Rome challenge offers perfect platform for an Irish reboot

Three areas Ireland will target for improvement

Rome challenge offers perfect platform for an Irish reboot

Three areas Ireland will target for improvement:

1. Breakdown efficiency

Ireland’s renowned ability to retain possession through phase after phase as they grind the opposition into submission or force them to concede penalties has been a major area of focus for all opposition. The message has been very clear. Slow down Ireland’s ability to recycle the ball to four seconds or more and that enables you to stop Joe Schmidt’s side building momentum.

Many teams have decided not to resource the ruck and keep as many players on their feet as possible to build a defensive wall. This presents other opportunities that Ireland have been too slow to capitalise on. England were smart in their application around the ruck, only committing resources when they sensed the chance of effecting a turnover. Outside of that, their decisions were predicated on having as many bodies in the defensive line as possible.

Observing from the sideline Sean Cronin — how deserving is he of a first Six Nations starting slot — was the first to pick and drive through the ruck with England’s players spread across the field in an impregnable white line. There was nobody positioned directly behind the ruck and Cronin’s pace and speed of mind enabled him pick and sprint before offloading to John Cooney for Ireland’s second try on a frustrating afternoon.

Breakdown turnovers have proved hard to come by for Ireland in this championship — just one in two games, while England and Scotland generated eight in total against us. Given that defences are not as structured off turnovers, they are invaluable to attack from with two quick passes often revealing mismatches with backs running against forwards in wide spaces. That is where Italy will be at their most vulnerable. Ireland’s back row will benefit from Sean O’Brien’s increasing game-time of late and, now that his future has been settled with a move to London Irish after the World Cup, the Carlow man can concentrate all his energies on getting back to his best. Jordi Murphy has never played badly in an Ireland shirt and Peter O’Mahony has been in superb form all season. With their outstanding No 8 Sergio Parisse ruled out due to injury, this trio need to lead the way and take ownership of the breakdown.

2. Kicking game

Given the role that Ireland’s accuracy from the boot has played in the successes enjoyed by the team over the past few seasons, it is somewhat ironic that shortcomings in this area is contributing to what has been a mixed Six Nations campaign in 2019.

Tactically, Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray have successfully steered their side around the field for some time and have dictated how and where Ireland play the game. Sexton’s all round accuracy with the boot was not only responsible for delivering Irish rugby’s most successful year ever in 2018 but resulted in him being deservedly named world player of the year.

Inside him Murray was master of all he surveyed with his box kicking, in particular, seen as best in class. The problem is that success has come at a price. Apart from the neck injury that kept him sidelined for the opening months of the season, teams are now placing huge pressure on Ireland’s No. 9. As outlined above, all sides are placing a massive emphasis on slowing Ireland’s recycle for a variety for reasons. One of those is to put more targeted pressure on Murray at the base of the ruck. In all instances off slow ball you will see the tallest member of the opposition pack lunging over the ruck to put pressure on Murray’s standing foot or to use their long levers to block the kick or impair the accuracy of his kick.

Against Scotland, Murray, Sexton, and Rob Kearney were all guilty of kicking too far down field, effectively turning over hard won possession. Too many kicks were uncontestable and afforded a decent Scottish back three with opportunities to counterattack and generate momentum. This was in stark contrast to the punishing kicking game that put New Zealand under so much pressure and in the way that England have used judiciously placed grubber kicks into the backfield from their outside backs to expose defences that come up flat. England have kicked more than any side in the championship this season but they have also kicked smarter. In 2018 that was Ireland’s domain.

The time has come to rediscover the accuracy, variety and efficiency of one of Ireland’s key points of difference.

3. Attack

With so much video analysis undertaken by all sides now, it is vital that a team keeps evolving and tweaking the ways in which they play. Joe Schmidt’s famed ability to produce new power plays or re-introduce ones that haven’t had air time for a while (such as the one that created the space for Jacob Stockdale to score a super try against Scotland) is legendary.

Ireland’s attack, despite registering five tries in the championship so far, has misfired of late. That will have been the focus of much attention in the build-up to this game.

A five-point return is the clear, if unspoken, target from this game, along with achieving a healthy points differential, not so much for the added value it brings to the championship table but for the squad’s confidence and well being heading into the final two rounds of action.

Ireland’s attacking structure from broken play has evolved over the last year with two clear options available off quick ruck ball. A pod of three forwards is always available to the scrum-half to carry with the option out the back to the first receiver to use a second line of attack.

Our forwards have improved dramatically in terms of their skill set in making a pass and in their decision making, under pressure, in deciding which is the better option to exploit. New Zealand second row Brodie Retallick led the way in terms of making those decisions but the likes of Tadhg Furlong, Devin Toner, Iain Henderson, and Peter O’Mahony have become increasingly comfortable in that role of late.

For whatever reason, Ireland’s shape and ability to realign quickly in attack has been poor in this championship. Having to constantly reshape the midfield due to injury hasn’t helped. That said, this game offers the perfect opportunity to make the small adjustments that can make all the difference.

With that in mind, it’s no surprise that Schmidt has opted to resist the temptation to tweak the half-backs even before Joey Carbery’s twinge removed that possibility. Sexton, with just 103 minutes of game time under his belt since December 29, is in greater need of action with the matches against France and Wales coming thick and fast.

Ireland badly need to rediscover their ruthless edge against an Italian side that has the capacity to score but look vulnerable defensively.

The challenge for Ireland is to force Italy into making poor decisions in defense by creating more confusion and indecision with their lines of running and use of decoy runners. Ireland need to issue a timely reminder of why they are the second-ranked side in the game at present and tomorrow offers the perfect platform to reboot for the remainder of the championship.

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