After a run-through of this game, I was quite surprised to see how easily Ireland managed to retain the ball offensively. I expected a real dogfight from the Argentinians but it never really came to pass, bar some useless indiscipline during the second half that all but guaranteed they’d end up shipping 50 points.
Ireland’s dominance of the middle spaces and the rucks after forward interplay was a major factor in Ireland playing on the front foot consistently.
Our offensive work at the breakdown has been consistently good during this window but we didn’t need to have an outstanding individual or collective display to win this game comfortably. Argentina broadly avoided our breakdowns – they wanted to keep men in the defensive line to number up on our wide game, to some success – but we were really efficient at protecting our ball regardless with relatively few Ineffective entries.
Ireland’s Offensive Ruck Work Score vs Argentina
- 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 | 2 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 45 |
| Kelleher | 1 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 35 |
| Furlong | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 23 |
| Beirne | 10 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 48 |
| Ryan | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 21 |
| O'Mahony | 5 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 42 |
| Van Der Flier | 2 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 36 |
| Doris | 7 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 46 |
| Murray | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Carbery | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
| Lowe | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Henshaw | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 17 |
| Ringrose | 3 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 31 |
| Baloucoune | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 | |
| Keenan | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 |
| Sheehan | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 20 |
| Healy | 6 | 2 | 1 | 13 | |
| O'Toole | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 16 |
| Baird | 2 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 26 |
| Timoney | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Casey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Byrne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Earls | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
- Tadhg Beirne – 48 points
- Caelan Doris – 46 points
- Andrew Porter – 45 points
- Peter O’Mahony – 42 points
- Josh Van Der Flier – 36 points
— - Garry Ringrose – 31 points.
Are you that surprised to see Doris and Beirne top of the charts again? They have been consistently excellent over the last three games in helping to maintain our possession while racking up their own on-ball involvements. They are supremely modern examples of what a back five forward should be in 2021 – good at everything, suitable for every role and capable of playing on-ball or off-ball depending on the requirement.
Garry Ringrose continued his strong work at the breakdown with another incredibly busy outing where he racked up flanker like numbers.
♛ ♛ ♛
Ireland’s work on the defensive side of the ball, once again, didn’t have to be of the highest quality to deal with a misfiring Argentinian side who struggled to stretch our system outside of transition events. We were quite efficient in our entries here too, with most of our best slowdown work being done in contact prior to the ruck forming.
Ireland’s Defensive Ruck Work Score vs Argentina
- 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 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -1 |
| Kelleher | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 |
| Furlong | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Beirne | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Ryan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| O'Mahony | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Van Der Flier | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Doris | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Murray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carbery | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lowe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Henshaw | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ringrose | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Baloucoune | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keenan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sheehan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Healy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| O'Toole | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Baird | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Timoney | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Casey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Byrne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Earls | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Tadhg Beirne – 16 points
- Josh Van Der Flier – 9 points
- Caelan Doris – 9 points
- Nick Timoney – 5 points
- Peter O’Mahony – 3 points
Tadhg Beirne’s work on the defensive side of the ball was superb, but it’s what he does. He’s a guy who wins penalties by the threat of his presence over the ball at this stage, let alone what he can do when he spots a window to attack.
