In this blog, Hawkeye Sidekick pinpoints the five key elements which Ireland need to execute to beat France in round four of the Guinness Six Nations tournament.
1.Move the French pack around the park;
Very physical and meaty French pack (950kg at the start of the tournament), going to be a long hard slog for Ireland’s pack but if they can ball carry with pace, this French pack will lose discipline and stray offside which will create penalties and ultimately good field position to attack France deep in their own half.
2.Solid set piece
The Ireland set piece needs to be on point this weekend. France at scrum time will look to pose serious questions of our front five early so Ireland’s front five need to front up to the early onslaught. The line out malfunctions against Italy in round three cannot happen this weekend; otherwise France will have a great chance of victory on the road. Solid line out calling will be the order of the day as the weather conditions long range look mixed from Best, Ryan, Henderson and Roux.
3. Cohesion
The keyword coming from Joe Schmidt in recent weeks. Ireland have shown flashes of quality attacking play. The Keith Earls try against Scotland.
The excellent Jacob Stockdale try against Italy. The tournament so far has seen a number of promising attacks halted due to unforced errors; the final pass not going to hand. It is slowly progressing and hopefully should improve for round four of the tournament.
4.Ruck Time
A lot of people have pointed the finger at our half-backs for Ireland’s cohesion issues but not many have pointed to why the half backs have been unable to execute to their ability. The ruck time has been a mess from Ireland and clean, fast ruck ball has been in short supply for Murray and Sexton to work with. I am hoping that the clear out work is much improved from Ireland this weekend, good body positions to allow Murray to get the ball out of the ruck faster. If this happens, expect massive an upturn in Ireland’s attacking play. This French side defensively still look vulnerable and will provide gain line breaks for Ireland but it all comes down to quick ruck ball.
5.Kicking Game
An element of Ireland’s play which was not beyond reproach in the last two years has suddenly come under the microscope. The aerial kicking has being inconsistent and the open play kicking has not exposed opposition back three’s defensive so far. The kicking game was used to good effect by England in their heavy win over France. Owen Farrell consistently having space in behind the French back three to create territorial field position for which England attacked the French line out.