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March 18, 2011

Posted on 03/18/2011

Why Ireland will not risk it

England plan to keep the ball in play in their grand slam quest but Ireland will go the other way and hoof it into touch, according to Wales assistant coach Shaun Edwards in his latest column for The Guardian.

"England's target will be to take the power from the legs of Ireland's big ball carriers such as Cian Healy, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip and Sean O'Brien. Early on they'll drive a few lineouts, but the gameplan will be to keep the ball in play. Ireland will go the other way and hoof the ball into touch – and probably row Z at that after last Saturday – to stop England's back three running back at them, something Mark Cueto, Chris Ashton and Ben Foden have done since the opening night of the championship when they came down to Cardiff.
"The stats tell the tale better than I can: against England, Wales had four lineouts, last Saturday against the Irish we had 19. Point made?

"I know Declan Kidney is starting with Jonathan Sexton this week, rather than Ronan O'Gara, but I can't see Ireland running the tactical risk of playing into England's hands. Obviously Kidney is looking towards the World Cup when he selects Sexton, but there may also be memories of what the Leinster fly-half did to England this time last year in his selection.

"Either way, Ireland will be praying that Eoin Reddan's head clears enough for him to start. With Tomás O'Leary suffering yet another unfortunate injury, Ireland are getting a bit short of scrum-halves and it matters that Sexton has the comfort of a man he works with regularly inside him. He had a patchy game against Wales, kicking poorly immediately after replacing O'Gara, but you can put a lot of that down to the Webb Ellis ball, which Wales and only Wales use."

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