SHORING UP THE defence was an immediate priority for Stuart Lancaster when he joined Connacht, yet he is a coach who has always had a big passion for attack.
That won’t change out west, particularly given that Connacht have such a proud attacking history. Their greatest glory, the 2016 Pro12 title, was built on a free-wheeling attack, and their desire to excite supporters with clever ball-in-hand play hasn’t dimmed since.
Connacht have attacked superbly at times in recent years but haven’t always been able to deliver an end product. Lancaster and new senior assistant coach Rod Seib, an Australian attack specialist, will be keen for their charges to be a more effective attacking team.
The first signs against Benetton last weekend were promising as Connacht posed plenty of questions to the visitors’ defence. It wasn’t always smooth and Connacht only managed to create two clean linebreaks, but there were signs of smart thinking and lots of purpose.
Key to Lancaster’s side scoring four tries on opening night was the punch they brought in contact, something that will have pleased the head coach hugely.
Connacht senior assistant coach Rod Seib. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
Connacht got over the gainline with 66% of their carries, according to Opta, which was second only to Cardiff in their URC win over the Lions.
We will come back to the power game later, but this attacking performance also involved some intricacies that are worth following in the coming weeks.
The very first try of the Lancaster era came on 16th phase, which is a rarity. The majority of tries in rugby are scored in the first few phases of possession, but Connacht instantly showed an ability to hold the ball and stretch Benetton’s defence to breaking point.
A couple of direct carries from a left-hand side lineout get Connacht going forward before we see the first intricate movement of the attack.
As highlighted above, there’s a pod of three Connacht forwards to the right of the ruck.
In many instances, the pass would go to the forward in the middle of the pod and they’d either carry, tip-on a short pass, or sweep a pass to a back in behind.
However, in this instance, Connacht centre Cathal Forde [green below] has split the pod by stepping beyond them to receive the pass from scrum-half Caolin Blade.
We saw quite a bit of this from Connacht last weekend, with backs popping into receiving positions within pods of forwards.
As in this instance, it changes the picture for defenders who are accustomed to seeing pods of forwards with a back loaded behind.
We can see flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton briefly animating as if to receive the pass, looking to attract eyes towards himself as the ball instead goes to Forde.
As he takes the ball to the line with possible inside and outside passing options within that pod of forwards, Forde instead pulls his pass behind to out-half Josh Ioane [pink below].
Outside Ioane is a pod of two Connacht forwards [red], while centre Byron Ralston and wing Shayne Bolton [blue] are swinging out the back of that two-man pod.
So there are lots of moving parts here and while it’s not all perfectly-timed as Ioane goes behind the two-man pod – the ball nearly hits Sean Jansen – we can see what Connacht are working towards.
Ioane finds Ralston, who passes to fullback Seán Naughton, who offloads inside to Bolton.
Connacht don’t make a clean break but they get well over the gainline, having posed a few questions to the Benetton defence.
A direct carry infield follows before Connacht bounce back into the shortside, where wing Chay Mullins [pink below] looks set to be first receiver, only for Blade to fizz the ball right across his face to Ralston [red].
This kind of face pass is not new but it was noticeable how often Connacht used such tactics, with non-receiving players making a big effort to attract defenders’ attention.
Benetton manage well but Connacht continue to probe as they throw different shapes at the Italian defence.
As they play from right to left, Ioane [pink below] uses his two-man pod differently as he hits one of the forwards.
Mullins [blue above] has popped up on Ioane’s inside shoulder to provide a threat there, while the two-man pod [red] of Niall Murray and Peter Dooley are running directly, with Forde [green] bouncing out behind them.
As Murray runs a dummy switch line back under Ioane, the out-half plays a short pass for Dooley to carry, splitting the Benetton defence in the middle of the pitch.
Connacht get a quick recycle of the ball and then there’s another different play on the next phase.
As we can see below, Ioane [pink] is on his feet and could be first receiver again.
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But instead, it’s fullback Naughton [green below] who steps up into that role.
