How would you defend against the English game plan?

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rumncoke
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How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by rumncoke »

The English are playing with a three kickers back line Farrell Daly and Slade .

They are kicking towards the corner as soon as the opposition advance to leave space behind the defence line — with the wings lying close to the on side line chasing the kick to the corner /goal line ?

To date this 6 nations the tactic has been used successfully resulting in trys or either the opposition being forced to defend possession inside their 22 seldom able to break the gain line against a smoother aggressive English — what would be best described as an “attacking defence “ .


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justinr73
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by justinr73 »

I'd probably select a FB which neither Ireland nor France thought of.
rumncoke
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by rumncoke »

Justin73

Lovely answer but wrong -- both teams had full backs .The facts are the full backs were ineffective because the English kickers were finding space.

How do you reduce the space is the question and maintain an effective backline defence.?
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Samstew
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by Samstew »

Adopt the same tactics as England, for intermittent periods of time, which would confuse the heck out them.


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rumncoke
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by rumncoke »

Samstew ==

That assumes you have three players, in the backline ( not including the scrum half ) who can run and kick a ball into space through an advancing defence.

The English tactic works because three players in the back line can grubber kick towards the corner and the question is how do you defend against it not how you match it.

To be honest I think the Welsh have the players to do it provided Halfpenny is fit.

My tactic would be to play two full backs one right side/ one left side of the pitch positioned along the 10 metre (touch) line 15 metres behind the back line adding back row forwards in the midfield defence not contesting the breakdown until inside the the 22s.

The English tactic has a two fold intention -- a chase try or a touch inside the 22 .
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Samstew
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by Samstew »

rumncoke wrote:Samstew ==

That assumes you have three players, in the backline ( not including the scrum half ) who can run and kick a ball into space through an advancing defence.

The English tactic works because three players in the back line can grubber kick towards the corner and the question is how do you defend against it not how you match it.

To be honest I think the Welsh have the players to do it provided Halfpenny is fit.

My tactic would be to play two full backs one right side/ one left side of the pitch positioned along the 10 metre (touch) line 15 metres behind the back line adding back row forwards in the midfield defence not contesting the breakdown until inside the the 22s.

The English tactic has a two fold intention -- a chase try or a touch inside the 22 .
Don't get me wrong Rum, I see what you mean, but if we had adopted a similar tactic to England, at various stages of the game, I think it would have made them sit deeper and certainly wouldn't have allowed them to dictate how the game panned out.
Before the match, Eddie Jones declared that Ireland would "bore" England, but to be honest, this is the most boring I have seen England since the World Cup of 2007, when they lost to South Africa in the borefest final.

By reaching that final, it proved that their boring brand of rugby was successful, thankfully they didn't win it, as that brand of rugby shouldn't be allowed to be successful, imho.

I think Jones is going down the same route, success at any price for the forthcoming world cup, but as like before, England will be found out and a good coach/team will take them apart, I'm even hoping that it will be Gatland and Wales :shock:

I do believe that if Ireland were to have the opportunity to play that game again, knowing what they know today, they would deal with it and win, Ireland are the better team and have the better players, Joe Schmidt and his team were just caught out on the day!
rumncoke
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by rumncoke »

Samstew

The game bored because England played for position rather than possession -- and Ireland had no answer to the smother aggressive defence which ensured carriers seldom made the gain line.

Ireland had plenty of possession but it was mostly within their own half and Murray's box kicks were so telegraphed that the tactic became totally ineffective and to be honest his kicking was terrible . Likewise Sexton was Targeted to such an extent , it was obvious the English didn't worry about whether the "hits' were legal or illegal -- they were willing to have a player in the bin for 10 minutes so long as Sexton could be put off his game . Thus Sexton had to lie deep and the chasers had a 5 to 10 metre run to make the gain line.

To blame England for the game being boring is to some extent unfair -- they set the opposition two problems -- get over the gain line -- and get into the English 22 or out of your own half. The fact that the opposition can't solve the problem is not the fault of the English.

Hence the question I have posed ? Because the Key to the English game is field position using 3 kickers kicking to the corner.
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rumncoke
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by rumncoke »

I 'll put another question to you Samstew-- Why did the English Kick Off to Keith Earls ? --to enable Itoje take out Ireland's most effective Box kick chaser -- Who did Curry late tackle ? Earls Who did Itoje take out in the air -- Earls Who had to go off at half time ?Earls

Accident or part of a game plan ?
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Samstew
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by Samstew »

Definitely a game plan, an effective game plan at that, but a God awful boring one!
I’ll watch the Wales v England game, not to be entertained by England, but to see what Gatland comes up with to counter it.


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rumncoke
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Re: How would you defend against the English game plan?

Post by rumncoke »

Novice

My old dead daddy once said “there are two types of gamblers — those who can’t afford to lose and therefore shouldn’t and those who can afford to lose and therefore don’t need to . 99 % are the former “

That said he was a mean poker player until he sat on a train with a card sharp who showed him he could deal virtually any hand of poker on demand .Put him off playing with strangers .And gambling with your friends is one way to lose them .
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