When you look at Munster’s win over Castres on the scoreboard, it looks like a tight, intense contest that could have gone either way. That is both true and false. In reality, Munster could and should have won way more comfortably. There are a number of reasons why that were – Castres slow, kick pressure game, a disallowed try in the first half that kept Castres engaged – but they don’t really tell the full story.
We had an expansive enough Pass Per Carry ratio of 1.33 against Castres – in line with our win over Leinster in the RDS last season – but our offensive breakdown work was as poor as I’ve scored it under this system. Yes, Castres had more possession and kicked so much it was difficult to get into a flow but when we want to assess where Munster fell down here, the breakdown is a great place to start.
Let’s have a look;
Munster’s Offensive Ruck Work Score vs Castres
- 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.
| Dominant Clean | Guard Action | Attendance | Ineffective | Ruck Work Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilcoyne | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Scannell | 1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 16 |
| Ryan | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| Beirne | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Kleyn | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 28 |
| O'Mahony | 6 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 25 |
| Hodnett | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| O'Donoghue | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| Murray | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Healy | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Earls | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| De Allende | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Farrell | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Conway | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Campbell | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Barron | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Wycherley | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Knox | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Jenkins | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| O'Sullivan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Casey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Crowley | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kendellen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
When we compare these metrics to the previous week, the top-scoring player against Castres – Jean Kleyn on 28 points – would only have been enough to match James French on the edge of the Top 5 against Wasps the previous week.
Top Five ORWS
- Jean Kleyn – 28 points
- Peter O’Mahony – 25 points
- John Hodnett – 20 points
- Jack O’Donoghue – 18 points
- Niall Scannell – 16 points
What does this mean? This low rate of scoring at the offensive breakdown is indicative of a lack of structure and lack of purchase in the collisions. The former doesn’t have to be a bad thing – structure isn’t always necessary for scoring – but the latter certainly is. Better, more dynamic collisions translate to better cleaning targets at the breakdown. This seems, to me anyway, as being a reflection of a lack of balance in our starting pack relative to the opposition.
When you select a back five with a half-lock and two combo flankers, you are going to have an excellent offensive and defensive lineout – and we did – but you lose a little something from your primary ball-carrying rotation, especially when two of our starting front row were closer to Heavy Support Forward rolesets. Against a heavy pack like Castres, that can translate to slow ball, less dynamic collisions and that, in turn, leads to halfbacks slinging longer, slower passes to try to generate momentum.
We certainly did that but when you combine the handling errors in key “flow” moments – and we had a few of those – it can feel like you’re playing in a phone box and that’s certainly how it seemed here.
