by Scott Ingleton
Both England teams, the men and the women, showed us how to win a rugby game without the ball. We know the men can play this way; the defeat of Australia in the world cup is all the evidence necessary. For the women, the match in Castle Park, on a sunny though cold day, was a real test of their defensive capabilities. Every Irish team is packed with power, full of fire and are staunch opponents for anyone to face. When they have the ball, they run hard and true, smashing at the door until it finally breaks open. However, this did not happen; Ireland smashed and smashed and smashed, but that door remained shut. Both England teams scored more individually than both Ireland teams combined; the women were held scoreless while the men scored just 12. These results mean the women retain their spot at the top of the table and 3 points ahead of France, while the men move up to second, 4 points behind – you guessed it – France.
With both teams having a shot at their respective titles, the inherent similarities (and multiple differences) become much more interesting. Perhaps there is some across-gender playing style and is “the England way”, or perhaps Jones and Middleton have been meeting to discuss coaching and are influencing each other’s methods. One big difference between them, however, is how the women have maintained a performance level from the opening victory against France, whereas the men have improved over time, but only against Ireland have they seemed in anyway similar to how they played in the World Cup. The quality of performances from both teams were brilliant, both teams holding back the constant waves of green jerseys with exceptional discipline and strength.
One statistic that has become a focal point is dominant tackle. A dominant tackle is when the attacking player (with the ball) is tackled and loses ground (or is forced backwards), thus giving the defending player dominance over the attacking player. Dominant tackles show who has the momentum is a game, because absorbing the momentum of an attacking player and having the ability to transfer that momentum, costing the attacker ground (and potentially moving the gainline back) is a massive boost mentally for the defending team. One reason why phase play (pick-and-gos near the tryline, for example) is so effective is because constantly defending drains the defending team more than the attacking. They just keep taking hit after hit and alongside physical exhaustion, you have the fact that you are defending on your own line, so all the effort you’re putting in won’t be rewarded; if you succeed, you just won’t be punished. If you fail, you concede points. There’s no “carrot” in this scenario, only the stick or nothing. So, when a player makes a dominant tackle, and the gainline moves back, the defending team gains a bit of a morale boost and the attackers lose a bit of hope. You could see it in both matches; in the first half for the men, Manu Tuilagi put a huge hit on CJ Stander, which eventually led to a knock on by Ireland. During the second half of the women’s, Sarah Bern put in a huge hit on Aoife McDermott, which was then turned over by Vicky Fleetwood. In both cases, only a few moments after the tackle possession was back for England. As a baseline average, most teams will achieve around 5%-8% of all their successful tackles being dominant. The women achieved 8% of their tackles as dominant, around the higher end of the standard. The men, however, achieved 16% of their tackles as dominant. This shows how doggedly they were defending, and how often Ireland would lose ground even as they’d attack. It must have been extremely frustrating for those in green trying to break through a line that forced you back, time and time again.
In terms of actual possession alongside tackle stats, we have some very interesting comparisons to make. The women made 177 successful tackles to Ireland’s 160, surprisingly close numbers considering that fact that the Irish had 66% possession (though this may be in part due to large breaks in the game for injury, during which Ireland had possession as it was their set piece next). The disparity in the mens game was much more obvious; England made 201 successful tackles at 44% possession, compared to Ireland’s 121. This masterclass of defending helped both England teams maintain a solid base from which to launch attacks at tired Irish players.
Both teams are dangerous in open play (hence why handling is so vital) but it is the scrum where they truly excel. Ever since Itoje, Kruis, Aldcroft and Cleall have come into their respective teams, the English lineout has been superb. You’d be hard pressed to find better lineout operators than any of them, and subsequently many set pieces have been formed off the lineout. We saw it work twice, once in each match, both resulting in tries from lineout mauls. It’s a cornerstone of the “English” play style, as much as have a huge scrum is the French style, and a flowing attack is the All Black style. But recently the English scrum for both teams has become very strong, overpowering their opposing numbers at scrum time in every single Six Nations match so far. For the men, the recent addition of Matt Proudfoot, World Cup winning member of Rassie Erasmus’ staff, as forwards coach could well be the key piece the men were missing. The ability to win scrum penalties and to demolish the opposing scrum gives a much greater version of the mental and physical boost felt when you make a dominant tackle. Other than handling (both teams were into double figures of handling errors, men with 12 and women with 15) and – for the men – consistency, it is difficult to find where the teams need further improvement. Perhaps some more depth for the men at fullback and scrum half, and for the women more depth at flanker (we don’t want to risk Millar-Mills if she gets hit with another injury). Though with the way they are playing, the women have all but tied the tournament up, whereas the men will have to hope Ireland and Scotland can work miracles against a fantastic France side who must be licking their lips while looking at the Grand Slam title.