequence – right after a kick transition where they were concerned with a possible 50/22 – so that opened up the edge you see Munster surging down here. Does that mean that it will only work when the opposition have 12 defenders in the line as opposed to 13?
Nope. A properly applied Deep/Wide system will ultimately look to spring the trap by passing the ball ahead of the most advanced defender. Doesn’t every attack look to do this? Kind of, yeah, but with Deep/Wide you have the space to actually pass the ball into space.
In a wider ruck position, the most advanced defender will usually be the C/D defenders who look to take as much space as possible from the attack. By doubling down on width and forcing the opposition defence to advance beyond a point of comfort, Cronin was passing into space all day.
There’s a fat pass to start off this sequence in the first clip from Wall, but that’s mainly because she’s looking for so much width on the pass off the wide ruck position. She needs the ball to beat the press so that Cronin can pass at a “peak” rather than a “wall”. You can see the “peak” here.
When Te Pou takes the ball, she’s running into space and that extra metre means she is moving at a higher velocity than the pressing defender.
That’s a won collision and a defensive rally point 20m away from the previous ruck that the defence has to get to and populate. Just 60 seconds in and Munster have unbalanced the Ulster defence.
Munster would go back to this shape again and again for gains. Hit hard off #9 with interplay optional before extending the line from the ruck to the link player – Cronin – and hitting that central pod of two outside the peak of the blitz. When you run that over and over, it doesn’t become about what the opposition can read or predict, it becomes about what they are capable of covering, physically.
You often hear about how there is no “space” on the modern pitch, but that’s only if you think laterally. Had Cronin been operating flat on the gainline – where she would run with the ball for a few steps before passing so she could play “flat” – the window of space for the passing targets would be this lateral space. If the carrier is closer to the defenders, her options on the carry are reduced.
When she is further back from the contact, she can generate momentum and create more space that the opposition has to defend. Quinn taking the ball with 3m to contact gives her the impetus and allows her to make the defence react, rather than reacting to the defence’s pressure.
When you play with that kind of width and depth, it can look like “flat” play but it has been generated by a combination of depth and width. This try, for example, was broken open by two pretty long-range passes to send a runner in beyond the peak of the blitz for a massive line break.
This is mediocre defence by Ulster too, for sure, and not just on this phase, throughout the game, but Munster made them look like they had no business being out there. How Munster’s attack will scale up to Leinster and Connacht remains to be seen but if they can keep up the intent they showed here, they will break the line, they will get runners into space and they will threaten opposing defensive structures.
Notable Players
Everyone wearing a Munster jersey did well here, the scoreline tells you that but I thought three players, in particular, stood out.
Muirne Wall did really well at scrumhalf. Sure, some of her wider passes off her left side were a little wobbly and her pass quality in general needs a bit of work but the ball got to where it needed to be most of the time. Her ability to get that pace and width on the ball was crucial in opening up room for Nicole Cronin to destroy the Ulster blitz. Wall also managed to score a 65m try on a quick tap breakaway.
That’s a pretty cool try and it was the highlight for her in a game that really showcased her potential on a very good debut. She’s very much a work in progress, for sure, but this is a good start.
I thought Chloe Pearse had a cracker of a game at loosehead prop.
She scored three tries, which is great, but the quality of her work around the field was superb. Excellent short pass quality, heavy carrying, link play, impact defence, *checks notes* lineout jumping?
Pearse is a superb athlete who looked on another level to her direct competition here and, in reality, most of the other forwards. An astonishingly complete performance that she will hope puts her back in the Irish conversation. ★★★★★
My top performer was Nicole Cronin. Is she the complete “#10” if we want to limit ourselves to what that number conjures up? Probably not. Her tactical kicking game is a bit of a mystery in the position and we didn’t see all that much in the way of a carrying game from the first receiver position but does that matter? No. Not when you have a player passing as well as this off both sides.
Short-range, mid-range, long-range – Cronin was finding Munster hands on every sequence with superb accuracy and when it came to running and linking after the pass, she could do that too.
She even managed a breakdown turnover!
What I loved about Cronin’s performance was how she barely took any contact, hardly moved in possession and still managed to dictate the game so thoroughly that she has to start in the same position again next week. A very modern performance that shows the potential of a facilitating, pass-dominant #10 in a deep/wide system. ★★★★★
The Wally Ratings: Ulster (A)
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 |
|---|---|
| Chloe Pearse | ★★★★★ |
| Edel Murphy | ★★★★ |
| Fiona Reidy | ★★★★ |
| Aaliyah Te Pou | ★★★★ |
| Siobhán McCarthy | ★★★★ |
| Clodagh O’Halloran | ★★★★ |
| Maeve Óg O’Leary | ★★★★ |
| Sarah Quin | ★★★★ |
| Muirne Wall | ★★★★ |
| Nicole Cronin | ★★★★★ |
| Laura O’Mahony | ★★★★ |
| Rachel Allen | ★★★★ |
| Stephanie Nunan | ★★★★ |
| Chisom Ugwueru | ★★★★ |
| Aoife Corey | ★★★★ |
| Deirbhile Nic A Bhaird | ★★★ |
| Aoife Moore | ★★★ |
| Laura Delaney | ★★★ |
| Christine Coffey | ★★★ |
| Eimear Minihane | ★★★ |
| Gemma Lane | ★★★ |
| Aoife O’Shaughnessy | ★★★ |
| Maggie Boylan | ★★★ |
