Munster's back play this season

An Outsider's look at the problems with Munster's back play this season.

No powerful ball carriers
- At the minute munsters best ball carriers are Ryan, Varley and Wian duPreez in terms of breaking tackles and getting go forward ball. Ryan and DuPreez are also modern, skilled forwards so they can ride the tackle and get an offload away to a supporting runner. Poc to the detriment of munster stands at first reciever far too often and goes to ground immediately at contact without much if any ground gained. His hand in the lineout are beyond question but not in general play. Munster need someone along the lines of a Ferris, Healy or O'Brien to be able to power through and get momentum going again.

Bad support of the carrier to offer a clear out or take an offload
- I'm not sure if it's a fitness or a mentality thing but when there's a break on there's no one trailing the ball carrier to either clear out the opposition tackler or offer an option to take an offload. The opposition have too much time to set up a ruck and then it turns into an arm wrestle for the ball. The net result is that every ball is static and it's first phase where again not having a power runner makes it more difficult to get the pace back up again. Whether it's down to the squad's fitness or it's just a game plan thing there's no one in support of the carrier to offer an option to pass to and keep continuity, or to clear out the tackler and make the recycle quicker.

ROG passing so early turns it into a 4 on 3 defence
- This means that in a sense the 12 turns into the playmaker but unfortunately it also means that you've got the 12, 13 and 14 being defended by the opposition 10, 12, 13 and 14. Space has been taken from the pitch with no benefit or defenders being tied in so it's very easy to gradually push munster towards the touchline and force them out, or for the extra man at 10 to join the 12 and double tackle mafi. Here I reckon keatley is a much better option since he offers the size and speed to be a running threat to keep the defence fixed. It gives mafi far more time and space to get forward and not eat up the entire pitch. Alternatively Rog should play closer to the defensive line and Earls played at 11 can come on an inside line or jones / hurley from 15 to take the ball inside Rog. Rog is neutralising the backline to a large extent if you want to play a running game. The fact that he's won so much for munster and that the 10 man game was so effective for years has kept munster clinging on to this style of play which is gradually slipping with their lack of forward dominance.

Players going as individuals
- On this one you've got no collective attacking mentality. The backs will go on their own runs unsupported and it seems like none of the other players are aware of what they're going to do. Someone like earls or mafi goes on a mazey run unsupported and will gradually get closed down and turned over. At best it's back to a ruck with slow ball and the lack of powerful ball carriers kills momentum. Earls is trying to do everything on his own and at higher levels it's not feasible. He needs to have a few players on his wavelength or have a coached mentality that as soon as someone breaks, there's players running support lines to clear out or receive a pass. He also needs to learn to offload earlier.

No support players on a break
- In broken play if you've got enough supporting players all you need to do (he says from his armchair) is turn each defender into a 2 on 1 and lay off the ball when your defender is fixed. This is similar to the forwards in that you need players running good support lines. You could see earls, jones and howlett doing this automatically since they're attacking focussed players, but it should be coached to the rest of the backs as a default. They'll need to be fitter and faster to support it though.

Poor basic passing skills
- There's a habit of taking the ball into contact far too often and again unless you can burst through the defence and get an offload away it's slow from there on. Every player needs to be comfortable in passing the ball in the tackle. Likewise mafi and earls need to be able to pass the ball while running at full tilt. Joe schmidt was shocked at how poor some of the basic skills of the leinster backs were - McFadden (who we generally consider a very good back) was one named example. Everyone needs to be capable of an offload to get continuity going. Paul O'Connel who you can't fault for will and endurance is a prime candidate for bing first receiver but taking the balls directly to ground with little or no ground gained. Donnacha ryan on the other hand will keep his arms free and go for the offload.

Poor coaching
- As documented here, there's no invention in the backline. Duchie holland, whatever you thought of him as a player, is not good enough. Earls, jones and howlett are really potent. Luke O'Dea, scanlon and Zebo have great pace and should be able to cause problems but there is zero invention in the backline. Also none of the players are improving a lot - their skills aren't being worked on and improved. All of the things mentioned above are fixable over a season. Why with similar or worse players are Ulster and Connacht able to play a fast paced running game? If munster think of themselves as a top european side then why is their current level of backplay and backs coaching considered good enough?

In theory on the counter simple passing and good support play should get you through. The french teams and the welsh teams can just offload nicely before the tackle comes in with a few players running closely in support. If you ignore hickies pace and take a look at the 3 on 3 situation towards the end this is just fixing a defender, passing before he touches you to a support player and him doing the exact same thing as you make ground up the pitch. With the fitness to be able to keep pace and keep running late into the match it's in theory simple play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...5KlXF5d8#t=76s