Munster’s defence hasn’t reached the same levels that it did last season, from a numbers perspective at least.

The reasons for that are multifaceted. You could look at the change in defence coach mid-season, a run of injuries that we didn’t experience last season, some discipline issues and, probably the thing with the heaviest weight on it for me, a greater focus on Munster’s attacking structure. The more expansive the attack, the more potential there is for your defence to suffer.

Would it surprise you to hear that Munster have the highest try count (56) in the PRO14 this season to date? It surprised me and I do this shit for a living. To put it another way, Munster are 71% of the way to matching last season’s try-scoring tally (77) with nine regular season games remaining.

On the flip side, we’re currently ranked fifth in tries conceded and, to give you an idea of the change, we conceded 34 tries in 22 games last season. This year, Munster have conceded 26 tries in the 13 games they’ve played in the PRO14 to date.

As I’ve said, there are reasons for that numerical decrease that go beyond the blanket accusation of bad defence. Let’s have a look at some of the issues that popped on Sunday during the first Racing try to get an idea of how Munster conceded the scores that they did.

Starter Play

If you give away defensive penalties defending becomes incrementally harder. That’s not wisdom from the gods or anything – everyone knows this.

The first try conceded against Racing all started from an offside penalty when Munster were in an ideal defensive position; hemming the Parisiens in their own 22 and about to force an exit out of them straight from the restart.

Here’s the moment.

It’s a close one but it’s probably correct. If Holland is a little flatter and Kilcoyne doesn’t stagger his run a little this might be a different outcome but in the split second the referee has, this looks offside. We’ve given away a few of these this season. Some are marginal, some aren’t, but it was to be expected. Nienaber defensive patterns are often flagged anecdotally as being perennially offside and referees were always going to focus on Munster in this regard.

A penalty given away this early in the game (inside 20 seconds) paints a bad picture to the referee and, crucially, gives Racing a good attacking lineout platform they didn’t have to earn.

Munster’s defensive work off the lineout is pretty good.

Once Racing take the ball down, Munster get a good “L” pattern in place once the ball breaks;

This pattern defensive pattern shepherds the ball to the open side of the pitch, puts us “numbers up” in midfield and runs interference on Racing’s attacking fold.

The tackle in this situation has to be dominant but if it can’t be dominant, it has to slow the ball enough to give our defence a chance to fold to match Racing’s numbers.

In this scenario, Racing have a key advantage in that they know what they’re doing and we’re reacting. So while we can look at what happens down the line and hash out the rights and wrongs, you have to react to what is in front of you.

Let’s play the footage through;

This is a great stop by Scannell and Keatley – they hold the ball up, draw in two forwards and their strike running outside centre to the ruck and give the Munster defence a chance to fold around the corner. This is a good start from Munster.

Let’s roll on to the next two phases;

That wide linebreak certainly crept up on us, eh?

There were two incidents that added to the momentum that Racing seemed to get out of nowhere here.

The first is Camille Chat shoving Holland off his feet prior to the Tameifuna ruck. It’s a small thing, but that action prevents Holland from getting over the top of Tameifuna post-tackle.

That gives Racing lightning quick ball and gives them access to the Munster outside edge on the next phase. If Holland manages to get over this ball and slow it down, Kleyn/Stander could have cycled around the corner and populated the blindside of the ruck to hit the next phase.

Munster had only three players on the outside of this ruck once Tameifuna hits the deck, and this narrowed their defensive alignment given the strength of Racing’s attacking fold.

Each man had at least two viable attacking threats to think about;

Earls had three guys flooding his channel with Thomas just off screen here.

In the above scenario, it would take a big defensive play to stop the momentum. Farrell tried to stop the ball before it went wide but he was a footstep too narrow.

He has to be tight to Marshall to prevent the ball going through the hooker’s outside shoulder but you can see him realise that Earls is defending a lot of space on the edge with three attackers bearing down on him.

