Anyone who watched Ireland in the 1990s can appreciate what it’s like to watch a team battle away for 60/70 minutes before eventually falling to a classier, more advanced opposition. It happened so often you can almost see the lads wilting as the pace keeps going beyond their ability to keep up with it. Watching Saturday’s bonus-point win over England was a little bit surreal when you consider those things we know from the 1990s. It used to be England outlasting us and putting us away in the last quarter as the deflated home crowd watches on but the roles were reversed comprehensively here.
The more I watch the game, the less I feel that the red card was as decisive as Eddie Jones would like us to believe. Ireland lost Peter O’Mahony to a red card in 2021 away to Wales after 12 minutes and, arguably, should have won the game in spite of it. England did a decent job of managing the game for 65 but fully collapsed in the last 15 where they conceded 17 points without reply. It was incredibly un-England like, I’m sure you’d agree.
But it didn’t just happen. Ireland wore out England’s defensive resolve with punishing breakdown accuracy that wouldn’t get its proper reward until those final 15 minutes.
Ireland’s Offensive Ruck Work Score vs England
- A Dominant Clean is an action that decisively secures possession when the ball carrier takes contact. A Dominant Clean does not have to be the first arrival at the breakdown but it is rewarded in the context of effectiveness. We will assign this action 3 points.
- A Guard Action is where a player plays a role in helping to retain possession after we have “re-won” the ball on the floor. Sometimes this can happen on a carry/ruck point where there is no active contention by the opposition. Let’s assign this action 2 points.
- An Attendance can be anything from standing as a “kick shield” on a ruck to adding a bit of bulk to ward against a counter-ruck. I’m marking this down as being worth 1 point.
- An Ineffective Action is a blown cleanout, a lean, a breakdown penalty or an action that I couldn’t see any direct benefit for. This will be worth -1 points.
| Dominant Clean | Guard Action | Attendance | Ineffective | Ruck Work Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healy | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 17 |
| Sheehan | 6 | 12 | |||
| Furlong | 7 | 9 | 2 | 41 | |
| Beirne | 6 | 13 | 1 | 43 | |
| Ryan | 0 | ||||
| O'Mahony | 6 | 7 | 1 | 31 | |
| Van Der Flier | 1 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 33 |
| Doris | 2 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 22 |
| Gibson Park | 2 | 6 | |||
| Sexton | 2 | 1 | 8 | ||
| Lowe | 1 | 4 | 1 | 12 | |
| Aki | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | |
| Ringrose | 6 | 3 | 2 | 22 | |
| Conway | 4 | 1 | 7 | ||
| Keenan | 4 | 3 | 18 | ||
| Herring | 6 | 2 | 14 | ||
| Kilcoyne | 2 | 8 | 22 | ||
| Bealham | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Henderson | 7 | 11 | 3 | 46 | |
| Conan | 4 | 6 | 23 | ||
| Murray | 1 | 2 | |||
| Carbery | 0 | ||||
| Henshaw | 4 | 8 |
Top Five ORW Rankings
- Iain Henderson – 46 points
- Tadhg Beirne – 43 points
- Tadhg Furlong – 41 points
- Josh Van Der Flier – 33 points
- Peter O’Mahony – 31 points
This breakdown analysis drastically changed some of my Wally Ratings for this game. I bumped up Tadgh Furlong, Tadhg Beirne and Iain Henderson up to three stars, I moved Peter O’Mahony onto four stars after an astonishingly effective 60 minutes and dropped Caelan Doris down to two stars for another poor – by his standards – display in that power forward role where he wasn’t able to blend his breakdown work into the mix.
He had 18 ruck involvements – four more than O’Mahony while playing 20 more minutes – but was way less efficient. Conan, by contract, had a higher ORW score despite playing 60 minutes fewer on the field. Maybe Doris needs a tweak in that role or a return to the heavy support forward role he plays when Conan is on the field.