Ioane fades out the back as Hurley-Langton [red below] runs a hard line on Naughton’s outside shoulder, while Bolton [also red] begins to a run a similar line outside Ioane, with Ralston working across to swing behind Bolton.
Again, this is fairly intricate and there are lots of moving parts.
Connacht don’t fully nail it and there’s a chance Bolton could be done for obstructing ahead of Ralston, but the decision goes their way as they make ground into the Benetton 22.
With momentum on their side, Ioane throws yet another different weapon at Benetton – his own direct carry.
Blindside flanker Josh Murphy follows with something similar.
And then it’s scrum-half Blade who offers another new threat to the defence.
He recognises that Benetton defender Michele Lamaro being on the ground, rather than back up and in the defensive line, could be an opportunity.
Blade has Ralston showing for a pass, while hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin and lock Murray have come around the corner to offer a carrying threat on Blade’s outside shoulder.
With eyes attracted to his team-mates, Blade dummies and darts into the space just behind Lamaro.
Once in behind, Blade offloads to Murray. Connacht now have their foot on the throat.
Importantly, Connacht’s backs put their hands up in the next few phases, with Forde, Bolton, then Ralston carrying aggressively, meaning the workload is not all on Connacht’s forwards.
Backs can sometimes go missing inside the 22 as their forwards batter away, but Connacht’s powerful backline carriers step up here.
The backs also share in the high work-rate that’s required inside the 22.
We see Bolton carrying above, before he gets to his feet and works hard back out to the left-hand side where he carries again just three phases later.
And finally, Connacht have Benetton at breaking point.
The Italians could do with another body folding into the shortside on the next phase but they’ve been chasing for a long time now.
Connacht use another of those face passes to seal the deal. We can see below that Murray is shaping to receive the pass, which briefly attracts Benetton flanker Sebastien Negri.
But as we see below, Blade’s pass whistles across Murray to Ioane.
As Negri looks to adjust out, Ioane has the power to drive for the tryline and score.
It was interesting to see the variety of Connacht’s phase-play attack for this try, even if their plans weren’t always smoothly executed.
It’s clear that Lancaster and Seib want them to constantly be asking questions of defenders, even in congested spaces.
We got other glimpses of the above elements and traits during the win over Benetton, including below.
It’s difficult to see who the first receiver is going to be here, with replacement out-half Jack Carty [pink] and fullback Naughton [green] almost on top of each other.
As we see below, Blade picks out Naughton as Carty animates as if to receive the ball.
Murphy times his run superbly on Naughton’s outside shoulder for a big carry, all while Benetton have to worry about Bolton lingering in behind for a possible pullback pass.
Connacht are seemingly intent on providing this kind of deception in wider positions too.
In the instance below, Bolton [yellow] is running a direct, hard line off Ioane.
Ralston [red] appears to be the most likely receiver of the ball if Ioane passes out the back of Bolton. But fullback Naughton [blue] ends up getting the ball.
Ralston raises his hands in animation again as the ball goes beyond him to Naughton.
We also saw Blade running similar arc lines to the one before Ioane’s early try.
Cian Prendergast works with Blade in the instance below, hovering in behind the ruck before bursting onto his outside shoulder.
With other Connacht forwards attracting Benetton eyes, Blade squares up to engage the first defender, then slips Prendergast into space before the sub back row offloads to Murphy.
Generally, there was a sense of inventiveness to Connacht’s attack on the opening weekend of the season.
There was directness too.
Getting over the gainline requires power and aggression, but Connacht put those attributes into good positions to repeatedly shift the Benetton defence backwards.
Explosive number eight Jansen carries hard on first phase in the example above, running into the seam at the back of the lineout.
Connacht break off a dummy maul to find Jansen in midfield and the positioning of scrum-half Blade [red below] is important.
Blade attracts Benetton tailgunner Lamaro, meaning he is going to have to chase hard to adjust out onto Jansen, who can thunder at the inside shoulder of hooker Siua Maile [blue].
Having won the gainline, Connacht thunder around the corner on second phase.
