Andy Farrell has areas to address as he aims to make the most of the summer tour to South Africa
Finding ways to complement the wing play of James Lowe should be one of the things on Ireland's to-do list. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wireattack. Two games aren’t enough to say Ireland have been figured out, but it’s equally fair to wonder how, Ireland attacked wide more than anyone else. They moved the ball more than 10 metres from the ruck 45.1 per cent of the time, passed wider than the first receiver on 26.2 per cent of their phases and wider than the third receiver 7.
This year, Ireland tilted to relying more on set piece as opposed to kick return or transitions off turnover. It will be intriguing to see whether Goodman looks to diversify the source of Ireland’s attacking prowess.Finding more of that “punch” that Farrell desires could well be a key part of preparation for South Africa. In this year’s championship, Ireland were third of six countries for dominant carry rate but second for gainline success .
Before his injury, Munster's Edwin Edogbo displayed an ability to carry through heavy traffic. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho In both the medium and long-term future, if Farrell is interested in developing younger players who have shown glimpses of a punchy carrying game, he does have options.Does that requirement for more punch in the collisions come in defence as well?
At domestic level, though, Nash does rank highly for his dominant tackle percentage . His Munster teammate, Sean O’Brien, is actually ranked above him; Munster certainly use their wings well to fly out of the line and make dominant hits. Twice in this Six Nations, Andrew Porter stayed on the pitch for longer than 70 minutes. On two other occasions he lasted longer than 60 minutes. Only once was he subbed off before the hour mark. This is no slight on Cian Healy, still a strong scrummager, but there is no question that such a workload for Porter is not sustainable.
Outside of the current squad, Leinster’s Jack Boyle is one loosehead who has demonstrated the required physicality, albeit against URC, as opposed to Champions Cup, opposition. The 22-year-old has been dominant on 48 per cent of his carries and draws in 2+ tacklers 83 per cent of the time, meaning he regularly opens up space for others. The latter figure is fifth highest of all players in top-flight European rugby.
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