IRELAND INSIST THEY are “driving high standards” when it comes to their discipline ahead of the upcoming Six Nations.
English referee Karl Dickson will be in charge of Ireland’s championship opener against France on Thursday in Paris, where the penalty count and card count will be as important as they always are in Test rugby.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has cited discipline as a priority for his side in this campaign, following a November Test series in which they were punished with six yellow cards and one red card in their four games.
The Bundee Aki case this week has only added to a sense that Irish players and teams have slipped when it comes to discipline and their interactions with referees.
Speaking at their training camp in Portugal yesterday, Ireland assistant coach Andrew Goodman indicated that while they don’t fully agree with that perception, they want to be better.
“When you talk around discipline, I think it’s important to note that in last year’s Six Nations, we were the best disciplined team in terms of penalties given away,” said Goodman.
“I think Paulie [O'Connell] said today we gave away 40, the teams against us 55, so we had a net of plus 15.
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“But it was the moments, the big ill-discipline moments that cost us. It was the same in November, when you have a look at our discipline in games, it was actually pretty good. It was just some of the avoidable penalties that we want to get out of our game.
“Jack Crowley’s hand on the ground [against South Africa], for example. Last year, it was Joe McCarthy against France. Those yellow card moments that just put your team under huge pressure.
“I think discipline and smarts have always been a massive strength of Irish rugby. We want to push that through our team, but we want to take away those real avoidable ones that can hurt a team in terms of carding.
James Ryan is shown an upgraded red card against the Springboks. Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
“And then it’s hard to defend, you might end up with another card off the back of that, so those are the ones we want to get rid of in our game.”
As for the potential that the Aki ban will put Irish rugby in a bad light in the eyes of match officials so close to the Six Nations, Goodman was keen to point out that it wasn’t an Ireland match.
“It’s a Connacht game,” said Goodman.
“I know it was one of our players, [but] we’re coming into our environment. We’re really driving high standards around our discipline, referee respect being one of those.”
As well as trying to be squeaky clean when it comes to their penalty count and avoiding cards, Ireland are keen to push on with several other aspects of their game.
They want more consistency at the lineout, scrum, and maul, they want to be more assertive in defence, and they also feel they can be more effective in attack.
Goodman, who works closely with Farrell and Johnny Sexton on Ireland’s attack, believes there is much more to come in that regard.
Their review of the November Tests showed that Ireland had lots of chances but couldn’t find the space due to a lack of skill execution, not being set early enough, or not spotting the opportunities accurately.
Ireland assistant coach Andrew Goodman. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“We’ve got to make sure as coaches that they [the players] have got strong belief in their plan,” said Goodman.
“Myself, Johnny, all the guys that are working on the attacking side of the game, we’ve got to make sure through the week we’re building belief in a plan and they’ve got full trust in the plan.
“If they’ve got that belief, they’ll trust themselves to throw that pass. We weren’t sharp enough off the ball [in November], maybe a little bit of fitness, maybe a little bit of match sharpness, maybe the way we need to be training them to put them under pressure in those positions.
“So there’s a number of little things that can lead to that match sharpness to see the right decision to execute your skill set.”
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Ireland are 'driving high standards' on discipline ahead of Six Nations
IRELAND INSIST THEY are “driving high standards” when it comes to their discipline ahead of the upcoming Six Nations.
English referee Karl Dickson will be in charge of Ireland’s championship opener against France on Thursday in Paris, where the penalty count and card count will be as important as they always are in Test rugby.
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has cited discipline as a priority for his side in this campaign, following a November Test series in which they were punished with six yellow cards and one red card in their four games.
The Bundee Aki case this week has only added to a sense that Irish players and teams have slipped when it comes to discipline and their interactions with referees.
Speaking at their training camp in Portugal yesterday, Ireland assistant coach Andrew Goodman indicated that while they don’t fully agree with that perception, they want to be better.
“When you talk around discipline, I think it’s important to note that in last year’s Six Nations, we were the best disciplined team in terms of penalties given away,” said Goodman.
“I think Paulie [O'Connell] said today we gave away 40, the teams against us 55, so we had a net of plus 15.
“But it was the moments, the big ill-discipline moments that cost us. It was the same in November, when you have a look at our discipline in games, it was actually pretty good. It was just some of the avoidable penalties that we want to get out of our game.
“Jack Crowley’s hand on the ground [against South Africa], for example. Last year, it was Joe McCarthy against France. Those yellow card moments that just put your team under huge pressure.
“I think discipline and smarts have always been a massive strength of Irish rugby. We want to push that through our team, but we want to take away those real avoidable ones that can hurt a team in terms of carding.
“And then it’s hard to defend, you might end up with another card off the back of that, so those are the ones we want to get rid of in our game.”
As for the potential that the Aki ban will put Irish rugby in a bad light in the eyes of match officials so close to the Six Nations, Goodman was keen to point out that it wasn’t an Ireland match.
“It’s a Connacht game,” said Goodman.
“I know it was one of our players, [but] we’re coming into our environment. We’re really driving high standards around our discipline, referee respect being one of those.”
As well as trying to be squeaky clean when it comes to their penalty count and avoiding cards, Ireland are keen to push on with several other aspects of their game.
They want more consistency at the lineout, scrum, and maul, they want to be more assertive in defence, and they also feel they can be more effective in attack.
Goodman, who works closely with Farrell and Johnny Sexton on Ireland’s attack, believes there is much more to come in that regard.
Their review of the November Tests showed that Ireland had lots of chances but couldn’t find the space due to a lack of skill execution, not being set early enough, or not spotting the opportunities accurately.
“We’ve got to make sure as coaches that they [the players] have got strong belief in their plan,” said Goodman.
“Myself, Johnny, all the guys that are working on the attacking side of the game, we’ve got to make sure through the week we’re building belief in a plan and they’ve got full trust in the plan.
“If they’ve got that belief, they’ll trust themselves to throw that pass. We weren’t sharp enough off the ball [in November], maybe a little bit of fitness, maybe a little bit of match sharpness, maybe the way we need to be training them to put them under pressure in those positions.
“So there’s a number of little things that can lead to that match sharpness to see the right decision to execute your skill set.”
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andrew goodman Six Nations Discipline Ireland Penalty Count