The latest instalment of Work Rate shows up some very strong offensive breakdown performances in Munster’s 43-13 win over the Scarlets in Round 3 of the United Rugby Championship.
You’d expect that in the aftermath of such a dominant win, of course, especially one that had as much excellent on-ball work as this game did but there were a few standout performers.
Before we get to that, though, I should probably go through the language of how we define certain actions and come up with a scale to award value to them.
- A Dominant Clean is an action that decisively secures possession when the ball carrier takes contact. A Dominant Clean does not have to be the first arrival at the breakdown but it is rewarded in the context of effectiveness. We will assign this action 3 points.
- A Guard Action is where a player plays a role in helping to retain possession after we have “re-won” the ball on the floor. Sometimes this can happen on a carry/ruck point where there is no active contention by the opposition. Let’s assign this action 2 points.
- An Attendance can be anything from standing as a “kick shield” on a ruck to adding a bit of bulk to ward against a counter-ruck. We’re marking this down as being worth 1 point.
- An Ineffective Action is a blown cleanout, a lean, a breakdown penalty or an action that I couldn’t see any direct benefit for. This will be worth -1 points.
If we start applying the points we’ve assigned to each action, we can generate an Offensive Ruck Work Score to get a proper view of Munster’s offensive breakdown output.
Munster’s Offensive Ruck Work Score vs Scarlets URC Game 3
| Dominant Clean | Guard Action | Attendance | Ineffective | ORWS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loughman | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| Barron | 10 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 45 |
| Archer | 2 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 31 |
| Ahern | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Wycherley | 9 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 47 |
| O'Donoghue | 9 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 45 |
| Cloete | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 34 |
| O'Sullivan | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| Cronin | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Healy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Daly | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Goggin | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| Coombes | 1 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| Nash | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Gallagher | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| O'Byrne | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Wycherley | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Ryan | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 23 |
| Snyman | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Kendellen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Patterson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Crowley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Daly | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
As expected, Fineen Wycherley scored really highly, with Dan Goggin being the standout back.
- Fineen Wycherley – 47
- Diarmuid Barron – 45
- Jack O’Donoghue – 45
- Jack O’Sullivan – 39
- Jeremy Loughman – 35
- Chris Cloete – 34
- Stephen Archer – 31
- Dan Goggin – 30
Diarmuid Barron’s OWR score is particularly impressive when you factor in that he made 9 tackles (second highest in the team) and 8 carries (third highest in the team) while only playing 63 minutes.
Everyone else who scored anything within 10 points of him played the full 80 minutes.
That is seriously impressive work rate from a young player out to make an impression in a contract year.
