One of the most underrated challenges of taking on a team as physically massive as Toulouse is dealing with their power at the breakdown. Everyone knows they hit hard in the tackle and in the carry – I mean, look at the size of them – but their defensive breakdown is just as formidable when it comes to jackal threats like Marchand, Willis, Baille and Jelonch along with heavy counter-ruck players like Meafou, Arnold and the rest of their pack. At the very least, they make it very, very difficult to achieve quick ruck ball so if you want to stress them on multiphase possession you have to be accurate, physical and fast to the breakdown.
Hit, secure, ball out to prevent the kind of heavy counter-ruck that kills you. Both teams wounded each other at the breakdown in this game. We ran at 94% competition – suboptimal – but so did day. As much as Marchand caused us trouble at the breakdown, Coombes, Beirne and O’Mahony did the same to Toulouse.
That is notable in and of itself. Toulouse have run at least 99% completion at the breakdown in all the games prior to this in this year’s European Cup and only went sub-95% during an incredibly wobbly period in last season’s European campaign when they looked pieced together with sticky tape and running on diesel sludge.
For Munster to pull Toulouse below 95% right now, pre-Six Nations is pretty good work but, even with Toulouse’s impact at our ruck, I think we did quite well overall.
MUNSTER’S OFFENSIVE RUCK WORK SCORE VS TOULOUSE
- 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 -2 points.
| Dominant Clean | Guard Action | Attendance | Ineffective | Ruck Work Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kilcoyne | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 22 |
| N. Scannell | 7 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 36 |
| Ryan | 5 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 37 |
| Kleyn | 15 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 53 |
| Beirne | 7 | 3 | 1 | 25 | |
| O'Mahony | 8 | 7 | 1 | 39 | |
| Hodnett | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 31 |
| Coombes | 8 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 42 |
| Casey | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Carbery | 0 | ||||
| Daly | 5 | 1 | 17 | ||
| Crowley | 4 | 6 | 24 | ||
| Frisch | 1 | 9 | 1 | 22 | |
| Nash | 1 | 3 | 9 | ||
| Haley | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |
| Barron | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| J. Wycherley | 1 | 2 | |||
| Salanoa | 0 | ||||
| O'Sullivan | 0 | ||||
| Kendellen | 2 | 6 | |||
| Murray | 0 | ||||
| Healy | 1 | 3 | |||
| Fekitoa | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
Top ORW Scorers
- Jean Kleyn – 56 points
- Gavin Coombes – 42 points
- Peter O’Mahony – 39 points
- John Ryan – 37 points
- Niall Scannell – 36 points
This was a colossal performance from Jean Kleyn and Gavin Coombes, in particular, to the point that I upscaled Gavin Coombes to a Five Star performance off the back of it.
O’Mahony’s output was really high too with Niall Scannell, in particular, backing up strong performances from the previous game. John Ryan’s performance at the breakdown was particularly good when you consider his output and impact at the scrum.
