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Are we 41 phases closer to reinstating the breakdown laws?

Roar Guru
7th February, 2018
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The Irish had plenty to say to the referee in their loss to the All Blacks. (AFP, Franck Fife)
Roar Guru
7th February, 2018
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1816 Reads

Despite the relatively easy penalty miss from the French with three minutes to go, Ireland displayed a level of rugby smarts and execution which reaffirms their place as one of the top three sides in our game.

From the excellent regather from quick drop kick restart – which took place while the French were sound asleep – to the best drop goal since some bloke from the Crusaders, it was a controlled and wonderfully focused section of play.

But is this really how we want our game to be played, the change in the breakdown laws has, in the Northern Hemisphere to date, seen the foraging turnover disappear from the game.

Let’s be clear, at the Northern Hemisphere level in internationals the turnover has hardly been a major weapon for attacking teams and winning games. In last year’s Six Nations neither of England, Scotland or Wales managed to score a try from a turnover, while Ireland managed three.

The ruck has been a vehicle for slowing down the opposition ball and giving defences time to reset but it did remain a contest.

But as I watched Ireland go through the phases in winning this game I couldn’t help but think that all the laws of unintended consequences had come home to roost and there was a game of rugby league with unlimited tackles unfolding. I felt that a mad scramble might be happening at World Rugby as they looked to dig the old laws out of the bottom draw.

What could the French have done?

41 phases means 41 tackles and 41 rucks, which should provide 41 opportunities to do, well, something.

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Our game is supposed to be a continuous contest for the ball after all.

Well, in part the 41 phases were France’s fault, they were extremely passive throughout all the phases and clearly did not want to risk giving away a penalty, but it took Ireland 24 phases to cross the halfway line so the scope to be more aggressive in defence was there.

Connor Murray was his laborious but accurate self from the base so the opportunity to hit players behind the advantage line was always present but not taken.

I should note here that Murray’s pass to Sexton for the droppie was spot on and released on the way up. He needs to do this more often.

I counted only two big tackles from all phases and neither went for the ball in the tackle.

Those who watched Sam Cane in the EOYT Wales game would have noticed a slight change in his technique and he forced three drops from Welsh players with very big hits.

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Ireland had four guys take the ball up in half of these phases, France simply didn’t have a plan for them.

Where was the strangle?

The Irish are past masters at holding up the ball carrier and forcing a maul turnover, and the French themselves are no slouches here but not a one was attempted.

Drawing the Ireland side into sealing off over the ball?

If the Irish ball carriers are running too low to attempt a holdup, then the opportunity must be there to get them to over commit to the ruck. They need to put guys on the ground past the ball and get penalised for sealing off, but the French were so passive there was hardly a need for a second wave of clean outs for Ireland.

Ireland Scotland 6 Nations Rugby

(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Thus this particular risk wasn’t forced, although there was one incident where the Irish were inaccurate and could have been pinged for being on the ground past the ball.

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If a side is running down the clock to win a game they are constantly warned not to seal off, it shouldn’t be any different if a side is keeping the ball trying to win a game.

Why does refereeing change at the end of the game?

Nigel Owens was never going to blow his whistle for anything other than fulltime once Ireland got out of their own half, he was refereeing the situation and not the game. It would be hard to find any game where 41 rucks went by without a penalty being awarded either way.

Now we are all aware that with rugby’s somewhat complex laws you can find an infringement at any contest but even without being picky I think there were at least two occasions when France should been penalised for lying on the ball.

Perhaps more importantly, Ireland could easily have been called for clearing from the side (phase 3), accidental offside (phase 15) not releasing (phase 25) or clearing out a player past the ball and from the side (phase 35).

There were a whole bunch of Irish bodies on the ground past the ball at phase 36 too, have seen this penalised often.

Rugby referee Nigel Owens

(AFP, Franck Fife)

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So if we are going to continue with these breakdown laws that benefit possession so strongly then there is a real need to reinforce our remaining laws with consistency.

Are we in a situation where the new breakdown laws are going to see the game turn into unlimited tackle rugby league, I am going to with a no at this stage.

Ireland are probably the world’s best when it comes to retaining the ball, with or without the new laws. France were particularly passive; but these new laws have eliminated a key contest area from our game and lets hope better sides than France find ways to be aggressive in getting the ball back.

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