[su_dropcap style=”flat” size=”4″]C[/su_dropcap]ould Monday Night Rugby have started with more of a bang than this game? It had everything – offloads, world-class scores, massively interesting attacking shapes, mumble some bang average defence mumble, and sparkling individual performances from a young Munster side with absolutely zero fear to play an expansive game.

Munster – and the game as a spectacle – were aided by the conditions being optimal for some expansive handling. The previous two rounds had been played out in difficult weather which will naturally have a tightening effect on the game whether your average pundit wants to believe that’s important or not. It’s not that last night was a Goldilocks night either, there was a bit of rain and a bit of a breeze, it just wasn’t lashing rain and the wind wasn’t gusting or swirling across the pitch.

And Munster played accordingly, and boy did they play.

But before we get to that, there were a few defensive flubs that we can’t ignore. Every Blues try and one of their penalties came off the back of a defensive error, be it positional, procedural or poor individual tackling.

This seemed out of character for this side so it isn’t something that overly concerns me going forward – especially when Cardiff’s 10/12/13 played so well here – but some of these, to put it simply so as not to dwell, can’t happen at any level.

Cut these errors out of our game, and this performance takes on a whole new complexion. Let’s not forget that Cardiff came into this fixture with the best defensive record in the PRO14 and the 38 points they conceded in this game is more than their last two games put together and is the most they’ve conceded since November 2nd 2019 – against Munster in the Arms Park. Despite being down a few internationals, this was still a decent Blues team and, when Munster played at pace, we had them on skates for large stretches of this game.

There will naturally be a focus on the offloading in this game – 14 in total – but the offloading was merely an extension of the structure we played in. Yes, we used a 3-2-X shape as we have been for much of the last 12 months – and I’ll get to some of the wrinkles in that later – but it was our work off #9 that caught my eye initially.

Have a look at this example here – it was pulled back for a forward pass but look at the handling complexity we’re attempting.

The pass goes to Coombes, he pops the ball inside for O’Byrne who looks for the outside man in the three pod – Hodnett – to run through looking for a pop pass. All of those actions create an isolation for the man in possession so there’s no momentum sapping double-tackles.

Later in the half, a similar structure off #9 produced this;

Hodnett’s acceleration into contact gets him through the half-hearted double tackle, he offloads to Wycherley who offloads to O’Byrne sweeping around the back.

Both Wycherley and O’Byrne were in the initial three pod but you can see their roles aren’t just to latch, drive or ruck – they are there to space out the defensive cover with an established passing threat so that the carrying target has space to run at.

Both will hit the ruck or latch if needs be, but it isn’t their primary concern before the ball hits the line. They space to offer a passing target and time their advance to the contact point based on the success of the carry. If there’s a possibility that you can run an offload line rather than a cleanout line, the licence is there to do that.

Even small little bits like looping, late-arriving pod players like O’Byrne on this high momentum hit-up play.

O’Byrne’s late pod line creates a “chain of space” because that late line holds the Cardiff progression across the face of the ruck.

That creates space for Healy to attack on the next phase with a late-arriving Calvin Nash run on his inside shoulder and Damian De Allende on the outside shoulder.

We get turned over here but the concept was sound.

Speaking of concepts, Munster are beginning to build an edge swivel option into their regular 3-2-X shape. Have a look at this reel of examples.

I think the Wycherley pass in the third example was another attempt at this kind of scheme but the accuracy was off. When you look at the concept, it’s a forward running across the defensive line to hold the edge defenders while the backs surge around him. The edge swivel can either carry – like O’Byrne in the first instance – or use the defence rushing on his position to pinch them in and pass out.

We used this a few times to good effect but this isn’t new – we were using the same concept during the preseason.

The moment that will live the longest from this game will, undoubtedly, be JJ Hanrahan’s try at the end of a series of top-class offloading rugby but all is not what it seems. Check out the entire sequence.

It’s got everything – a nice pass out the back by a well-spaced three-pod, an excellent break by Haley, Nash running a crucial loop line, a massive breakdown win by O’Donoghye and then a series of offloads with Hanrahan popping up twice in the same phase for a decisive try.

What instinctive play! Or is it? This was schemed out. How do we know this? You could see the same structure during the preseason game against the Connacht Eagles.

Hanrahan takes the ball off a pivot screen and holds the line until contact before popping the ball to DDA, who rolls around the corner and gets the ball away for the finish.

The offloading close to the gainline is situational, but the structure was pre-planned. Our improvement from an attacking perspective was marked and showed a glimpse – a glimpse – of what I think this team is capable of. The defensive work will have to improve, obviously, but this was hugely encouraging stuff for the most part against a good Cardiff Blues outfit. We now sit four points clear at the top of the conference with three incredibly difficult challenges out of the way and an opportunity to capitalise next weekend against the Dragons.

What’s not to like?

Notable Players

This was a really good collective performance. Every player seemed pretty comfortable in their role and almost everyone had a good moment to highlight.

