Stopping Sonny Bill will be key, says Ireland
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Recalled Irish centre Gordon D’Arcy knows he will have his hands full trying to keep a much-improved Sonny Bill Williams quiet in the second Test against the All Blacks.
The 32-year-old will have the job of marking the former rugby league star after being restored to the starting line-up – in place of the injured Keith Earls – to combine in the midfield with Brian O’Driscoll for the 48th time in the Christchurch Test.
D’Arcy, 15kg lighter than the 108kg Williams, accepts that he and O’Driscoll will need to be at their best to stop what Ireland’s defensive coach Les Kiss calls a “huge beast”.
“He is a seriously class act. He has improved phenomenally,” said Kiss.
“Brian and I have our job cut out. One of the things we’ve talked about is one-on-one tackles – that’s something we’re going to live and die by.”
D’Arcy says Ireland were conscious of the need not to over-commit themselves or run the risk of Williams wreaking havoc by getting balls away under pressure.
“We can’t be putting two or three people into a tackle and breakdown, particularly if you’ve got guys like Sonny Bill who can offload when he has two guys hanging off him.”
Kiss, a former Australian rugby league international, says Williams’ form for the Chiefs had shown he had finally made the adjustments to his game necessary to complete the transition from league.
“He’s come on in leaps and bounds. He plays the way New Zealand like their second-fives (inside centres) to play. It’ll be interesting to see if he hangs around,” he said.
Aside from D’Arcy, Ireland have made three other changes to their side beaten 42-10 in the first Test and will start the match with 10 players from the Heineken Cup champions Leinster on the field.
Andrew Trimble takes over on the left wing from Simon Zebo, who made his Test debut at Eden Park, while Kevin McLaughlin replaces Peter O’Mahony at blindside flanker and tighthead prop Mike Ross returns from injury to replace Declan Fitzpatrick.
New Zealand made only one change to their starting line-up, promoting Adam Thomson at blindside flanker to replace the injured Victor Vito and calling up uncapped flanker Sam Cane on the reserves bench.
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The Crowd Says (7) | Page 1 of Comments
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- All Blacks, Ireland Rugby, Rugby Union, Sonny Bill Williams
June 16th 2012 @ 7:16am
moaman said | June 16th 2012 @ 7:16am | Report comment
Had another look at the 1st Test last night;The ‘try’ that Dagg “bombed” immediately prior to the break was worth checking out.Because SBW draws so much attention,the ABs have the options,of course,of using him as a decoy.In the Case of the Bombed Try,Savea and C Smith appeared to run decoys( I would love to see the play from an aerial perspective) DC drifted wide and SBW took the pass from 9 and went to the gainline before passing back deep to DC who of course linked with Dagg…..;had he drawn the last defender and put Guildford in-it would have been a magnificently worked piece of simplicity.
Darcy & O’Driscoll have a great understanding and are both solid defenders;They shouldn’t have too much trouble containing SBW….it’s what happens around him that is the key imo..all those suport runners.Hopefully conditions will allow decent handling.
June 16th 2012 @ 7:18am
Richard said | June 16th 2012 @ 7:18am | Report comment
Ireland fear SBW. They threw huge numbers at him and they fully expected the ABs to play to him at every opportunity. He performed a simple catch and pass which led to an overlap and a line break. Why? Because the Irish had over-committed to him and were at a loss when he passed the ball. Later he performed a simple hit-up which dragged in so many defenders that on the ensuing play Savea scored from a simple overlap. SBW spooks opposition teams and sucks in defenders. Either they let him run riot or they tackle him out of the game but the players around him have all sort of space to operate in. That’s the unseen benefit of a superstar player.
June 16th 2012 @ 9:17am
katzilla said | June 16th 2012 @ 9:17am | Report comment
Now he just needs to learn to pass the ball properly.
I was hoping that Cruden would get a start this test, as much as I like to see Carter getting back to his best I’d prefer to see Cruden further developed for the eventuality that Carter goes. The golden age of the NZ first five is almost over and preperations must be made.
Im sure Hansen will sub him out at some point, his selections already point to future development which is a huge positive on his part.
June 16th 2012 @ 10:25am
Uncle Argyle said | June 16th 2012 @ 10:25am | Report comment
Take him low with one good defender and mark up on his options. When SBW has been kept quiet (Not often) they get up on him early that is the key to it but when the All Black forwards put you on the front foor its very hard to get up on ayone quickly. Good luck Ireland.
June 16th 2012 @ 11:15am
mark said | June 16th 2012 @ 11:15am | Report comment
it’s rather worrying when D’arcy emphasises the Irish need to commit less to the tackle. I hope that isn’t the strategy going into this game. otherwise annihilation awaits them today.
With SBW you can’t have the best of both worlds. You either overcommit and stop the offload, or you undercommit and end up with an offload or worse- a linebreak.
Employing one of these two tactics would usually be enough for poorer teams, however, with a star-studded AB backline, it simply isn’t enough and can never be.
If anyone wants to beat the ABs, you have to out-muscle them upfront, because honestly, no one can compete with their backline.
June 16th 2012 @ 1:45pm
Richie McCaw said | June 16th 2012 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
“Stopping Sonny Bill will be key, says Ireland”.
More accurately they should focus on stopping “The ALL Blacks” I think that will be the key.
June 16th 2012 @ 4:12pm
Richard said | June 16th 2012 @ 4:12pm | Report comment
Well said. SBW can be stopped, the only trouble is there are fourteen other players on the field and you don’t know which one of them is going to score they are all capable of scoring even with SBW not involved.