You won’t beat Leinster in any facet unless you are dominantly securing your own ball. You need to disrupt their breakdown too, of course, but your own possession is as important, if not more so.
When it came down to it, Munster won 96% of our rucks. Leinster won 97% of theirs so if you want something that encapsulates how the game went in one little bite-size chunk, it’s that. Leinster did to our ruck what we needed to do to theirs to have a chance.
In Tuesday’s press conference, captain Peter O’Mahony spoke about the need to be clinical and accurate at the breakdown to have a chance against a team like Leinster and he’s dead right. This game featured season-low rates of effectiveness from both O’Mahony and a number of his pack. The number of Attendances and Ineffective entries in the front row alone relative to even Guard Actions, let alone Dominant Cleanouts, show a passive ball support unit that struggled to impose itself.
Munster’s Offensive Ruck Work Score vs Leinster
- 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. I’m 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loughman | 2 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 21 |
| Scannell | 3 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 20 |
| Archer | 1 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 22 |
| Jenkins | 4 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| Wycherley | 9 | 10 | 2 | 49 | |
| O'Mahony | 1 | 8 | 3 | 16 | |
| Cloete | 3 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 38 |
| Coombes | 1 | 4 | 11 | ||
| Murray | 1 | -1 | |||
| Carbery | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Daly | 4 | 4 | 1 | 19 | |
| De Allende | 3 | 8 | 2 | 23 | |
| Farrell | 2 | 7 | 2 | 22 | |
| Nash | 0 | 4 | 1 | 7 | |
| Gallagher | 5 | 10 | |||
| Barron | 1 | 7 | 17 | ||
| Wycherley | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Ryan | 1 | 8 | 19 | ||
| Ahern | 2 | 9 | 24 | ||
| Kendellen | 4 | 10 | 2 | 34 | |
| Casey | 1 | 3 | |||
| Healy | 2 | 3 | 12 | ||
| Earls | 1 | 3 |
The two key performers here, for me, were Fineen Wycherley and Chris Cloete (both of whom I’ve bumped up to a three-star performance in this week’s Wally Ratings) and Alex Kendellen. Kendellen really grew into his own on both sides of the ball here and put in a performance that hints of a serious player to come. The impact off the bench from the forwards was notable throughout, in comparison to those they replaced. Jason Jenkins started well but dropped off dramatically as the first half wore on and if you note that Thomas Ahern nearly matched his OWR score in under 20 minutes, you’ll see a lot of how the game was lost. Peter O’Mahony’s score was one of the lowest I have on record for him and he spent large parts of the second and third quarters out of the game completely from an offensive perspective.
The backline did quite well at the breakdown too, relatively speaking, with De Allende and Shane Daly impressing me on a deeper watch back.