As highlighted below, lock Murray and the Connacht backs [all red] are set up wide and relatively flat off the ruck, offering threat further out from the ruck, even if flanker Murphy [green] is going to carry.
While the sheer blunt force that Murphy brings in surging onto the ball is most important, Connacht once again offer a variety of threats.
And that’s true again on third phase.
As highlighted below, Hurley-Langton and Dooley have both shown around the corner, working hard to be set early. It’s something Connacht did repeatedly well on both sides of the ball, their speed to get set in attack and defence apparent throughout.
Both Hurley-Langton and Dooley have their hands up to receive the ball, attracting defensive focus, but Blade bypasses them to find centre Forde.
Forde then has options as he receives the ball.
Ralston [red below] runs a short line outside Forde, while out-half Carty [yellow] bounces out the back.
With Connacht set early and having so many options, Forde can use his power to dominate a carry into Benetton out-half Jacob Umaga.
It’s three phases of consecutive gainline wins for Connacht from the lineout platform and though this particular attack comes to nothing, it underlines how they were able to use their power in a smart way against Benetton.
It was a similar story close to the tryline for Jansen’s second-half try.
Last season, Connacht struggled to be clinical enough in the 22 and though they weren’t ultra-ruthless against Benetton, finishes like Jansen’s offer encouragement.
It looks like replacement tighthead Fiachna Barrett will pick and carry himself, but the 22-year-old instead scoops the ball, fully engages the second defender, then deftly pops the ball off for Jansen to thunder into the space outside that second defender.
Benetton will have been disappointed not to adjust but it’s smoothly done by Barrett and co.
It was equally pleasing for Connacht to score with a first-phase strike play from a lineout in the opening half, Naughton finishing after Ioane’s linebreak.
Again, Benetton would have been frustrated with the score, which happened while centre Malakai Fekitoa was in the sin bin, but Connacht were clinical in creating and taking the chance.
As they take on Scarlets this weekend, Lancaster’s men will be hoping to build on this promising start.
- Correction: This piece was amended to name Seán Naughton at fullback rather than Harry West.
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Lancaster's Connacht can build on promising signs in attack
SHORING UP THE defence was an immediate priority for Stuart Lancaster when he joined Connacht, yet he is a coach who has always had a big passion for attack.
That won’t change out west, particularly given that Connacht have such a proud attacking history. Their greatest glory, the 2016 Pro12 title, was built on a free-wheeling attack, and their desire to excite supporters with clever ball-in-hand play hasn’t dimmed since.
Connacht have attacked superbly at times in recent years but haven’t always been able to deliver an end product. Lancaster and new senior assistant coach Rod Seib, an Australian attack specialist, will be keen for their charges to be a more effective attacking team.
The first signs against Benetton last weekend were promising as Connacht posed plenty of questions to the visitors’ defence. It wasn’t always smooth and Connacht only managed to create two clean linebreaks, but there were signs of smart thinking and lots of purpose.
Key to Lancaster’s side scoring four tries on opening night was the punch they brought in contact, something that will have pleased the head coach hugely.
Connacht got over the gainline with 66% of their carries, according to Opta, which was second only to Cardiff in their URC win over the Lions.
We will come back to the power game later, but this attacking performance also involved some intricacies that are worth following in the coming weeks.
The very first try of the Lancaster era came on 16th phase, which is a rarity. The majority of tries in rugby are scored in the first few phases of possession, but Connacht instantly showed an ability to hold the ball and stretch Benetton’s defence to breaking point.
A couple of direct carries from a left-hand side lineout get Connacht going forward before we see the first intricate movement of the attack.
As highlighted above, there’s a pod of three Connacht forwards to the right of the ruck.
In many instances, the pass would go to the forward in the middle of the pod and they’d either carry, tip-on a short pass, or sweep a pass to a back in behind.
However, in this instance, Connacht centre Cathal Forde [green below] has split the pod by stepping beyond them to receive the pass from scrum-half Caolin Blade.
We saw quite a bit of this from Connacht last weekend, with backs popping into receiving positions within pods of forwards.
