CLEVER SET-PIECE PLAYS from goal-line drop-outs have become a calling card for Andy Farrell’s Ireland. Hugo Keenan’s effort against France in the Six Nations last year was a memorable example, Ireland dusting down an old Joe Schmidt lineout play, cleverly converting it into goal-line drop-out move, and to produce a brilliant try. In South Africa, Ireland have unveiled a new goal-line drop-out play that for Conor Murray in the first Test.
Yesterday, Ireland threw a new variation of the play at the Springboks to devastating effect. The Springboks were kept tryless in Durban but Ireland scored a beauty through Murray to help them to their 25-24 win. Speaking after the game, Farrell revealed that forwards coach Paul O’Connell leads Ireland’s work on these goal-line drop-out plays.
“Paul comes up with them,” said Farrell. “We refine them and go through the detail, work hard on them together.” O’Connell is well known as an avid watcher of rugby and something of a magpie.
He talks about copy-and-pasting things he has seen elsewhere but making edits along the way. And that seems to have been the case with this smart play Ireland used in South Africa. When Munster beat the Bulls in Pretoria back in April, they unleashed this clever move on second phase of a lineout attack, with Alex Kendellen nearly breaking clear after running a hidden line to take an inside pass from Jack Crowley.
Initially, it looks like Crowley will throw the inside pass to Shane Daly, but the Mu.
