Expert Witness: Shane Byrne lauds ‘meticulous’ England
With another Six Nations upon us, we welcome back one of our regular Expert Witnesses to Planet Rugby, former Lions, Ireland and Leinster hooker Shane Byrne to review an iconic opening round.
Table turned
Few pundits predicted the dominance England displayed in their four-try win in Dublin over an Irish side that have been arguably the best in the world for the last 12 months.
From the first whistle to the last, the visitors played at breathtaking pace, with supreme accuracy and execution of plan.
At the core of the strategy was a willingness to identify traditional Irish strengths and to deliver them better and harder that the hosts themselves. Byrne considers that England almost ‘out-Irelanded’ Ireland.
“You can see by the reaction of both sets of players that this result was as big as beating (or losing) to the All Blacks. It was as big as that,” he remarked.
“But we can have no complaints. England basically served up a carbon-copy of Ireland’s game-plan and executed it in an ultra-effective manner. They worked on the basis that Ireland would have a few players (Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton and others) coming in off injuries or lay-offs without match sharpness and they ruthlessly exploited the changes in our back three and Ireland were slow and ponderous to react.
“You can often predict the fortunes of a match by the first two or three hits and in this game, England won every one by some distance. I thought at that moment that this could be a bad day at the office, and it certainly was that,” he quipped.
“If you examine those first helter-skelter moments, England’s planning was meticulous. With the deep first kick-off from Owen Farrell, they knew from analysis that Ireland’s exit would see Conor Murray catch and clear to someway just short of the ten-metre line. As Murray held the ball to kick that clearance, 30 metres up the field England hooker Jamie George was already in touch where the kick would land and immediately when it did, he took the ball, England formed and won the line-out and were already playing before Ireland had aligned their defence.
“This resulted in a five on four back on the narrow side and a simple training ground in to out move sent Jonny May screaming over. Those two minutes were scripted and scripted brilliantly. England controlled the events they knew they could rely upon and it was a fascinating portent of the plan that followed.
“England had shown in November they were on the right track. Some of the decisions made by them back then didn’t result it quite the outcomes they’d hoped for. As an example Henry Slade’s interception is one of those – he tried the same move and failed versus New Zealand and was roundly criticised in many quarters.
“However, it wasn’t his decision at fault, just the execution and outcome; this time he remained true to his decision, executed better and the outcome was right. In Test rugby you don’t change your initial decision making or plan on the basis of botched execution, you improve the detail and tighten the delivery as Slade demonstrated,” explained Byrne.
Enforced absences
“Ireland are now in a place they’ve not been for a long time,” noted the Leinsterman.
“With a bubbling and attacking Scotland next up, we could easily start a form slide here, and it’s essential we react correctly to the events at the weekend.
“Joe Schmidt (and many international coaches) won’t make knee-jerk changes, and we have to consider that there’ll be a number of injury enforced absences with CJ Stander out and Devin Toner and Keith Earls doubts for the weekend.
“Whilst Sean O’Brien will replace CJ on a like-for-like basis, our lock stocks are at an all-time low with injuries to a number of leading contenders like Tadhg Beirne. I expect Quinn Roux will keep the jersey, and I know that James Ryan and Josh van der Flier will be retained, as their showing in adversity was exceptional, Josh in particular who tackled all day. They were two lads that really did hold their hands up whilst others were struggling to get out of the starting blocks.
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“The backline is not quite balanced either in my view. I am Robbie Henshaw’s biggest fan but playing him in a position that isolates his ability to set up great first and second phase ball from 12 seems foolhardy, especially when Garry Ringrose works so well off Henshaw’s collisions. There’s a big argument to get Joey Carbery on the pitch come what may and perhaps 15 could be the way to do that. I suspect Bundee Aki will bench and Robbie will return to the inside centre berth.
“For me it’s about changing the mindset and tweaking the plan, not rewriting the whole book. We will need to play tight rugby against the Scots and if we end up in a broken field running game, we play right into the talented hands of Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell and Huw Jones, who were all brilliant against Italy.
“We need to halt the slide, play to our strengths, but react much faster and with greater physicality. Do that and all will be well,” observed Byrne.
The first-half was even, the second half was even worse
England will run out at Twickenham against a France side that conspired to produce probably their best and worst half in 10 years against Wales in a Parisian downpour.
“I have never seen two such contrasting halves in a Test in my life,” exclaimed Byrne.
“Warren Gatland can chunter on about Wales forgetting how to lose all he wants, but a more accurate view is France forgot how to win!
“Some of the rugby in the French first-half was amazing; to see big lads like Arthur Iturria offloading in something near a flood was astonishing and their tempo and power was top class. If they can play like that for 80 minutes, no side in the world could contain them.
“But on the subject of forgetting how to win, some of the second-half decision making from players like Yoann Huget and Sébastien Vahaamahina were ludicrous; a 30 metre floated cut out pass from a lock rarely results in anything other than disaster and the way he gifted George North his try was incompetence of Inspector Clouseau levels!” chuckled Byrne.
“England have one challenge to overcome; they need to bottle the tactics, plan, physicality and reuse them against France. They might well sit back and say ‘job done’ after Ireland and complacency is their biggest enemy, but if the forwards, and in particular I’d single out Mako Vunipola and Mark Wilson as key men in Dublin, stand up as they did last weekend, England will win and with style,” predicted the Lions hooker.
“Wales will be happy they got out of jail and also they’ll have a view on where they need to tweak their side, with the possibility of Dan Biggar returning full time to the out-half berth. They’ll be delighted they’ve got Italy this weekend and will work hard to defend wider and be more physical on the gainline.”
Doddie the legend
In closing, the traditional Ireland v England ‘Legends’ game, managed by Byrne, was played at the RDS Ground on Friday. With over 7,000 in attendance, Byrne was delighted with the money raised and the fun had by all.
“This year was played to raise funds for the wonderful man of rugby, Doddie Weir and I know we’ve made a substantial six-figure sum,” smiled Byrne.
“Some greats of the game played, and we had something of a mixed side, with Ally Hogg, Tom Smith and Craig Chalmers guesting in the green shirt. However, the highlight of the night for me was seeing Jason Leonard’s amazing weight loss – he’s a new man and now a temple of fitness (so he tells me!).
“Yet again, the event was a success and I’d like to thank all involved for supporting the event and raising money for a top man and great cause.”
We thank Shane once again for his time with Expert Witness returning in two weeks’ time.
Shane Byrne played 41 times for Ireland with four Tests for the British and Irish Lions. A great technical hooker and world-class line-out operator, he represented Saracens and Leinster at club level.