England have been, in my opinion the best team. They have based everything around a solid structure building slowly and progressively. Whether they’ve reached their pinnacle in this game remains to be seen but overall, this has been their best game of the tournament, a scary thought for South Africa on Saturday.
England were able to neutralise New Zealand completely. This is what allowed them to record an all important victory. Take a look at this example from the 7th minute. England have conceded turnover ball, and whilst perhaps, they seemed slow to respond and dive on the ball, they were able to shut down New Zealand.
However worse still they have majority of their line caught on the wrong side of the break down, a sign of their aggressive attack plans. However, whilst New Zealand are able to throw it wide and make ground it is the response of the blindside that shuts down the move.
The line on the blindside doesn’t scramble. While the closest 3 or 4 drift diagonally the outside stays relatively straight, not corner flagging but aligning for the next phases. This plan is a success and shuts down the move later, and is supported by the work of the closest defenders. England have 4 defenders in a swarm to shut down New Zealand after they play past Daly.
New Zealand are at their most dangerous when playing through defences, but position 4 defenders stilts the All Black momentum. By shutting down the passing it also allows the remnants of line to form and shut down the second phase without conceding as much yardage.
This is helped by the slight split, in the defence. Itoje is sat deeper allowing a more aggressive point just ahead of him. While this is only a slight differentiation, and perhaps doesn’t play a large role, Itoje acting as a sweeper and the push on the outside means Barret is cut off close to centre field rather than allowing NZ to push it wider and have both playmakers on their feet.
By cutting him down in centre field, it also allows them to fold and then form a double line. This means they can defend aggressively on both sides, with the outside pushing hard. On the near side of the image this forces Reece to cut back inside. Whilst this leads to a ‘missed’ tackle for Mako Vuinopola on the inside, it has stalled New Zealand’s momentum.
This allows aggressive line speed again. This time Manu Tuliagi performs the shooting role, getting in the channel and grabbing an interception. As a result it means New Zealand are on the back foot, rather than converting a break which they would be expected to build from.
This is what eventually told the tale of the semi final. New Zealand pinned back, able to escape for mere portions of the game. New Zealand started 19 attacks from their own 22, 13 more than England. To give this some context, in their demolition of Ireland the All Blacks started 5 platforms in their own 22, and kept Ireland starting there 13 times. So whilst NZ had a high exit rate of 57%, the England team kept turning the screw.
The Analysis Guy 