Once the ball goes beyond Earls, Zebo can only do so much as the second layer defender. He can’t make the tackle but he does run a good blocking line that means Thomas has to beat defenders or get tackled because the offload line is gone.

All that’s left is the tackle, and what a tackle it is.

Impressive scrambling.

Let’s roll to the next phase.

But before we do, I want to draw your attention to something from the previous ruck.

Why are O’Mahony, Keatley and Conway staying on that side of the field? Why aren’t the working to get into the line when Munster are shorthanded on the other side?

This is the risk and reward that you have to take when we talk about defensive structure. By leaving three players on the reverse side, you insure yourself against getting caught by the ball coming back across the field on plays like this one.

Remember from yesterday’s GIF Room when Racing collapsed into the hole left after Farrell’s break in the leadup to Earls try? And how that left heavy forwards on the outside edge for Earls to pick off on the reverse?

Keeping defensive players isolated from the scramble might put you under numbers pressure in quick ball situations like this but it means you can align up like this after a quick ball linebreak.

That’s a fairly good defensive line given the previous few phases.

Whereas Racing surged towards the ball and left bad alignments on the outside edge, Munster reset into a defensive line during the chase.

Our trio of players in the pink box were able to reset into the area on the reverse of the pitch where they could plug the greatest hole.

After the ball came back, that was here;

This is both a defensive and counter-attacking premise from a Munster POV. On the one hand, you have a wide defensive pod that can slot back into the line in case of a line break and also be ready to strike on turnover ball.

Anyway – let’s roll on the next phase;

We made a few other errors in the build up to the actual try itself, which will have been frustrating given how well we’d aligned post linebreak.

Kleyn made a good one on one tackle to start off this phase, even though we were already after giving another penalty away for offside. From there, Marshall took a poor tackle option.

He goes for a rip, rather than a front on tackle and that takes him out of position. If he slows the ball it’s all good, but he can’t.

Look at the problem this causes;

If Racing get quick ball here – and they will – they’ll be able to narrow the Munster line with a basic pick and drive that’ll take away our structural advantage.

Pay close attention to the next phase;

Nakawara picks and goes into the right channel and that action (a) draws a cluster of Munster defenders, (b) prevents the required numbers from folding around the corner and (c) isolates O’Mahony under the posts.

You might look at Kilcoyne here and ask why he hasn’t moved further towards the posts to stop Chat from going for that space to O’Mahony’s inside shoulder.

Problem is, Kilcoyne can’t step out because Nyanga is blocking Archer’s guard line to the scrumhalf.

That leaves O’Mahony in a disadvantaged defensive position, which Racing exploit fully.

They decoy Chat on O’Mahony’s inside shoulder, hit Maka and the giant second row has a trundle at O’Mahony’s exposed outside shoulder.

From here, Munster are in red alert territory. Racing are within three metres of the try line with the posts acting as their best friend and a penalty advantage.

Munster do well to keep out the first carry from the base – Jean Kleyn again – but we’re undone by a lovely piece of work from Tameifuna, who pops a subtle pass to Camille Chat for another near try that Cloete does well to spoil.

From here, we’re in a decent position to force a Racing error – they’re visibly blowing – but a little bit of sloppiness gives them a relatively easy score.

We need to be tighter to this ruck. We aren’t matching Racing’s narrow cluster and we give Nyanga an easy pick and drive up the middle of the ruck for the score.

Work Ons

For me, there are a few constants that we’ve had in our defensive work this season – which has been far from disastrous, I might add – and they are over exuberance, discipline and pillaring, all of which can be seen on this passage of play.

Overall, we have a pretty sophisticated attitude when it comes to defence, and that certainly showed at times in this game. If our discipline improves (to avoid giving teams good attacking platforms like here) and rein in some of the exuberant decision-making (going for rips when they aren’t really on), we can shape up the little flubs as we head towards the business end of the season.