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Analysis: Ireland's killer blow against the Springboks – The triangle double screen
By Ben Smith
With just under ten minutes to play in their test match at Aviva Stadium, Ireland held a 17-3 lead over South Africa.
The Irish had worked into a dominant position in the match, but needed to land a knockout blow. With this smart play, they opened up South Africa’s Boks with this beautifully constructed move off quick lineout ball which led to their match-sealing try.
Attaching the blindside winger as an inside option off the playmaker and using a ‘screen’ or ‘block’ play to open up the hole is becoming a trend this international rugby season, as we highlighted last week.
Ireland became the latest team to find success with it, disguising Stockdale’s line well by adding more complexity to the movement - a double screen to confuse South Africa’s defence.
In the lineout setup, Ireland openside Sean O’Brien (7) positions at halfback. This allows reserve halfback Kieran Marmion (21) to join Jonathan Sexton (10) wider in a triangle formation with Jacob Stockdale (11). Stockdale is the boot man and will stay on Sexton’s hip. As the line out unfolds, reserve prop David Kilcoyne (17) peels off the front of the lineout into halfback, pushing Sean O’Brien wider.
Ireland will break through the midfield channel between Jesse Kriel (13) and reserve midfielder Francois Venter (23), highlighted in red.
The Irish midfield is going to running decoy lines (highlighted green) that will draw their opposite defenders in with them. In Aki’s case, his extreme angle will pull his opposite Handre Pollard (22) as far as he can before running into South Africa’s flanker.
Ireland will run two screen passes with the Irish halves sliding in behind each decoy. Marmion will receive the back door behind Aki (12), and Sexton will receive the back door to Henshaw (13), before Sexton feeds the unsighted blind winger Stockdale on the inside.
Marmion’s execution on the first screen is a little bit off, he receives the ball inside Aki and risks an obstruction call. Pollard was sucked in by Aki and is attempting to pull up when Marmion runs behind his second five.
The next screen pass is executed perfectly by Marmion, and Henshaw’s decoy line is the key. Francois Venter is fixated on Henshaw at the bottom of the screen below.
Venter takes the cheese and commits to Henshaw out of play, and Ireland now have Jesse Kriel isolated.
Henshaw's line also prevents Pollard from getting across to make a play on Scotdale, giving an extra second in which the gap will be open which is a key design feature of this play. It’s essentially legalised obstruction.
Kriel has a split second to make a decision, and despite Sexton giving early ball to Stockdale on a no-look pass, Kriel decides to take Sexton. The gap is too wide to cover and he’s also caught on Sexton’s outside shoulder. Stockdale streaks away downfield.
Two phases later Ireland score as South Africa cannot reset their defence following the massive breach. The killer blow is landed taking Ireland out to a 22-3 lead with less than eight minutes remaining.
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Latest Comments
So “it wasn’t foul play because it wasn’t foul play” is - to you - not only an acceptable answer but the only possible answer?
I would hope that the definition of foul play is clear enough that they can say “that wasn’t foul play - even though it resulted in a serious injury - because although player A did not wrap with the right arm, he entered the ruck through the gate and from a legal angle at a legal height, and was supporting his own weight until player B entered the ruck behind him and pushed him onto player C’s leg” or “that wasn’t foul play although players D and E picked player F out of a ruck, tipped him upside down and dropped him on his shoulder because reasons.”
Referees sometimes offer a clear explanation, especially when in discussion with the TMO, but they don’t always, especially for incidents that aren’t reviewed on field. It’s also a recognised flaw in the bunker system that there isn’t an explanation of the card decisions - I’d personally prefer the bunker to prepare a short package of the best angles and play back to the ref their reasoning, with the ref having the final say, like an enhanced TMO. It would cost a few more seconds, but would help the crowd to understand.
Greater clarity carries with it risks - not least that if the subsequent feedback is at odds with the ref’s decision they run the risk of harassment on social media - but rugby is really struggling to show that it can manage these decisions consistently, and offering a clear explanation after the fact would help to ensure better consistency in officiating in future.
Go to commentsI don’t even think the U20s are much of a crumb of comfort to be honest - they only really did what Welsh teams have done to plenty of highly fancied English teams before them and ambushed them in Cardiff with lots of PASHUN LADS etc. If you’d ask me which of the two teams will make a dent at the forthcoming JWC, it won’t be Wales. It also doesn’t seem to matter how talented Wales are at age grade, the players stagnate once they reach the regions, hence why Gatland was often keen on fast tracking youth.
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