The Rugby Championship began with a disappointing defeat for the Wallabies as they lost 43-12 against the Springboks. While the defeat will leave a sour taste we began to see the changes that Eddie Jones is looking to make this Australian side his own. Today we examine how Jones’ use of wingers varies from Rennie …
Tag Archives: Rugby World Cup
Wayne’s Wales: Lineout
Under Wayne Pivac the Welsh lineout has been quite the roller coaster ride. In the 2020 Six Nations Wales had perhaps the worst lineout. Using Simon Gleave’s Lineout Effectiveness Metrics they sat bottom, however by the end of the 2021 competition they had risen to the top. This piece won’t focus on how they fixed …
Wayne’s Wales: Defence
Under Wayne Pivac, Wales had a rocky start defensively, conceding over 90 points across for the first time since 2015 in the 2020 Six Nations. The defence wasn’t any better when Wales played in the autumn, when they conceded the 3rd most points of any team. There were still some problems with the defence under …
Wayne’s Wales: Kicking
Wales under Wayne Pivac have developed into an innovative and forward thinking side. They have melded various strategies and tactics into a high skill, attack minded gameplan. The development however has not just been on the attack, with innovation also present in their kicking strategy, whether it being double footed scrum halves, 2 man chase …
Wayne’s Wales: Attack
Under Wayne Pivac, Wales have developed one of the strongest attacks in the Northern Hemisphere. In the 2021 Six Nations Wales scored the most points on their way to the title. One of the main drivers of this success has been the innovations by Pivac and Stephen Jones especially around the “no numbers on back” …
Combining Structure and Flair: Joe Simmonds brace v Harlequins
While lockdown continues the rugby void still needs to be filled. So I have looked back instead at a game in the English Premiership, in order to see what learnings can be taken for when rugby takes. In the following piece, I examine how Exeter converted two opportunities through fly half Joe Simmonds to expose …
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Collective Intelligence: How Wales built a multi-phase defence
Defence has become an increasingly important facet of the game. So while my last piece looked at scoring from lineout and the flair of attack. It is time to look back, to a wonderful example of grunt, guile and grit as Wales took on Ireland in 2015. The defence shows the importance of adaptability, ruck …
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Lineout Tries – Using rugby’s most plentiful platform
The lineout is rugby’s holy grail when it comes to attack. This is simply down to the various options teams can use on the attack. Teams have the option to pin various amounts of forwards in the lineout and numbers in their backlines to strike. As we are still in the rugby doldrums, I look …
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Namibia put up strong performance against Italy
While certainly no showcase game, Italy and Namibia shared a great game with Namibia putting up a strong fight. Their defensive strength restricted Italy in the first half to only 3 tries, and they even managed to grab one of their own. This intent while not kept throughout the game, resulted in them scoring 3 …
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France survive to win against spirited Pumas
The French and World Cups. They seem to bring out the best of each other, a typically french performance culminated in a wondrously tense finish with France pulling through battered, bruised but undefeated. The game started in a calm, perhaps overly sedated manner. The weight of the occasion limiting the freedom of both sides. This …
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The Analysis Guy 