RUGBY:Les Kiss talks to GERRY THORNLEYabout Ireland's phenomenal tackle count and how it has lifted spirits in the camp ahead of the Argentina game
THE EXTENT to which the Irish players, and especially the tight five and the midfield, put their bodies on the line against New Zealand was outlined by Irish defensive coach Les Kiss yesterday. Regarding the huge tackle count of 183, rarely could he recall figures quite like it, or the tone being set so early in the game.
By the end of the first quarter, Ireland had defended 42 rucks as against a mere five by New Zealand, those figures rising to 72-26 by half-time. So it was that Ireland had made an extraordinary 73 tackles in the first 20 minutes alone, and 122 by half-time. To put that in context, it was a 20 per cent rise on the total over 80 minutes against Samoa, which was 105 – around about the norm.
“The interesting thing about that at half-time was that we had seven players in double figures,” revealed Kiss, “and four of those were forwards (Cian Healy, Donncha O’Callaghan, Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip) and the others in the 10-12-13 axis where they hit Sexto (Jonathan Sexton), (Gordon) D’Arcy and Drico (Brian O’Driscoll) a lot.” D’Arcy, it should be noted, had the team’s highest tackle count, with 20.
“After 60 minutes all bar one forward were in double figures. And if you take the hooker, which was split between two guys, the hooker role was also in double figures,” added Kiss. “I think it was a great effort by the tight five in particular. I’ve rarely seen a forward pack all end up in double figures.”
Kiss took particular satisfaction from both the manner in which Ireland created the first try, as evidence of the style of play they’re trying to achieve, and the fact that they had defended 58 rucks to New Zealand’s 19 by that point of the game, although he acknowledged that was “not the result” but “the sense of pride in that we know we could have been better in a couple of spots, to maybe shift the game and give ourselves a bit more of a chance. We let it get away from ourselves too early in the game but other than that these are phenomenal numbers.”
In particular, failure to secure five Dan Carter restarts probably added about 30 or 40 to that tackle count. Kiss also admitted that the toll, both physically and emotionally, was heavy, but countered: “There is also an energising factor to it. We got the ball in our hands and put it to places where we wanted to play the game. We wanted to create opportunities against the All Blacks and I think that came to the fore.
“The guys are genuinely energised by that, but it’s important this week that we handle the whole squad properly. We’ve got a few knocks and bumps. We’ll manage the load right because the game is not going to be won on the training paddock, it’s going to be won in the 80 minutes. That’s important. Personally, I think it’s energising what happened.”
Kiss maintains the Irish system allows for more aggressive line speed or ‘shooters’, but faced by the best attacking team on the planet, all the more so when defending 72 rucks in the first half, “we asked them to keep their line integrity more than anything else and I thought they did that well for 90 per cent of the time. But I don’t mind the gamble. It’s something that’s allowed if they can find it”.
In any event, Argentina will ask different questions.
“It’s a different challenge, when they spread, they spread after trying to wear you out down the middle, so again there’ll be questions asked of the tight five in the mauling and the pick-and-drive game. Matching that is important, and then they try to hit you and strike you once they’ve worn you down. So it’s a variation in challenge that’s nice in another way. That’s what this four weeks has been about for us.”
