The Ireland tactic Bath expect to see a lot of in the Premiership

One particular tactic that Andy Farrell’s Ireland concocted in South Africa in their drawn Test series in July wasn’t lost on former Munster boss Johann van Graan. Now in charge at Bath, last season’s Gallagher Premiership finalists, his off-season included keeping an eye on the various tours to the southern hemisphere.

Amongst them was the trip by the Irish, the back-to-back Six Nations champions, to the home of the Springboks, the back-to-back Rugby World Cup holders.

The South African coach was literally just the second question into his midweek media brief ahead of this Friday night’s new Gallagher Premiership season opener at home to defending champions Northampton at The Rec when he began waxing lyrically about what unfolded in Pretoria and Durban.

South Africa won the series opener 27-20 at Loftus Versfeld, but Ireland tied it up with their 25-24 success the following weekend at Kings Park and two passages of play involving tries for Conor Murray, the scrum-half from van Graan’s Munster days, caught the coach's eye.

It was five minutes from the end of the opening Test when Murray, on as a sub for Craig Casey, ran a line down the middle of the field that enabled him to take advantage of an inside pass from the breaking Ronan Kelleher. Seven days later, having been selected to start, Murray again showed his finishing prowess down the centre of the pitch, grasping an inside pass from Robbie Henshaw to dot down by the uprights.

Murray’s former club coach was impressed and asked how the game has changed heading into the new 2024/25 northern hemisphere season, van Graan quickly volunteered the tries by the Irish scrum-half as evidence of a freshly fashioned tactic.

“If you look at it, I believe a lot of teams are keeping the ball in hand,” he began. “I’ll give you one simple example: look at some of the tries that Ireland scored against the Springboks, specifically involving Conor Murray at the back.

"They have run a new shape, and then you see some teams doing that new shape and now you have got to defend it because it’s something new in the game. That’s one example of one team bringing someone new and it’s successful against another team and quite a few teams have used that now.

“That’s a pretty relevant example for us for what is to come this weekend (in the new Premiership). The fact that most people saw that and have done research on it, that was really, really good. That’s an example of change.”

Why would Ireland have done that? “There are some very good coaches and players around the world and teams do something successful. South Africa have been extremely successful in the way that they defend and England, as an example, have used something that South Africa have used.

“I’m just speaking international rugby now, and then Ireland have played against South Africa and come up with something to put that defence under pressure. Sometimes this is by design, sometimes something happens in training or sometimes people try and figure things out.

“Like everything, the game is ever evolving so if you stand still you won’t move forward which is stating the obvious but that is the beauty of professional sport. There is not a day that goes by that you should not learn.”

What does this mean for the Premiership? “The game has definitely become quicker and faster. The law interpretations are allowing the attack to do more things. However, there is also the element of safety.

“For instance, there is the croc roll World Rugby want to stamp out so you have got to change your technique. If you look at the Premiership, it starts in very good weather and then in winter, when we play at The Rec, it’s totally different, and then if you look at the Premiership final the way both teams started, that’s a high ball in play so you have got to be able to adapt.

“I’d say Premiership specific, you have got 10 very positive teams… and the product is exceptional. To be fair, a lot of teams around the world are doing that. South Africa are playing some fantastic rugby.

"If you look at what England did against New Zealand, how they have moved their game forward – I’d certainly say teams want to keep the ball more but there is a caveat to that, refereeing interpretation, opposition, conditions, scoreboard pressure.”

Rugby Championship trial laws such as a scrum-half being no longer allowed to follow his rival No9 around the back of the scrum due to offside aren’t applicable to the Premiership, but van Graan sounded intrigued by the effect the so-called Dupont law will have in the English league regarding exploiting space.

“Coaches, players find new ways whenever there is a different interpretation. One law that will have a big impact on the game is the so-called Dupont law. The fact that you have got to retreat back to your own try line.

"What we have seen in our warm-up games is if you kick a bad kick and you kick that with distance, you are in real trouble. On the flip side, if you receive a bad kick from the opposition, they are in real trouble.

“One good example for us was our first try against Munster. They kicked a kick back into the middle of our pitch, their forwards had to retreat, it gave us space and we kicked a 50:22 and took a quick throw to score.

"The reason why the law changed, we kind of all understand why they to it and it’s our business as coaches and players to figure out what is best for our team in terms of the interpretation. I see that as a positive.”