As in this instance, it changes the picture for defenders who are accustomed to seeing pods of forwards with a back loaded behind.
We can see flanker Shamus Hurley-Langton briefly animating as if to receive the pass, looking to attract eyes towards himself as the ball instead goes to Forde.
As he takes the ball to the line with possible inside and outside passing options within that pod of forwards, Forde instead pulls his pass behind to out-half Josh Ioane [pink below].
Outside Ioane is a pod of two Connacht forwards [red], while centre Byron Ralston and wing Shayne Bolton [blue] are swinging out the back of that two-man pod.
So there are lots of moving parts here and while it’s not all perfectly-timed as Ioane goes behind the two-man pod – the ball nearly hits Sean Jansen – we can see what Connacht are working towards.
Ioane finds Ralston, who passes to fullback Seán Naughton, who offloads inside to Bolton.
Connacht don’t make a clean break but they get well over the gainline, having posed a few questions to the Benetton defence.
A direct carry infield follows before Connacht bounce back into the shortside, where wing Chay Mullins [pink below] looks set to be first receiver, only for Blade to fizz the ball right across his face to Ralston [red].
This kind of face pass is not new but it was noticeable how often Connacht used such tactics, with non-receiving players making a big effort to attract defenders’ attention.
Benetton manage well but Connacht continue to probe as they throw different shapes at the Italian defence.
As they play from right to left, Ioane [pink below] uses his two-man pod differently as he hits one of the forwards.
Mullins [blue above] has popped up on Ioane’s inside shoulder to provide a threat there, while the two-man pod [red] of Niall Murray and Peter Dooley are running directly, with Forde [green] bouncing out behind them.
As Murray runs a dummy switch line back under Ioane, the out-half plays a short pass for Dooley to carry, splitting the Benetton defence in the middle of the pitch.
Connacht get a quick recycle of the ball and then there’s another different play on the next phase.
As we can see below, Ioane [pink] is on his feet and could be first receiver again.
But instead, it’s fullback Naughton [green below] who steps up into that role.
Ioane fades out the back as Hurley-Langton [red below] runs a hard line on Naughton’s outside shoulder, while Bolton [also red] begins to a run a similar line outside Ioane, with Ralston working across to swing behind Bolton.
Again, this is fairly intricate and there are lots of moving parts.
Connacht don’t fully nail it and there’s a chance Bolton could be done for obstructing ahead of Ralston, but the decision goes their way as they make ground into the Benetton 22.
With momentum on their side, Ioane throws yet another different weapon at Benetton – his own direct carry.
Blindside flanker Josh Murphy follows with something similar.
And then it’s scrum-half Blade who offers another new threat to the defence.
He recognises that Benetton defender Michele Lamaro being on the ground, rather than back up and in the defensive line, could be an opportunity.
Blade has Ralston showing for a pass, while hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin and lock Murray have come around the corner to offer a carrying threat on Blade’s outside shoulder.
With eyes attracted to his team-mates, Blade dummies and darts into the space just behind Lamaro.
Once in behind, Blade offloads to Murray. Connacht now have their foot on the throat.
Importantly, Connacht’s backs put their hands up in the next few phases, with Forde, Bolton, then Ralston carrying aggressively, meaning the workload is not all on Connacht’s forwards.
Backs can sometimes go missing inside the 22 as their forwards batter away, but Connacht’s powerful backline carriers step up here.
The backs also share in the high work-rate that’s required inside the 22.
We see Bolton carrying above, before he gets to his feet and works hard back out to the left-hand side where he carries again just three phases later.
And finally, Connacht have Benetton at breaking point.
The Italians could do with another body folding into the shortside on the next phase but they’ve been chasing for a long time now.
Connacht use another of those face passes to seal the deal. We can see below that Murray is shaping to receive the pass, which briefly attracts Benetton flanker Sebastien Negri.
But as we see below, Blade’s pass whistles across Murray to Ioane.
As Negri looks to adjust out, Ioane has the power to drive for the tryline and score.
