Stephen Larkham will join Munster as our new Senior Coach at the end of the month.
As a statement of intent, this is as good a hire as Munster could have gotten in the open market in 2019 without paying to break someone out of a contract.
Larkham has over four years of top-level test experience with the Wallabies as well as a successful tenure as attack coach and head coach with the Brumbies.
So what can we expect from Larkham as an attack coach at Munster?
Variation.
I’ve had a lot of time to look at Larkham’s work over the past few days and the one thing that sticks out about his approach is a variation in how he stacks an attack for a specific opponent. One thing sticks out as a constant – first phase strike plays off scrum, lineout and maul.
This is a good strike play to generate width against the Irish defence, pull Kearney into the wider channels and give Beale or Foley kicking options into the backfield on the next phase with Ireland’s primary backfield defender out of position.
It was a strike move written to plan against a dangerous opposition’s primary weakness and Australia’s first test victory over Ireland in 2018 was based on an aggressive kicking game that went after Ireland’s backfield – something that England did to fantastic effect in the Six Nations earlier this year. That aggressive kicking showed me an attack coach that isn’t afraid to use any means to go after an opponent’s weakness – in Ireland’s case, our backfield cover and edge defence in the aftermath of losing aerial battles.
Over the last season, Munster’s attacking work began to fall back to reactive kicking – we worked a few phases but then kicked in the hope of regaining better ball rather than really chasing the kick as an attacking weapon. Larkham wasn’t a bit afraid to go to the air on the front foot against Ireland in the first test back in 2018 but it was done as an offensive strategy rather than a reset strategy.
Larkham’s structures on first phase have been consistently good for the Wallabies since the 2015 World Cup;
This double-layered pinch move off a scrum is a prime example – excellent timing, lateral movement by the #10 and quick hands to strike inside.
This second phase lineout strike against Argentina came off a four-man lineout designed to “bake in” an overload after the first phase.
The tight forwards held the edge while the backs swept around the outside.
I’ve felt that our strike plays have needed improvement while looking back at 2018/2019, so I think it’s an area that Larkham will really have an impact.
The lateral movement that we constantly see from Larkham coached backlines – and even forward pods – is something that is really interesting to me. Here’s another example from the Irish series in 2018.
Look at the lateral “slide” of Beale and Koroibete on the outside of Foley’s pass to Kerevi. Beale holds the inside defence for Kerevi and then pops out the back with a heavy runner on his shoulder, looking for the pullback.
He doesn’t get it in this phase – he probably should have – but he’s in a perfect position for the next phase, where he takes an excellent kicking decision.
Phase Play
It’s tough to get an exact match on what attacking structure Larkham will bring in but I’d imagine it won’t be too far off what we play already. Australia have mostly used a 1-3-3-1 or 2-3-3 system over the past few years but it’s unclear how much of that was demanded by Chieka. Larkham was ultimately sacked from the Wallabies by Chieka because they couldn’t agree on an attacking gameplan and philosophy so it’s hard to know how much was Larkham and how much was Chieka.
When the Wallabies played well over the last four years, it’s when they used a 1-3-3-1/2-3-3 variant, so I’d imagine that will continue here.
A 1-3-3-1 needs really good handling from the forwards and multiple playmakers to be effective at the top level. If it degrades into slow-moving pods in the middle looking to generate quick ball then it turns stodgy very quickly, as Munster saw in some top-level games last season. One of the first jobs Larkham will have is taking our forward handling to the next level as well as – almost more importantly – getting our backs playing “bigger”.
Larkham coached teams when they are playing well, generate quick ball for the backs, who then set the table for the forwards to impose themselves on the front foot.
Looking back on last season, if Munster didn’t get front-foot ball from the forwards in big games our backs, as a unit, weren’t able to create conditions for our forwards to dominate. What I mean by that is, you can’t expect to win every single forward contest over a season. Very few teams have that ability – maybe a Leinster or Saracens – so you have to get other strategies.
Some teams have “yellow” or “orange” or “rhino” starter plays to try to inject pace into your attacking sequence but unless they’re disguised properly, top teams will gobble them up and turn you over because they’ve seen your starter plays all season long and know what to look for when it comes to getting pace on a phase from a forward. Larkham teams are very good at using their backs as a unit to generate quick ball so that the forwards can then play off that pace. The Wallaby backs can widen the play, secure their own ball and then create opportunities for the forwards to impose themselves or show off their handling, as in the above GIF.
I loved this double layered phase structure from the third test in 2018.
The individual running lines on the edges of the forward pod – look at gold #21 sliding inside to pinch in the edge defender – helped create the isolation on the wing for Foley to target.
That lateral movement of the three-man forward pods is something I think we’ll see a lot of next season. Two go into contact with one acting as second layer option/rucking option for the playmaker to use as they see fit.
Here’s an example of it against Ireland last year. Look at Kepu offering that slide option behind the initial three-man pod.
You can clearly see Australia’s 1-3-3-1 structure here too; Pocock and Hooper are the lone wolves on the edges, with two distinct pods of three in the middle.
Foley and Beale float between the pods while Kerevi lurks behind with Koroibete, Folau and Haylett-Petty building in around the “lone wolves” on the edge of the play. This will be the likes of O’Mahony, Cloete, Beirne or O’Donghue for Munster.
The three-man pods in the middle of the field have to have good handling and a desire to pull that ball back into the second layer as well as dominating collisions and retaining the ball at the ruck. They will give our playmakers – Carbery/Scannell/Haley – an opportunity to find running options. I think we will need a strong running back three player to make this work as it can do, but we’re mostly playing like this already. Larkham is a strong technical coach with a big focus on passing, pass quality and getting good width on phase play. One of his biggest strengths is transition play – counter-attacking – and his teams have usually found width and space quite well on kick returns and breakdown turnovers. Our forwards’ handling will have to come on a bit to really take advantage of this properly but I’d expect Larkham to work on that as a priority.
