[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”4″]A[/su_dropcap]fter a win like this, you’ve got two options – focus on this game in isolation, or transplant what you saw in this game into a different context. The former is completely fair but is in danger of not seeing the wood for the trees. The latter can be a form of rugby maths where you add up 2 + 2 and try to picture a scenario where it could be 4, 8 or 44 depending on what might or could happen.
The truth is, we don’t know how this 48-10 win will scale up to Scotland next week or to England a round later.
We do know that Ireland horsed 50 points onto Italy back in October of last year and then underperformed away to France the week after so we have a very recent example to show that what we saw in Rome on Saturday afternoon might not represent a massive step in the right direction as much as it represents a familiar step that we have consistently managed to make even when playing poorly in general.
This almost identical result – just two points of a difference five months later – featured many of the hallmarks of previous Ireland/Italy games. Italy’s attack looked threatening at times, yes, but the vast majority of their afternoon was spent losing defensive collision in a sequence. In that environment of dominantly won collisions, Ireland’s attack clicked repeatedly and looked as good as it has in months. I spoke in the Blood & Thunder podcast about the importance of Ireland’s lineout, maul and maul break against this Italian #10 channel and midfield and when you combine that launch point with Ireland winning dominant forward collisions every other phase, you see a pattern emerging.
Look at the sequence right before and immediately after Iain Henderson’s “ghost try”. It started with a long lineout over the top to give Henshaw a direct line onto Garbisi and Canna. That dominant collision win set up a cascading series of forward carries that drove Italy back ruck by ruck by ruck. It should have ended with a Henderson try but, inexplicably, Romain Poite thought different up in the TMO box. Maybe he was watching cartoons or something.
When Italy booted the ball back down the field, Ireland reset into a centre-field ruck position and ran a nice little inside ball play to Beirne. Look at the numbers Italy lose on Beirne’s carry and the empty shot on Sexton off the ball! The next carry from Ringrose gets over the gainline to such an extent that Italy conceded a penalty for not rolling away and a bad fold by the pillar defender opened up space for Ireland to attack the short side – Lowe made a huge gain in the 5m channel before resetting for a penalty.
Look at the sequence off that penalty; lineout, maul, maul break to Henshaw for dominant gainline on Garbisi/Canna and then cascading forward pressure around the corner right up to the 5m line until the release pass put Ringrose away.
The second clip illustrates just how badly Italy were losing those central collision points. They were burning two+ players out of the line on every other phase, Ireland were regularly snagging guys in rucks when the Italian’s weren’t taking themselves out and that kind of number deficit adds up as the phase count ticks higher. Ireland were winning the gainline incredibly easily and that allows little plays like the Henshaw offload right there at the end.
The discourse around Ireland’s offloads – or lack of them – is really a conversation about lost offensive collisions. When you are generally winning collisions, you have the space to use a short pass out of contact to a runner who can run a combination line – a line that is both an offload and ruck support line depending on the outcome of the collision.
Ireland’s second try was a combination of all these things rolled into one. Look at the principles; a lineout maul that drives infield and then breaks down the blindside to compresses the Italian defence, a screen pass from Ryan to Sexton opens up the second layer and then the release.
When Brex flies out of the line to challenge the ball, it leaves a clear pathway for Ringrose to pass through as long as he avoids losing the collision. All he has to do – sounds simple when you read it – is get his hands beyond Brex and the offload will be there.
Keenan can run this line simply because he is playing in the aftermath of dominantly won collisions and with clear space to run into. Winning collisions and compressing defences gives you lanes to pass into that aren’t there when you are not winning collisions or compressing defences.
This is when the game looks easy.
All through the game, we used this simple formula – maul, maul break, launch Henshaw into Garbisi/Canna, bring forwards around the corner for consistent gainline wins and then release to structure. Look at the last play here – Sexton plays Larmour into the second layer, Larmour wins a collision and can offload the short pass to Connors for the finish.
What happens when we aren’t chewing through phases like this? Well, look at the games against France and Wales for a sample of that. When Ireland win collisions through the forwards and off the set-piece, we have good players who will play into “inevitable” space.
This is the moment where a good player is put in a position to make an obvious play. In this instance, Ireland isolated the Italian edge through an excellent release play – Kelleher’s swivel pass out was superb – and that put Larmour and Connors into a position where they can make a play. When two Italian defenders cluster on Larmour but leave a pocket for him to get through, it’ll open up an “inevitable” space for a good player to take advantage of.
Of course he left the ball out of contact here. He’s a good player and that’s what a good player does. The issue is that when we played Wales and France, we weren’t able to consistently generate these kinds of scenarios deep in the opposition half with regularity.
Ireland would launch off the lineout again and again and again for consistent gains.
When you’re winning collisions, and confident of winning collisions, you can play with more freedom. We could tip on and make gains off #9 and play into more staggered, expansive 2-2 structures off that initial gainline win. Look at his example here that put Beirne away in the 5m tramline.
