Ruckgate - Italy give England a massive fright!
Another weekend down, but another fascinating weekend of 6 Nations rugby! It was intense, entertaining and controversial, with a fair few surprises thrown in along the way. I was in Bristol on a stag weekend, but needless to say we found the time to watch all three international games, and even made a visit to Ashton Gate to watch the West Country derby. By Sunday evening I told my wife something that she thought she'd never hear me say, I was truly 'rugbyed out'! As the dust has settled, I've now had the chance to take stock and reflect on what I'll describe as an 'interesting game' at Twickenham.
England were expected to win comfortably, to secure the bonus point early and increase their points difference going into the final two matches. Italy had already taken two batterings, courtesy of Wales and Ireland, and were now travelling to the world's number two side who were on a 16 match winning streak. The writing appeared to be on the wall even before the game had kicked off - except that Italy hadn't read the script.
Within that script and on paper, Italy play the part of the minnows, but England underestimated the influence of the Italian coaching team. Conor O'Shea, Mike Catt and Brendan Venter have bags of experience. These three wise men know the English game inside out, particularly ex-Quins head coach O'Shea who has an intricate understanding of Danny Care's gameplay.
But it was coach Brendan Venter who came up with the tactics that stunned the Twickenham faithful. By not committing any players to the rucks, there was indeed no ruck and no offside line was created. This allowed the blue shirts to block and distract Care from feeding George Ford. As a result, England were starved of any quick ball; they could not get into their playing shape, work to their patterns or build any momentum in the match. O'Shea and his lieutenants had come with a well thought out game plan to disrupt the defending champions, and it certainly worked.
While top international coaches are constantly devising new tactics, this isn't the first time this Ace has been played. It's been used in the past by the Waikato Chiefs in Super Rugby, but despite this England looked like a rabbit in the headlights, and it took until deep into the second half before they found a solution. Eventually they reverted to the pick and go, and short-pop passes to forwards at close range, which gave them better penetration, and resulted in a 36-15 victory and six tries. Overall it's job done, and they march on to Scotland in two weeks time. Nonetheless, Eddie Jones will be disappointed with the time it took for his team to adapt and solve the puzzle that was put in front of them.
England will feel like it was a match lost, but there certainly were positives to take away. Joe Launchbury put in another outstanding shift and was rightly awarded man of the match. Courtney Lawes kicked on from his performance in Cardiff with an industrious display, and Maro Itoje was absolutely everywhere, smashing everything in his path. On the occasion of his 50th cap, Owen Farrell put in his worst England performance for some time, missing a penalty and three conversions, but there's no doubt that he has the mental strength to come back stronger. Nathan Hughes had a mixed game and isn't looking up to international standard; Billy Vunipola's return can't come quick enough.
The Italian tactics certainly rattled a few cages following the final whistle, with Eddie Jones claiming it wasn't a proper rugby match! Matt Dawson then chipped in on twitter saying Italy had 'ruined the international', which attracted much criticism. As an England supporter, I have to confess I found myself regularly shouting 'offside' at the television screen - but with the benefit of hindsight, Italy had found a loop hole in the rule book and used it to their advantage. They're a team who's reputation in the competition is at stake, with many calling for Georgia to be promoted into this grand old tournament. Their pride had clearly been damaged, they responded by giving England a massive scare and O'Shea has every right to defend his tactics.
However, if the sight of opposition players standing in the 9-10 channel, waving their hands around like mad men is to become a common sight, I don't think it's going to do the game any good. It doesn't allow sides to build phases, create momentum and ultimately doesn't set a platform for either side to play the exciting, fast-paced game that we all love to see. Calls for World Rugby to review the laws around the ruck are far too premature, and it will be interesting to see if any sides employ these tactics in the next round - I highly doubt they will, and suspect this was a plan purely devised for this game.