James Cronin is on a real tear at the start of this season. I love players who play with a chip on their shoulder – a bit of bitterness – and Cronin has that belligerence in spades. He scrummaged aggressively, made some good carries and was a constant danger around the Cardiff breakdown. He played a large part in the close-range scores from phase play and directly off the maul, looking quality throughout.

I thought Wycherley and Holland looked really good in the second row. Lots of hard work at the breakdown and set-piece – Wycherley’s tighthead scrummaging behind Archer continued with another strong showing – and both locks were moving the ball around with six passes each. As a comparison, the entire Cardiff pack passed the ball 17 times total. Really nice stuff.

I thought Josh Wycherley looked comfortable at this level on his debut and I look forward to seeing more from him.

Jack O’Donoghue got man of the match on the night but I rated him slightly lower than that here. That isn’t to say that he wasn’t very good, I just felt others performed better but this was a very assured, composed performance from O’Donoghue who got his hands on the ball a fair few times, was a vital lineout component and made some excellent breakdown interventions and that’s before we get to his decisive close-range try in the second half. Very good stuff.

Here he is outrunning a few backs on a kick-chase.

I thought Healy and Casey had another excellent display that showed a growing comfort with the pace and shape that we want to play with. This was a smooth performance from the young duo and hinted at multiple higher levels they can reach. JJ Hanrahan made a strong cameo off the bench too, with his strongest display for Munster since the restart in the final quarter. Good to see.

Damian De Allende came on for Dan Goggin (who made an impressive start before going off injured with what looked like a shoulder injury) and didn’t start well – he knocked on with his first real involvement but he was the definition of a calming presence thereafter, with the errors coming elsewhere. He made his tackles, counter-rucked with the usual power you’d expect and his chicken wing offload in the build up to Hanrahan’s try would have been worthy of the admission, if people were allowed in.

My cardboard cut out loved it, let’s put it that way.

This was a superb performance by John Hodnett, who looked like a player ready to put his foot to the floor on his development. He was held up over the line a few times in the first half and made some really good carries for big gains, a few key breakdown wins, a few nice passes and one really smart offload that lead directly to a three-point penalty. He and O’Donoghue were our wide “lone wolves” in our 3-2-X system and played the roles really well. This guy has it all and already looks like a senior pro in a lot of ways. He’s the real deal.

Is there a hooker playing in Ireland right now that has Kevin O’Byrne’s skillset? There are bigger, more physically imposing hookers, yes but is there any of them that would be comfortable slotting in at first receiver or acting as a highly sophisticated edge passer? No – there is only Kevin O’Byrne. He was everywhere here. Cleaning rucks, making breaks, throwing offloads, nailing his set-piece, distributing the ball like a halfback and scoring tries at the back of mauls – he did it all. He and Rhys Marshall suit this game plan down the ground but O’Byrne, in particular, stood out here because of the variety, volume and quality of his involvements. He’s become one of the most important guys in the team over the last few seasons and you could make an argument that he’s been the most consistently excellent performer over the same time period. Quality. ★★★★★

This early season of the PRO14 has belonged to Gavin Coombes. What is his best position? He describes himself as an #8 and, on this display, you can see why. He was physically imposing in almost everything he did.

Coombes battered the Cardiff defensive line all evening. He scored two tries, yes, but his work in hammering the Cardiff line mixed in with his excellent footwork and passing ability created space for others to work with. He was our top ball carrier – as you’d expect without the extra workload of scrummaging when he was in the second row – and absolutely bossed this game.

If Coombes keeps playing like this, he’ll be in Carton House before long and it won’t be long until he’s landing fellas back on their arse in a green jersey. The sky is the limit for this guy. He’s a lineout forward, a dominant, explosive ball carrier and he’s got the passing game to punish any defence that compresses too much on him. I’ve long described Coombes as having a Duane Vermuelen-esqe air to him.

He’s got the frame and power for it – all he needs is the opportunity. A good match for Coombes is Duane Vermeulen. Both men are of similar height and build and, with a bit of luck, Coombes can reach similar heights. I truly believe he can.

This game showed that comparison in stark relief. Coombes looked like a guy with his head in the game and attacked everything with the kind of imposing physicality that every coach needs in his pack. This version of Gavin Coombes could be a cornerstone of the Munster pack for the next 10 years or more and, if he stays on this road, international honours aren’t far away at all.

He was absolutely outstanding here. ★★★★★

The Wally Ratings: Cardiff Blues (H)

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
James Cronin	★★★★
Kevin O'Byrne	★★★★★
Stephen Archer	★★★
Fineen Wycherley	★★★★
Billy Holland	★★★★
Jack O'Donoghue	★★★★
John Hodnett	★★★★
Gavin Coombes	★★★★★
Craig Casey	★★★★
Ben Healy	★★★★
Darren Sweetnam	★★★
Rory Scannell	★★★
Dan Goggin	N/A
Calvin Nash	★★★
Mike Haley	★★★
Rhys Marshall	★★★★
Josh Wycherley	★★★
Roman Salanoa	★★★
Jean Kleyn	★★★
Chris Cloete	★★★
Nick McCarthy	★★★
JJ Hanrahan	★★★★
Damian De Allende	★★★★