Differing opinions but the result is the same.
The post-mortem into Ireland’s bitterly disappointing 27-22 defeat to Scotland at the weekend is in full flow.
There are many different aspects of the game which Ireland need to improve but one of the most obvious problems which hampered Joe Schmidt’s side was the narrowness on display in both attack and defence.
Ireland were carved open on multiple occasions throughout the match.
A lack of communication, too many players defending the fringes of the ruck and poor decision making led to Stuart Hogg’s opening two tries.
Yes, there was clear evidence that Ireland were set-up to defend narrowly but the most important thing is that your players have the ability to adapt to the circumstances which emerge on the pitch.
In this case, it was clear that Scotland were routinely placing Hogg on the outside channels and Ireland failed to put width in their defence to deal with this.
As we previously reported, Shane Horgan wrote in his column for The Times, that the loss of Johnny Sexton led to Ireland adopting a more narrow game plan.
It ultimately proved costly in the end https://t.co/SmrLxIkbAP
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 5, 2017
However, Ian Madigan refutes this, as he outlines in his column for RTE.
‘I know there has been some talk that Joe set up a narrow defence because Johnny wasn’t playing but I’m pretty sure he would not have changed his set-up because of that.
I sense it was more the way the Scots attacked us that caught us off guard and forced us to go narrow.’
Whatever the reason that Ireland set-up in a narrow fashion, it proved costly in the end as we saw from the tries that were conceded and the lack of penetration from Ireland in the first half.
Although Italy will pose different questions to Ireland, more so up-front than out wide, Ireland will need to play with more width on both sides of the ball if they are to secure a much need bonus-point win against the Italians.
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