England will seriously need to improve if they're going to beat the mightily impressive Scots, who will arrive at Twickenham with bags of confidence, and wanting to knock England off their perch. Let's just hope that at the end of next weekend, we're talking about a game full of great tries rather than a coach's great interpretation of the rule book!
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| Danny Care - surrounded by blue shirts, a common theme from Sunday's game! |
England were expected to win comfortably, to secure the bonus point early and increase their points difference going into the final two matches. Italy had already taken two batterings, courtesy of Wales and Ireland, and were now travelling to the world's number two side who were on a 16 match winning streak. The writing appeared to be on the wall even before the game had kicked off - except that Italy hadn't read the script.
Within that script and on paper, Italy play the part of the minnows, but England underestimated the influence of the Italian coaching team. Conor O'Shea, Mike Catt and Brendan Venter have bags of experience. These three wise men know the English game inside out, particularly ex-Quins head coach O'Shea who has an intricate understanding of Danny Care's gameplay.
But it was coach Brendan Venter who came up with the tactics that stunned the Twickenham faithful. By not committing any players to the rucks, there was indeed no ruck and no offside line was created. This allowed the blue shirts to block and distract Care from feeding George Ford. As a result, England were starved of any quick ball; they could not get into their playing shape, work to their patterns or build any momentum in the match. O'Shea and his lieutenants had come with a well thought out game plan to disrupt the defending champions, and it certainly worked.
While top international coaches are constantly devising new tactics, this isn't the first time this Ace has been played. It's been used in the past by the Waikato Chiefs in Super Rugby, but despite this England looked like a rabbit in the headlights, and it took until deep into the second half before they found a solution. Eventually they reverted to the pick and go, and short-pop passes to forwards at close range, which gave them better penetration, and resulted in a 36-15 victory and six tries. Overall it's job done, and they march on to Scotland in two weeks time. Nonetheless, Eddie Jones will be disappointed with the time it took for his team to adapt and solve the puzzle that was put in front of them.
England will feel like it was a match lost, but there certainly were positives to take away. Joe Launchbury put in another outstanding shift and was rightly awarded man of the match. Courtney Lawes kicked on from his performance in Cardiff with an industrious display, and Maro Itoje was absolutely everywhere, smashing everything in his path. On the occasion of his 50th cap, Owen Farrell put in his worst England performance for some time, missing a penalty and three conversions, but there's no doubt that he has the mental strength to come back stronger. Nathan Hughes had a mixed game and isn't looking up to international standard; Billy Vunipola's return can't come quick enough.
The Italian tactics certainly rattled a few cages following the final whistle, with Eddie Jones claiming it wasn't a proper rugby match! Matt Dawson then chipped in on twitter saying Italy had 'ruined the international', which attracted much criticism. As an England supporter, I have to confess I found myself regularly shouting 'offside' at the television screen - but with the benefit of hindsight, Italy had found a loop hole in the rule book and used it to their advantage. They're a team who's reputation in the competition is at stake, with many calling for Georgia to be promoted into this grand old tournament. Their pride had clearly been damaged, they responded by giving England a massive scare and O'Shea has every right to defend his tactics.
However, if the sight of opposition players standing in the 9-10 channel, waving their hands around like mad men is to become a common sight, I don't think it's going to do the game any good. It doesn't allow sides to build phases, create momentum and ultimately doesn't set a platform for either side to play the exciting, fast-paced game that we all love to see. Calls for World Rugby to review the laws around the ruck are far too premature, and it will be interesting to see if any sides employ these tactics in the next round - I highly doubt they will, and suspect this was a plan purely devised for this game.
England will seriously need to improve if they're going to beat the mightily impressive Scots, who will arrive at Twickenham with bags of confidence, and wanting to knock England off their perch. Let's just hope that at the end of next weekend, we're talking about a game full of great tries rather than a coach's great interpretation of the rule book!
Great article Drew! Bonus point victory in the end for England so couldn't ask for too much more from them other than a few tries!
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