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Why the All Blacks must adjust their defence to beat Ireland
By Ned Lester
Criticism continues to mount on New Zealand’s defence, this time a former All Black has spoken out about what needs to change for the team to beat Ireland in the quarter-final.
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Previously labelled too “passive”, the All Blacks have largely resisted the trend of top teams to implement a more aggressive, rushed defensive line.
Ireland great Rob Kearney was joined by La Rochelle coach Ronan O’Gara recently in identifying the defensive system as a weakness, saying it hands the opposition’s attack too much of an opportunity and puts the defenders in unfavourable situations.
“They’re very passive, they give the opposition a lot of time and space on the ball that the Irish attackers will love,” Kearney told Virgin media Sport.
If the All Blacks are to adjust their system for the Rugby World Cup’s knockout stages, O’Gara says it could change the outlook of the tournament.
“I think if they’re very aggressive with their defence, they could surprise people and go all the way,” he told The Breakdown.
That is a big if, though. Former All Black James Parsons added his analysis to the conversation, saying his former team must treat the problem at it’s root.
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“Line speed doesn’t even really start with line speed though,” he told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“They’re fit enough to bring line speed. It’s about the initial tackle, the collision in the tackle; you have to win that in the initial hit, try and get double shoulders on so they can dominate that collision, because their carriers are so strong and powerful and they get you retreating all the time.
“Then, secondly, you have to put some pressure in there defensively to slow the ball down. Because if you don’t slow the ball down then you’re never going to be able to bring that defensive pressure.
“I do think at times, Scotland slowed the ball down. In both of those tries we talked about, (James) Lowe’s first one and probably more so (Hugo) Keenan’s one, I know it was midfield ruck, well, mid-ish, and the normal thought is they can go both ways, but I think you’ve got to throw the normal rules out of the book because of the way Ireland attack.
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“They can create that depth and if you let them get through five passes and you’ve got a staggered defensive line, where Bundee Aki comes down and then free’s up with the offload, because they don’t win that initial contact collision, then they’re constantly on the back foot.
“But, also what’s worst case scenario is if you put them under pressure, like massive line speed pressure, yes they can kick there, I get that, but then you’re just going to have to outwork. Because, if you don’t do that, you’ve got these guys on inside that are just going to have to corner flag it. Yes, they’ll get some wins, but you’ve got to be comfortable with that, you’ve got to accept it.
“If you don’t adjust their attack, and you let them go through their plays, they’ll win.”
The all blacks are and always have been the best team in world rugby at conning referees not rolling away straying offside accidentally not and constant trying with any amount of illegal tactics to slow down the opposition attacks. They New Zealand will try anything against Ireland to slow them down remembering that this Irish side have many forms of attack but need fast ball and this is why they are so good. I hope Barnes who has improved with age can see through the slow down by all means illegally possible tactics brought to the game by NZ.
Every team worth their weight is trying to manipulate the speed of the ball - watch anything from dummy runners obstructing players getting to the ruck, clearing out well past the ruck, not releasing ball carrier, not even going for the ball but body when jackling and of course, pinning players in for penalties.
This Irish team is excellent at a lot of the above. Let’s not forget that Kiwis like even faster ball than the Irish.
So kind of what Ireland do?
Don’t forget the breakdown, the Irish are annoyingly good there aswell( trapping support players and preventing tacklers from rolling away). Tackling: Chop tackling shorter players and choke tackling taller players and lastly off the ball subtle “dark arts” by their dummy runners taking out a cover defender or putting them off balance when drifting.
Cheating. Yes, they’re very good at cheating.
With Sexknot and Farrell leading the way.
Um I think what he is saying you have to rush the defence a bit more and make big dominant tackles, stopping momentum and preventing off-loads. This denies the Irish momentum and also reduces their ability to implement set-piece moves. In doing so, you have to accept that your tackle completions will go down and your missed tackles will go up, and so you will then have to rely on the more traditional tactic of herding the attacking players to the side-line to narrow their channels and reduce their attacking options (playing to the corner flag). Easier said than done, but there is some truth in it. I suspect a fair bit of tactical kicking (chips, up-and-unders and kick-passes) will also be implemented to make the Irish defenders pause and thwart their rush-defence….
Can anyone explain what James Parsons means?
James is talking about an increase to the defensive line speed to employ a rush defense with dominant tackles to shut down Ireland's attack phases, shutting down Sexton's decision making forcing him to cart the ball up at 38 years of age or hospital pass to Aki. Then turning over possession behind Ireland's gain line.
Occasionally this rush defence results in a linebreak which the Allblacks then need to back the pace of Rieko, Jordan, Talea and Beauden to cover to force Ireland into trying to score way out wide, ‘corner flag’.