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.
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.
(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.
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.
(AFP, Franck Fife)
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.
Harry Jones
Expert
Stats show very clearly the most likely outcome of 41 phases in the rain, at the end of 80, with nerves jangling .... was a knock-on. French were tackling hard, to the end. Amazing hands by Irish, esp. Earls.
Highlander
Guest
I take your point Henry but not sure that would translate 70pc possesssion amd you only made it into the French 22 on 4 occasions in 80 minutes and created zero line breaks. No doubt you may have generated more possession and potentially better field position, but this wasn’t one of the great creative days, Question for you as a supporter - could ireland produce this type of possession game 3weeks in a row to win a World Cup, they use roughly twice as much energy as any of the other top sides to score a try, it must be very taxing esp in a RWC environment
HenryHoneyBalls
Guest
Good article. One point though is that Owens tends to be quite lenient at the breakdown in general as he was for the whole game. I think it would have benefited Ireland over the 80 minutes if he was less lenient as Ireland had much more possession and are more disciplined I think we would have been further ahead of France and the final 41 phase and DG wouldn't have been needed.
ClarkeG
Guest
The ref told Mikkelson the pen was for entry to the tackle. Initially I wondered what the pen was for like Te Nana but he was considering Karoi's involvement and overlooking Mikkelson's involvement which is clear from the replay. True there is still no offside line at a tackle unless of course an attacking player gets over the ball on his feet under the new trial law. Mikkelson was not offside but he did move into the tackle area from the wrong direction and that is what he was penalised for. Also true there was no ruck but it makes no difference in this instance. This, with the benefit of watching the replay, for me is a straightforward pen. Not to say that much of the 7s refereeing is not confusing however. A lot of it is.
Taylorman
Guest
True, in this case things did go well for Ireland, they wouldn’t want to be relying on that passage of play too often.
Taylorman
Guest
Yes, the same ones that host northern teams endlessly who for some reason don’t want their turn at scoring very much. Odd that one. I mean they see it enough here...
Harry Jones
Expert
Both teams played the proper percentages. If anything, France played it smarter. If you told France they would give up no line breaks for 41 phases and force Sexton to make a 42 m droppie in the rain, they'd take that, over a kick from 45 m off a tee, for a ruck infringement. If you told Ireland they would need to hold the ball for 41 phases and need to convert a cross-kick to get into the French half, they'd probably laugh and start to pray.
Derm
Roar Guru
Ireland are using Dan Leavy in his natural position at 7 this weekend.
ClarkeG
Guest
The refereeing is ordinary to say the least. Very important not to concede penalties in 7s. Apparently a third of the tries come from penalties.
Derm
Roar Guru
The very ones.
Cuw
Guest
never answer unknown numbers !!! seriosly.
Cuw
Guest
but the ref said incorrect ruck entry - hence the complaint from KTN. my understanding was there is no offside line at a tackle Mickleson was not part of the ruck . so it is confusing. actually it was really a headache watching the 7s in auzzy and NZ. there was a lot of arguements among the 4 of us who watched and taking the concentration away from the game.
Highlander
Guest
And add that the ball is in play for more minutes now, last season the 6N had an average ball in play minutes above that of the RC.
ClarkeG
Guest
Cuw I thought that penalty against Mickelson was fairly straightforward. He entered the tackle area from the wrong direction anticipating the Fijian player was going to push the ball away from the tackle on release. There was actually never a ruck because Koroi had already made the tackle and got up and retrieved the ball so the penalty had little to do with the new trial laws. No binding is required to form the ruck. All that is needed is one attacking player on his feet over the ball. But the referees in the 7s are very whistle happy more so than 15s to the point it is often ridiculous.
Highlander
Guest
StRting to feel like it’s just a real combination, high pace, bigger blokes, more and bigger collisions. I did see some collision force stats somewhere in the last month, will see if I can find them.
Highlander
Guest
Nearly went the whole day without the name Mitch Hunt, I should have guessed the likely culprit, the real irony is that he must be on the very shortlist of targets to replace Lima for next year. ? I think Dave Wessels just introduced you to the polite, I’m not going to tell you, look what it did to English Premeirship defence shape, totally different, would be astonished if they don’t have a plan. Teams will really need to pick their times to counter ruck and really go hard, I think Dwards above mentions this - this is like how the Highlanders defend right now, spread out, hold hard on the gain line, but the slightest sniff of a counter ruck and everyone flies through the gate. Rest of 6N and then our super rugby should be very interesting.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Thanks Highlander, excellent piece and great discussion. We're right to be concerned about maintaining the contest for the ball, but it's also wise to wait and see how these things play out in SR so we have a full year north and south to assess it. I asked Dave Wessels what specific work they were doing around the new tackle law and he said he doesn't see it as a major factor either way and so weren't focusing on it - which I found interesting. Mate, love how you avoided mentioning Mitch Hunt!! But you know you can never escape it. When I was younger and even more stupid there was a woman at work who I couldn't stand and I got to the point where I refused to deal with her and took her name and number out of my phone, which made me feel better. But of course I answered a call from an "unknown number" and it was her - when if I'd left her name in there i could have simply chosen not to answer.....
Steiner
Roar Pro
I reckon that’s big part of it Cuw. Refs don’t want to be the headline, well maybe some do?
Cuw
Guest
read this on planet rugby http://www.planetrugby.com/news/comment-bigger-isnt-better/
Cuw
Guest
yess the tackle counts for players go sky high in club games. when Sam Underhill first played for Bath , he racked up like 14 tackles in 20 minutes. but around 60 he got concussed and didnt play for a long time after. even the french captain had more than 20 tackles at one point when stats appeared on telly. few bodies in the rucks and lot more defenders in the line. but accidental contact cannot be stopped - like the French 10 and Aki clashing knees. perhaps there is a need to look at conditions ? like better underfoot traction. Josh VDF twisted a knee getting his ffoot stuck in the ground. there are a few of those happening in club games all over. the H-cup final round was played in atrocious conditions i felt. i think racing or Montpelier played in snow covered ground. Wales and Scots agreed to close the roof - a sensible decision. it sounds very nice to talk about player welfare , but there are many controllables people tend to ignore - like the playing conditions.