allezlesverres wrote:This, for me, has been Ireland's biggest problem. We aren't winning nearly enough of our collisions. I wonder if this is due in part to other teams analyzing Ireland's play well. So much of Ireland's phase play has been based on strong forward collisions getting over the gainline until a pre-set strike move is called. Opposition teams seem to have figured out that if they double up the tacklers on the (usually) obvious ball carrier, they can rob Ireland of the gain line success they need to initiate the strike moves effectively. The solution from Ireland's perspective has to involve overcoming those double tackles which will either involve powerful pods to carry, or shifting the play away from where the defence have set up their double tackles.It gets lots of size into the team, lots of big men to go toe-to-toe with the French and not lose the f*cking collisions for the first time this tournament.
Ireland have scored 1 try in their last 4 games against France in the 6 nations. That's 0.25 tries per game. Schmidt's low risk, collision based game struggles against the French and it took that miracle drop goal to win the grand slam last year.
I'd like to see less collisions and a looser type of game plan but I don't think it's going to happen. I think kicking long to the french and hoping they make mistakes is also an option.