How England’s attack ripped Wales apart in a 10-try masterclass
The key to England's 10-try masterclass against Wales
Watch England’s rampant victory over Wales on Saturday and you will be left wondering just how they kept finding space out wide.
A week earlier and you’d have seen Scotland dominating the first half thanks to attacks around the outside of the Welsh defensive line.
Both teams were looking to reach the edge; the space beyond the widest defender in the defensive line. Get there before the defence and you’ll be guaranteed a line break. Fail to get there and you’re still likely to open up holes in the midfield as the defence rush to close off the edge.
Attack in modern rugby
But how do you create an edge and how do you attack it?
A good defence will aim to protect the immediate space around the ball and then spread across the pitch to ensure there’s no enticing spaces for the attack to target. Given enough time, that’s exactly what the defence will be able to do.
However, a succession of dominant carries or quick rucks, or both, will condense the defenders around the ruck and prise open these edges. That can happen quickly.
In the video, we look at how the Saints go from facing a well-set Saracens defence to being able to attack clear edges within just a couple of phases.
Some teams would see a glimmer of space out wide and immediately attack it. That desire to move the ball wide was common among the final stages of Warren Gatland’s tenure as Welsh coach.
Wales would try and target those outside defenders but the defence would simply slide over, remove the space, and then target the isolated Welsh ruck as they’d moved away from their area of strength.
Saints don’t do that. Instead, they punch their first carry up tight to the initial wide ruck. A solid carry there and a quick ruck means that the defenders close to the sideline are trapped by the ruck and can’t move around for the second phase.
All the wider defenders have to step in towards the ruck to defend the immediate threat around the ball. As long as the attackers from the first ruck can rush around for the next phases quickly, then there will always be an advantage for the attackers.
The key is not to immediately rush to the edge you’ve now created. This is often the issue grassroots clubs have where they make one positive carry and then immediately look to spread the ball wide after that.
Creating space
It’s better to use that first positive carry to create momentum for a second positive carry which sucks even more defenders in and makes that edge larger and easier to attack.
Crucially, once you’ve created an edge out wide to attack, the defence will be so keen to get across to cover it that they will inevitably leave gaps in the midfield thanks to a disconnect between two defenders or simply slower-moving players.
Again, we can see this in the video where the Saints eventually score a try by leveraging an edge and then running straight through the middle of the pitch where the defence should be strongest. This also happened as Scotland beat Wales in Edinburgh.
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The first half had seen Finn Russell and co. picking Wales off out wide and isolating their wingers. The second half saw Wales better able to stop those wide attacks but only at the expense of a more open midfield which Scotland picked through.
When Wales faced England a week later, the same issues were visible with England condensing the Welsh defence at will and either running around the edge, as in Henry Pollock’s debut try, or running through the middle, as in his second try.
If you coach kids or play at a lower level, the idea of patience can be hard to instil. Kids especially want to attack and they want to attack quite flamboyantly and get the ball out wide. A good defence will simply slide across the pitch and snuff out that attack.
Those wide attacks result in slower ball because the support players and scrum-half have to run further. That slower ball makes it easier for the defence and therefore makes the next phase harder for the attack.
Instead, two or three simple but powerful carries can get you on the front foot, condense the defence, and then open up the edges to attack in that flamboyant way!
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