Ryan’s running a lagging line behind the midfield two pod of Healy and Porter. We’ll have been disappointed not to have taken full advantage of this break but it didn’t really matter. The opportunities would always be there because Italy had very little for us in contact and they were unable to impact our chain of possession at the lineout at any point. 60% of our carries were over the gainline, and 69% of our rucks were under three seconds. That will tell you all you need to know about how Ireland did what they did here.
And that was that. Italy showed some flashes of the deep/wide ball that they’ve been building this season – Meyer and Negri’s numbers with the ball in hand are proof of that – but Italy were unable to deal with Ireland’s defensive breakdown work and they were choked out of the game pretty early.
I think it’s fair to say that if Ireland can get this combination of quick ball and gain line success against Scotland, or England or anyone, really, then the scores will come and the structure will sing. The problem comes when we don’t get quick ball or win collisions in the opposition half – that is when we will see if this game was a much-needed reset or just the same old path we walked last year.
Notable Players
This was a game that drew a lot of eyes onto Ryan Baird and Craig Casey. As two 21-year-old debutants, that’s a pretty normal phenomenon but where you’d normally expect nerves, there was instead the kind of icy calm and performance that has been a hallmark of both players.
Ryan Baird took a few lineouts, impacted in defence and even managed a Baird-esque carry for his troubles too. A very composed and very effective debut for the young man.
Craig Casey did what Craig Casey does, which is adapt to whatever is required of him in the moment as if he’s always been doing it. When he featured for Munster in the PRO14, it was like a seasoned pro coming back from an injury layoff. When he featured for Munster in the Champions Cup, he played like a season test player slotting in exactly as planned. When he came off the bench here, he just fit in, like it wasn’t his test debut at just 21 years of age.
He played all the hits we’ve come to know – electric pace, lightning-fast passing with accuracy ruck-to-ruck that 50 cap internationals would be proud of. His quick tap on the last play was nicely done but look at the time he gives Sexton with the pace and accuracy of his pass.
That opens up the lane for Sexton to make a pass across the face of the defence and that’s an area of his game that time hasn’t even come close to dulling. Casey’s appearance here hints at the player to come. He even bossed singing “Careless Whisper” in the dressing room afterwards.
The standout performers for me were on the flanks. The pack all played incredibly well – James Ryan and CJ Stander were great – but I want to focus on the impact of Connors and Beirne in particular.
Tadhg Beirne is playing like a Lion. No, not an actual lion – they aren’t very good at rugby at all – but the kind of Lion that will hopefully play a test series against the Springboks later this year. What isn’t he doing? He’s taking and stealing lineouts, he’s impacting on-ball offensively, he’s racking up offensive and defensive ruck involvements and showing he can play in blended roles when he needs to.
In this game, he was running the Irish #6 role which meant that he spent a fair bit of time defending and running in the wider channels. He made a few good breaks there, sure, but this moment early in the game showed the kind of athletism that Beirne is running with right now.
He starts out holding width as expected in the role and ran an option line for Henshaw but had the pace and alertness to readjust and hit the ruck, getting there before James Ryan who passed out of the screen a few seconds before. Beirne is performing at an incredibly high level at the moment and he’s become a vital component of the Irish matchday squad. This game was a further illustration of that importance with a seamless transition to the #6 role. Top of the charts in cleanouts, top of the charts in offensive and defensive ruck arrivals, and two tackle breaks in possession – Tadhg Beirne is looking like Aslan right now. ★★★★★
I was a Will Connors doubter. My concern with him was – is he just a chop tackle guy? I was disappointed with what I saw of him in his first Champions Cup start against Saracens as I thought he looked a little underpowered and, as a defensive hitter, that concerned me but anytime I’ve seen him since he’s been hugely effective in his role and this was the best I’ve seen him so far in his Test career.
What I love is that Connors knows exactly what he is. His role set identification is his strongest trait as a player and he executes it perfectly. He’s a dangerous wide runner, an excellent ruck support player (top three in first arrivals here) and a nightmare to carry into. This was Connors showing he’s more than comfortable at this level and while there’ll be bigger tests to come, this was a showcase of a player who’s incredibly comfortable in his role as a defensive hitter and support forward. Outstanding. ★★★★★
The Wally Ratings: Italy (A)
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 |
|---|---|
| Dave Kilcoyne | ★★★★ |
| Ronan Kelleher | ★★★★ |
| Tadhg Furlong | ★★★★ |
| Iain Henderson | ★★★★ |
| James Ryan | ★★★★ |
| Tadhg Beirne | ★★★★★ |
| Will Connors | ★★★★★ |
| CJ Stander | ★★★★ |
| Jamison Gibson-Park | ★★★★ |
| Johnny Sexton | ★★★★ |
| James Lowe | ★★★★ |
| Robbie Henshaw | ★★★★ |
| Gary Ringrose | ★★★★ |
| Jordan Larmour | ★★★ |
| Hugo Keenan | ★★★★ |
| Rob Herring | ★★★ |
| Cian Healy | ★★★ |
| Andrew Porter | ★★★ |
| Ryan Baird | ★★★★ |
| Jack Conan | ★★★ |
| Craig Casey | ★★★★ |
| Billy Burns | ★★★ |
| Keith Earls | ★★★ |
