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Despite having a range of threatening, skilful, attacking options, Ireland have been distinctly narrow in their gameplan this June.
The IRFU deserve great credit for improving Irish players’ skill set by getting the likes of Pat Lam, Rob Penney, Stuart Lancaster and Michael Cheika to coach the provinces.
Notwithstanding the improved coaching and focus on skills, Ireland still implement a very structured gameplan. Unfortunately, there is very little heads-up rugby played. Genuine Irish attacking opportunities are spurred because it’s “the wrong part of the field to attack from.”
I have no issue with contested or territorial kicking. For me, kicking is much more difficult if you consistently kick when in a certain position. Systematic kicking means that opposition can drop plenty of players back to deal with the kick, as there is no threat of being overflanked.
It is the combination of kicking and running in their own half, that Ireland are getting badly wrong.
Attacking ambition often correlates highly with offloading. Ireland made 16 offloads in total, in four games against France, Scotland, Wales and England. In contrast, France made 56 offloads in their five Six Nations games.
In the opposition’s half, Irleand’s gameplan involves a huge amount of physicality. If they can’t dominate up front they really struggle. There are a number of reasons for this, the main one being that backs are picked primarily on their defensive abilities.
The most obvious demonstration of this is the non-selection of Adam Byrne. He is excellent in the air, has great feet and is a superb offloader. Despite his rare and exciting skill set, he is not in Schmidt’s radar for the rugby world cup.
The 6 ft 4 in, 100kg plus winger has to “improve his defence” before he gets international recognition.
Another pertinent example is Stuart McCloskey’s continued absence from the Ireland squad. Like Byrne he is a very rounded player and has an offloading ability that no other Irish centre possess.
Luckily for Ireland, Bundee Aki is qualified to play for them in November. He has a great distribution game and would team up well with Stuart McCloskey.
Ireland team I would pick to take on South Africa
1. Cian Healy, 2. Niall Scannell, 3. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Ultan Dillane, 5. Iain Henderson, 6. Peter O’Mahony, 7. Sean O’Brien, 8. Jack Conan, 9. Conor Murray, 10. Johnathan Sexton, 11. Adam Bryne, 12. Stuart McCloskey, 13. Bundee Aki, 14. Jacob Stockdale, 15. Tiernan O’Halloran;
16. Sean Cronin, 17. Jack McGrath, 18. John Ryan, 19. Kieran Treadwell, 20. CJ Stander, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. Paddy Jackson, 23. Robbie Henshaw;
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.