Beating New Zealand doesn’t happen often enough for anyone in Ireland to talk about a win like this as if it’s any old game. It isn’t. It still feels like a really big deal to beat the All Blacks and I guess we’ll know that we’ve truly progressed up to the very next level when we can treat it like just another big game, as opposed to The Big Game.
With that in mind, it feels weird to say that Ireland, while playing well against New Zealand to beat them 29-20, were actually less accurate at the breakdown than they were the week before against Japan.
That isn’t to say that there weren’t remarkable breakdown performances. Some of the work put in by the top five on the offensive and defensive side of the ball was brutally effective and laid the foundation for the win but our work at the offensive breakdown, on the whole, was below the level of the set-up play that preceded it. The number of Ineffective ruck entries compared to the week before was through the roof, even if the general ORWS levels were higher.
When you consider that Ireland won with an excellent display, that shows the potential for even more improvement in the weeks and months ahead.
Ireland’s Offensive Ruck Work Score vs New Zealand
- 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. We’re 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter | 8 | 23 | 0 | 4 | 66 |
| Kelleher | 11 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 35 |
| Furlong | 11 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 62 |
| Henderson | 3 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 24 |
| Ryan | 8 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 46 |
| Doris | 7 | 14 | 2 | 5 | 46 |
| Van Der Flier | 4 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| Conan | 7 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 47 |
| Gibson-Park | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Sexton | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| Lowe | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Aki | 7 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 51 |
| Ringrose | 9 | 9 | 0 | 3 | 42 |
| Conway | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Keenan | 4 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 34 |
| Herring | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Healy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bealham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Beirne | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| O'Mahony | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Murray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carbery | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Earls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Caelan Doris wasn’t able to rack up the freaky numbers he generated against Japan on the offensive side of the ball this time out – some Ineffective clearouts took him out of the top three – but he was still really effective when you consider his on-ball involvements.
Bundee Aki’s ORWS was outstanding. He really did live up to the concept that his best role is almost as a playmaking wing forward with the way he impacts on both sides of the ball at the breakdown. This was as good as I’ve seen him and he was joined by Garry Ringrose as the best of the backs, who I’ve upgraded to a five-star performance based on the quality of his breakdown work.
Jack Conan was heavily involved again and James Ryan was back to the levels close to what he’s capable of, despite a number of Ineffective entries and a relatively slow start.
The biggest performers were Andrew Porter and Tadhg Furlong who, along with Ronan Kelleher, are pushing very hard to be considered the best front row unit on the planet at the moment, certainly from a phase play perspective. Porter’s offensive work rate at the breakdown was outstanding but Furlong’s was arguably better, given he played 12 fewer minutes than Porter. Either way, both men were outstanding physical and brutally effective in securing our possession.
- Andrew Porter – 66 points
- Tadhg Furlong – 62 points
- Bundee Aki – 51 points
- Jack Conan – 47 points
- James Ryan/Caelan Doris – 46 points
— - Gary Ringrose – 43 points
♛ ♛ ♛
The defensive side of the ball only really began to play a role in the second half of the game but featured some excellent performances by Caelan Doris – top five on both sides of the ball – and a staggeringly effective outing by Tadhg Beirne off the bench.
Ireland’s Defensive Ruck Work Score vs New Zealand
- A Turnover is rated as an action that turns the ball over at the breakdown through a poach/jackal or counter-ruck or in contact, like a choke tackle. Impact tackles that dislodge the ball aren’t counted in this metric. These actions are very valuable so I rate any turnover action as being worth 5 points.
- An Effective Slowdown is where a player plays a role in slowing down the opposition ruck recycle, either through an effective poach, a slowdown in the tackle or a strong counter-ruck. These are worth 3 points.
- An Ineffective action is where you take yourself out of the defensive line with a badly timed poach attempt that doesn’t slow the ball down or with a weak counter-ruck. -1 point.
- A Penalty is a conceded penalty at a defensive breakdown. Any breakdown penalty is rated as -2 points.
| Turnover | Effective Slow Down | Ineffective | Penalty | Defensive Ruck Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Kelleher | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Furlong | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Henderson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Ryan | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Doris | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 15 |
| Van Der Flier | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | |
| Conan | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Gibson-Park | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Sexton | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Lowe | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Aki | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Ringrose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Conway | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Keenan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Herring | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Healy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bealham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -2 |
| Beirne | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| O'Mahony | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Murray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carbery | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Earls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Tadhg Beirne – 24 points
- Caelan Doris – 15 points
- Ronan Kelleher/Johnny Sexton – 12 points
- Peter O’Mahony/James Lowe – 11 points
- Jack Conan – 9 points
Beirne’s name showing up top isn’t that much of a shock. He’s a defensive specialist on this side of the ball and was second on the ratings last week but what is most remarkable is that he only played 32 minutes. Outstanding.
The other remarkable name on here is Johnny Sexton, who was an outstanding defensive component of this game. His physicality in the tackle and post-tackle area are hugely effective, as is his ability to choke up a runner who comes at him too high just long enough for the likes of Kelleher, Aki or Van Der Flier to finish the job.
