Analysis: Sonny Bill Henderson sets up sublime Tommy Bowe score
MUNSTER COACH ANTHONY Foley pinpointed the “hiccups” at the end of both halves of his side’s 23-23 draw with Ulster as the main reason they didn’t grab an important away win in the Guinness Pro12 yesterday.
Indeed, Munster were leading 9-0 with two minutes of the first half remaining and then held a 23-16 advantage with two minutes of the second half left.
Tommy Bowe finishes off a superb Ulster score. Source: Presseye/William Cherry/INPHO
A draw in Kingspan Stadium is by no means a poor result, but Foley and his players will have been frustrated by the failure to close out both halves of the game in a solid manner. Ultimately, those lapses cost them what would have been an impressive win.
It takes two to tango, however, and obviously Ulster deserve major credit for the attacking thrusts which brought two tries in those decisive periods of the game.
Today, we take a look at both try-scoring incidents in order to learn what Munster could have done better and what Ulster got right.
Bowe’s beauty
Restarts are a crucial part of top-level rugby and we got the latest demonstration of that just before Tommy Bowe’s magnificent try in the first half.
With Paddy Jackson having converted a penalty to bring Ulster back to 9-3 [that score partly coming from a brilliant chase and hit by Iain Henderson from a restart after Munster had gone 9-0 ahead], Munster were handed the next restart.
As with the very first kick-off of the game, Ian Keatley dropped a short restart just over Ulster’s 10-metre line for Paul O’Connell to chase.
The kick is excellent from Keatley and O’Connell chases well, getting in underneath the ball as it crosses that 10-metre line. However, having caught the first kick-off cleanly, O’Connell can only slap this one back on Munster’s side as Dan Tuohy competes.
Ulster captain Rory Best shows typical intelligence to be in exactly the right place to gather in O’Connell’s tap back.
Best is able to pick off the ball and surge right up to the halfway line with a lack of defenders in front of him, the Munster forwards having been busy chasing the restart from Keatley.
It’s not a coincidence that Best is in this excellent position. If we jump back to that first restart of the game [below], we can see the Ulster hooker in a similar location as O’Connell wins the ball.
Good habits are good habits even when they don’t obviously stand out as good habits.
Best’s diligence secures possession for Ulster, brings them to the halfway line and then allows them to play away to the left through a short Chris Henry carry and then another from Louis Ludik off a sharp Paddy Jackson pass.
We’re getting a slight sense of the risk of short restarts in this instance. Shorter restarts can bring major benefits, as for O’Connell’s reclaim of the kick-off that allowed Munster to threaten with ball in hand early in the game.
We’re big fans of short restarts at The42, but they come with risks included and in this case Munster are forced to immediately retreat and switch into defensive mode. They might ponder whether a long restart and pressure on Ulster in the home side’s 22 might have been a better option in these circumstances.
As it is, Ulster take them through a pair of phases with Henry and Ludik’s carries, before they strike with a wonderfully slick attack involving backs and forwards combining perfectly.
Ulster had many excellent phase-play attacks like this one throughout the first half in particular, with out-half Paddy Jackson justifiably feeling they had left three further try-scoring chances untaken.
This time, the slickness of their attack beings the desired result in outstanding fashion.
The link pass we see above from Robbie Diack is a vital element, as it draws Munster’s defenders into a presumed contact point and then shifts the ball out the back door and along the line.
The vast majority of professional and good amateur teams across the rugby world use this very shape or a variation on it, as it’s an excellent way of drawing in defenders closer to the ruck to create space on the outside edge.
Jackson deserves credit too for simply shifting the ball on to Tuohy at an early stage. The Ulster out-half did this well all game, also managing to attack the line himself when that was the stronger option.
The hugely in-form Jackson is assessing space superbly at the moment and here he recognises that the opportunity is wide on the right. Move it on.
It’s worth taking a look at Munster’s defensive set up as Ulster are moving the ball wide to the right.
Above, we see the numbers on both sides as the phase begins. Ulster have nine players to the right of scrum-half Ruan Pienaar, while Munster have six men in their front-line defence on that left side of the ruck.
Conor Murray is sweeping behind the defence while left wing Ronan O’Mahony is in a deep position covering the backfield wide on the left.
It’s not the worst defensive scenario ever, but Munster will have to ask whether they could have got an additional body over to the left side of the ruck. Look at the image above again and we can see Foley’s men are over-stacked on the right side of the ruck, with three defenders faced by a single Ulster attacker.
With O’Connell having competed for the ball at the ruck following Ludik’s carry [Jared Payne clearing him with an effective croc roll], there was some time and scope for one of these players to ‘fold’ across to the other side, but it doesn’t happen in this instance.
It’s not quite a major breakdown in the system, and Munster will feel they still should have prevented Ulster from scoring.
What happens next for Munster is crucial, as they opt to rush up hard on the inside of their defensive line, prop Dave Kilcoyne leading them up. This is not something that goes against Munster’s normal approach but there are times when easing off the linespeed is suitable.
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