Peter O’Mahony’s clean lineout steal in the 63rd minute of Saturday’s test match against Argentina was a key part of Ireland’s win.
That lineout – taken clean at the front as if it were thrown straight to O’Mahony – gave Ireland a pristine position to attack from and, after being held up over the line a few phases after, scored directly off the resulting 5m scrum.
O’Mahony’s steal was the perfect blend of athleticism, in game IQ and video work.
Have a look;
Everything from O’Mahony’s movement to the front, Furlong’s launch and Toner’s stiff arm back lift were exactly what they needed to be to boss the space at the front of the lineout. In that scenario, the counter-jumper has the advantage because they can often attack a static jumper with lateral movement on the ground and in the air.
I got a lot of questions on this.
Chief amongst them being, how did O’Mahony make this ball look like it was thrown straight to him?
But a lot of the work done on this steal were done pre-game and while the game was going on. A guy like Peter O’Mahony learns from lineout to lineout what a team is likely to do.
As soon as the 14th minute, O’Mahony was starting to game the Argentinian lineout pattern.
This was a fairly rudimentary move, in line with Argentina’s simple lineout strategy. All four of their primary jumpers were in the middle of the lineout and Lavanini stepped out as a lift feint to allow Alemanno and Ortega Desio to launch Petti at the front of the middle of the lineout.
The question here wasn’t in Argentina’s movement and feints – because their feinting was quite simple – it’s in their positioning.
The question for Ireland here was, which of Argentina’s four likely jumpers – Alemanno, Lavanini, Petti or Ortega Desio – would be the target and in which position? Front, middle or tail?
As the game went on, those two questions – who and where – became simpler and simpler for Ireland to get after. The previous lineout saw Ireland leave the ball rather than risk a counter jump. We’d go after the next one.
Watch the pattern;
Petti going up at the front of the middle of the lineout being lifted by Alemanno with Garcia Botta stepping in off the front. O’Mahony made a decent challenge on the jumper but got the position wrong.
Let’s roll to the next one;
Ortega Desio jumping at the front of the middle of the lineout with Garcia Botta stepping in off the front. Ireland didn’t challenge, deciding instead to attack the Argentinian maul.
Let’s roll to the next one;
Petti jumping at the front of the middle of the lineout with Alemanno lifting. O’Mahony was starting to read the pattern at this stage and got a decent challenge on Petti during this counter jump, missing the ball by mere inches thanks to a quality throw by Creevy.
Let’s go to the lineout before the one stolen by O’Mahony. Who’s the target?
Ortega Desio was the target in the middle of the lineout with Alemanno lifting.
What’s the pattern over the last five lineouts? A back row jumper – Petti or Ortega Desio – usually being lifted by Alemanno and one other with the farthest position being the middle of the lineout. As we saw from the Green Eye, Argentina only go to the back and tail of the lineout with a lot of lateral movement on the ground, but they weren’t going to risk that against Ireland’s counter-jumpers. They were also concerned about speed into the air, which is why their targets up until this point were their quickest guys into the air.
Argentina were slowly revealing their lineout tendency to Ireland as the game progressed.
The Steal
The critical steal is worth looking at again.
Let’s get to the detail; Argentina shortened their lineout to four so they could begin an exit scheme as the lineout took place on their own 5m line. Usually, that means Argentina taking a ball off the top, popping it down to Cubelli, who then hits Matera on a platform carry to increase the kicking angle for the clearance.
You can see Argentina setting up to do just that here.
It’s a common feature of Argentina’s exits where they shorten the lineout and then generate a good kicking platform off a big carry from two back row runners. Here’s an example from their game against South Africa in the Rugby Championship.
The key part here is the lineout movement and structure before the throw. Remember, this is in the exact same position as the one O’Mahony stole.
Ortega Desio is being lifted by the loosehead lifter and Guido Petti (who was #4 in the South Africa game and operating the same role as Alemanno in this game) with the jump position at the front of the middle of the lineout and the throw being a quick one to be tapped down off the top.
We know that O’Mahony did his homework on Argentina before the game. We also know that all of Argentina’s throws to this point had been to a back-row forward with Alemanno involved as a lifter in all but one of them.
In this circumstance, right before the throw what would O’Mahony have seen?
He’s seen Lavanani at the tail of the four-man lineout – so that rules Lavanini out as a jumper at the tail. O’Mahony would have seen Alemanno slowly walking to the middle while Ortega Desio fiddled with his boot on the floor. O’Mahony would also see the loosehead lifter, Cubelli standing ready and Matera waiting closer to the posts. Just like the video of the South Africa game.
This is the picture as it presents, but what has he learned during the game?
He’d have noted that Argentina haven’t thrown to anyone but a back row jumper all game, and no further back in the line than the middle. Given the context of the throw – stuck on their 5m line in the last quarter while only a point down – Argentina weren’t likely to go to a new jumper under pressure and because of the four-man build, even if they did, the throw would probably be to the middle and front anyway.
That, coupled with his video work, made O’Mahony’s job relatively easy; move when Ortega Desio moves, get ahead of him in the air, take the space and then take that ball.
