Nothing works about Ireland’s attack unless the breakdown works. I think that’s as close to a hard fact as there is when it comes to this game. And yes, I know every side needs a good offensive breakdown but when you pass as much as this Irish team do under Catt’s League-Hybrid attack, you need to be able to sustain that passing with fast, efficient recycling, otherwise you end up playing laterally.
Most teams who pass the ball a lot tend to look quite lateral in their approach but not Ireland – why is that? Ireland’s 238 passes against Wales is closer to a rugby league output than union, yet we rarely looked like we were playing sideways because the quality of our breakdown meant that we were always playing against a quickly resetting defence with layers of attacking runners to pass through. Our 238 passes were 82 passes ahead of France. That is a massive difference. The difference between our raw passing numbers compared to France is just 30 passes fewer than the total passes completed by Scotland and England and just 11 fewer than Italy.
Passing on its own isn’t enough. You’ve seen plenty of teams passing the ball a lot only to find everywhere they pass to being swarmed by defenders. Line speed is often seen as a “pass killer” because sprinting defenders running into passing lanes discourages the attacking team from throwing passes. Rucks reset the defensive line.
When the ball is quick and you have layers of attacking options, line speed becomes less effective with every phase of possession because the defence, in essence, is playing catchup.
As a result, you’d expect Ireland to have big offensive breakdown numbers and that is borne out in the numbers.
| Dominant Clean | Guard Action | Attendance | Ineffective | Ruck Work Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter | 5 | 9 | 1 | 34 | |
| Kelleher | 5 | 14 | 1 | 44 | |
| Furlong | 3 | 5 | 1 | 18 | |
| Beirne | 7 | 6 | 33 | ||
| Ryan | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 28 |
| Doris | 6 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 41 |
| Van Der Flier | 5 | 21 | 3 | 60 | |
| Conan | 3 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 29 |
| Gibson Park | 0 | ||||
| Sexton | 1 | 3 | 1 | 10 | |
| Hansen | 1 | 3 | 9 | ||
| Aki | 3 | 5 | 2 | 17 | |
| Ringrose | 5 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 34 |
| Conway | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
| Keenan | 1 | 13 | 1 | 28 | |
| Sheehan | 2 | 2 | 10 | ||
| Healy | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| Bealham | 1 | 6 | 1 | 14 | |
| Baird | 1 | 6 | 1 | 16 | |
| O'Mahony | 3 | 7 | 23 | ||
| Murray | 0 | ||||
| Carbery | 2 | 4 | |||
| Hume | 5 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
Josh Van Der Flier’s numbers really stand out here as a guy who helped lock down a number of “flow” rucks to keep sequences flowing and, even more importantly, keep the defence focused on the offside line.
Top Five ORWS
- Josh Van Der Flier – 60 points
- Ronán Kelleher – 44 points
- Caelan Doris – 41 points
- Andrew Porter & Garry Ringrose – 34 points
- Tadhg Beirne – 33 points
The presence of Garry Ringrose in the top five shouldn’t be a surprise because it’s a continuance of his work for Ireland during the November internationals. Hugo Keenan – with 28 points – had a remarkably complete game at fullback to show off the full range of his skills and importance to Ireland.
Van Der Flier’s performance really comes into focus when you combine his defensive output – 16 tackles, multiple breakdown arrivals and poach attempts – and his offensive output with 11 carries and 7 passes with this offensive breakdown work. It’s as complete a performance as you can get from a player in that small forward role and vital in keeping the Irish offensive machine running smoothly.
