[su_dropcap style=”flat”]T[/su_dropcap]here’s no shame in losing to a better team in a close game. England were relatively comfortable winners on the scoreboard and in “feel” but Ireland will look back at a few key moments as being the major difference in the losing of this game.
That’s always the way, I suppose. Every result is a product of small moments becoming big moments in the pattern of the game but for a matchup like this, where Ireland would be looking to outmanoeuvre a bigger, stronger pack consistently, we would have to be sharper and more accurate when opportunities presented themselves. We would have to kick smartly, we would have to hit our lineout targets consistently, we would have to be efficient in possession when we worked our way into good positions, we would have to live with England on maul D and the scrum but, most importantly, we would have to capitalise on our moments.
This for example;
Early penalty opportunity from the restart > kick long for the lineout > hit a strike, win a tackle penalty > kick for goal.
The penalty just drifted wide – which doesn’t make the decision to kick a bad one, by the way – but that sequence was a moment that, had Ireland capitalised on, would send a message to England.
Fuck around with us and we can hurt you.
Embedded in that sequence, however, was some clear warning signs – English collision dominance and serious pressure at the offensive breakdown.
Straight from the 22 drop out after the missed penalty, we would get another crack at the English defence. We ended up winning a scrum due to a knock-on in the tackle zone but look at the collision dominance again.
Our scrum launch was nicely done – I liked Corkery’s pass through that moving slant screen to Jennings – but in context, we needed more from Osbourne and Cosgrave in that hinge moment on the edge. My main issue is with Cosgrave in this instance, because it seems to me like he staggered his line to try to cut back inside rather than hitting the line hard on the outside and taking on the fullback.
Another moment gone. It’s a small moment, a fleeting window, but these were cracks in the early game that Ireland could have used to shape the end game. England were big in the collision and strong over the ball at the breakdown but they kept giving us early moments.
From that very strike move, England reset in the lineout and kicked upfield, which produced another sequence of opportunities.
These opportunities ranged from small windows to a disappointing end of sequence set-piece failure that could have given Ireland a close-range phase play opportunity at the very least. Six minutes ticked by where Ireland left three points and maybe another five at a minimum on the table. In the context of a game where England’s power advantage would show at some point, those missed opportunities to shape the scoreboard and thus the flow of the game felt big on the watch back.
On the next sequence of play, Ireland conceded two penalties in succession before conceding on consecutive maul defence sets.
Just like that, on their first real attacking possession, England had exerted their power in an area we’d have been concerned about and taken the lead.
Time and again, when Ireland looked to trade shots with England we were rarely able to capitalise on our good moments. The lineout began to creak, we began to run some strike plays that went away from where we wanted to focus – our bigger outside backs on England’s smaller outside backs – in favour of plays that brought their powerful back row into the game and we were less able to pressure England’s backline with our reset kicking game.
We went in at halftime after spoiling a good transition phase when a poor pass at the edge broke the play down. We burned through a few phases losing collision after collision before Doak wisely kicked the ball off the field. We’d really need to start the second half strongly because, even though we’d lost control of the first half as it progressed, we weren’t that far back on the scoreboard. The collisions were an issue, for certain, but the same rules applied; take our moments, stack positives on top of each other and we would score points.
We weren’t able to do that.
When an opportunity came to exert some pressure on a 14-man England side later in the half we only managed half a job in that we scored but we lost momentum right when England were vulnerable and ultimately conceded a try before the sin-bin timer had elapsed.
We never stopped playing but the game was over a fair bit before the final whistle. Statistically, there wasn’t much between the teams. Possession and territory were 50/50. England spent more minutes in our 22 than we did in theirs but that could easily be explained by their close-range lineout sets which we did well to defend outside the two we conceded on. Ultimately, this game was a good example of what happens when you play a bigger team to who you are giving up a power differential. You have to hope they are indisciplined – they weren’t really – and you have to hope that they kick poorly – and they didn’t. You also have to take your chances when they arise because if you can’t dent them physically, you can distort the scoreboard in your favour to drag them off-structure. An early 10 point lead for Ireland for example, which we had the opportunities for, changes the entire context of how England manage the game outside the opening 10 minutes.
The lineout was the biggest issue for me, with some poor throws and some moments where we got out jumped by a bigger pack. When you add that to a few bricked penalties, some handling errors at key times and a lack of the half-back control we saw in the previous game against Wales, you can see how England pulled away as the game progressed. In that regard, it’s a great learning opportunity for a well-coached Irish side with some excellent individuals dotted throughout.
The Wally Ratings: England (N)
The Wally Ratings explainer page is here.
Players are rated based on their time on the pitch, if they were playing notably out of position, and on the overall curve of the team performance. DNP means the player did not feature and N/A means they weren’t on the pitch long enough to warrant a fair rating.
| Names | Rating |
|---|---|
| Temi Lasisi | ★★★ |
| Ronan Loughnane | ★★ |
| Sam Illo | ★★★ |
| Alex Soroka | ★★★ |
| Harry Sheridan | ★★★ |
| Donnacha Byrne | ★★★ |
| Oisín McCormack | ★★★ |
| Alex Kendellen | ★★★★ |
| Nathan Doak | ★★★ |
| Tim Corkery | ★★ |
| Chris Cosgrave | ★★ |
| Cathal Forde | ★★★ |
| Shane Jennings | ★★★ |
| Ben Moxham | ★★★ |
| Jamie Osbourne | ★★★ |
| Eoin de Buitléar | ★★★ |
| Jack Boyle | ★★ |
| Mark Donnelly | ★★ |
| Reuban Crothers | ★★★ |
| Conor McKee | ★★★ |
| Jude Postlethwaite | ★★★ |
| Daniel Okeke | ★★★ |
