To halt their decline in attack, Ireland need to hold on to the ball, improve their kicking and exploit their opponents’ defensive weakness
Ireland huddle after the try by Josh van der Flier during the match against New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin last Saturday. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
However, given Ireland only had seven total 22 entries on Friday, it’s difficult to say these stats prove any trend. We can’t quantify how efficient Ireland’s attack was because we didn’t see it thanks to 21 handling errors and the concession of 11 turnovers plus five attacking penalties.Conor McGregor stuns High Court onlookers with evidence about night of alleged sexual assault
When England beat Ireland, they gained plenty of ground by targeting weaknesses in Ireland’s kick defence. New Zealand did not do that, thanks largely to Jamison Gibson-Park’s man-marking job on Will Jordan. This week, Argentina come armed with their own battery of backline threats. Simon Chi is an analyst who calculates the expected points added by players to a team performance; think rugby’s equivalent of individual xG.
Now that teams can no longer use blockers to protect players receiving high kicks, aerial contests have become more prevalent. The odds of clean ball won in the air have lengthened, increasing the number of balls hitting the floor.
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