backrower8 wrote:We are missing three things:
- offloading forwards that can create half-breaks, holes and kinks in opposition defences. Henderson & Ryan give us that in 2R, but the combination of POM & CJ is a bottle-neck on our playing style. For all their heroics (they have also played plenty of average games) they are dot distributors and their feet are all about direct contact. We can afford to have one of them in the BR, not both. CJ at 6 for me, even then I am not wowed by his carry count. He is passed to on memory now but we would getmore if we were passing more often to forwards that will both break the gainline AND offload.
- more creativity and creative licence for our backline. We need Ringrose playing all the time and we need a creative 15 - Larmour. He is a short as Halfpenny, so what.
- new riding instructions from Joe that in effect gives approval to the first two points of offloading forwards and creative backs. The attritional style we are currently wedded to will see us run out of gas and players come the QF in RWC.
I don't think a high tempo offloading game would suit our pack at all. It's really hard to do, probably as hard/draining as the current gameplan on the players. I think the narrow attack is part of game management for 1-9. If we weren't making line breaks I think we'd have to look at it but we are so....
I heard Andy Dunne saying we don't seem to do that much with the ball in the oppo 22 and that we don't seem to do much with the possession. We had 3 periods of sustained possesion in their 22 in the 2nd and 3rd test
In the 2nd test we
We scored a try
Scrum peno
And had 5 mins where:
-They conceded 3 penos
-We got the ball to the line 3 times
-Screwed up a scrum
In the 3rd test
We got the peno off the base of the post(should have been YC)
We got a try
Other than that we coughed up possession after 2-4 phases thru knockons, lost lineouts, Pocock and Murray kicking it away. I wouldn't be all that surprised if the Wallabies spent as much time in our 22 over both tests. We also had to manage 2 YC periods in the 2 tests which probably accounts for a lot of psossesion in both tests.
Then there's all the times we did try stuff only for the attack to break down because of knock ons, dumb penos(POM after the cross kick to Earls 3rd test - it was revenge for Toner mins before), kicking it away, they knocked it down 3 times. Off the top of my head in the first test Stockdale got the ball at least twice and turned it over(kick, offload) and Aki filled his pants and got turned over.
All in favour of a passing fullback, but whoever plays there's first port of call will be secure possession and territory. I think it could well be Henshaw getting a run there in the AIs which would make him a good bench option.
The sequence of games for the RWC is perfect. Scotland, Japan(6 days later), Russia (5 days later) and Probably Samoa 9 days later. It's perfect. We should have plenty of gas for the QFs onwards.
What I'd like to see is
A settled centre partnership -we've used 5 different combos in 8 games. Mixing and matching depending on the opposition/tactics can work but won't aid a more fluid attack. Get Stockdale to work on his fielding, distinct lack of GAA skills there!
Fix the scrum - it was a defensive liabaility and coughed up points and territory, whether we play SA or NZ it won't be good enough on current form.
Fix the lineout - we lost 4 on our own throw over the series(2nd and 3rd tests). We didn't trouble their ball at all when they brought in a lineout forward in Tui(granted POM went off). Our maul defense is variable. Needs work.
Ref craft - When you say "I know you hate me" to a ref, it's time to take stock. How is everyone else so much better at it than us? Was it Dave Cahill who said Schmidt doesn't scrutinize the ref? He needs to start.
Ruddock's tackle stats consistently too low for me to be taken seriously as a Six Nations blindside..... Ruddock's defensive stats don't stack up. - All Blacks Nil, Jan 15th, 2014
England A 8 - 14 Ireland A, 25th Jan 2014
Ruddock(c) 19/2 Tackles