It was interesting to see the variety of Connacht’s phase-play attack for this try, even if their plans weren’t always smoothly executed.
It’s clear that Lancaster and Seib want them to constantly be asking questions of defenders, even in congested spaces.
We got other glimpses of the above elements and traits during the win over Benetton, including below.
It’s difficult to see who the first receiver is going to be here, with replacement out-half Jack Carty [pink] and fullback Naughton [green] almost on top of each other.
As we see below, Blade picks out Naughton as Carty animates as if to receive the ball.
Murphy times his run superbly on Naughton’s outside shoulder for a big carry, all while Benetton have to worry about Bolton lingering in behind for a possible pullback pass.
Connacht are seemingly intent on providing this kind of deception in wider positions too.
In the instance below, Bolton [yellow] is running a direct, hard line off Ioane.
Ralston [red] appears to be the most likely receiver of the ball if Ioane passes out the back of Bolton. But fullback Naughton [blue] ends up getting the ball.
Ralston raises his hands in animation again as the ball goes beyond him to Naughton.
We also saw Blade running similar arc lines to the one before Ioane’s early try.
Cian Prendergast works with Blade in the instance below, hovering in behind the ruck before bursting onto his outside shoulder.
With other Connacht forwards attracting Benetton eyes, Blade squares up to engage the first defender, then slips Prendergast into space before the sub back row offloads to Murphy.
Generally, there was a sense of inventiveness to Connacht’s attack on the opening weekend of the season.
There was directness too.
Getting over the gainline requires power and aggression, but Connacht put those attributes into good positions to repeatedly shift the Benetton defence backwards.
Explosive number eight Jansen carries hard on first phase in the example above, running into the seam at the back of the lineout.
Connacht break off a dummy maul to find Jansen in midfield and the positioning of scrum-half Blade [red below] is important.
Blade attracts Benetton tailgunner Lamaro, meaning he is going to have to chase hard to adjust out onto Jansen, who can thunder at the inside shoulder of hooker Siua Maile [blue].
Having won the gainline, Connacht thunder around the corner on second phase.
As highlighted below, lock Murray and the Connacht backs [all red] are set up wide and relatively flat off the ruck, offering threat further out from the ruck, even if flanker Murphy [green] is going to carry.
While the sheer blunt force that Murphy brings in surging onto the ball is most important, Connacht once again offer a variety of threats.
And that’s true again on third phase.
As highlighted below, Hurley-Langton and Dooley have both shown around the corner, working hard to be set early. It’s something Connacht did repeatedly well on both sides of the ball, their speed to get set in attack and defence apparent throughout.
Both Hurley-Langton and Dooley have their hands up to receive the ball, attracting defensive focus, but Blade bypasses them to find centre Forde.
Forde then has options as he receives the ball.
Ralston [red below] runs a short line outside Forde, while out-half Carty [yellow] bounces out the back.
With Connacht set early and having so many options, Forde can use his power to dominate a carry into Benetton out-half Jacob Umaga.
It’s three phases of consecutive gainline wins for Connacht from the lineout platform and though this particular attack comes to nothing, it underlines how they were able to use their power in a smart way against Benetton.
It was a similar story close to the tryline for Jansen’s second-half try.
Last season, Connacht struggled to be clinical enough in the 22 and though they weren’t ultra-ruthless against Benetton, finishes like Jansen’s offer encouragement.
It looks like replacement tighthead Fiachna Barrett will pick and carry himself, but the 22-year-old instead scoops the ball, fully engages the second defender, then deftly pops the ball off for Jansen to thunder into the space outside that second defender.
Benetton will have been disappointed not to adjust but it’s smoothly done by Barrett and co.
It was equally pleasing for Connacht to score with a first-phase strike play from a lineout in the opening half, Naughton finishing after Ioane’s linebreak.
Again, Benetton would have been frustrated with the score, which happened while centre Malakai Fekitoa was in the sin bin, but Connacht were clinical in creating and taking the chance.
As they take on Scarlets this weekend, Lancaster’s men will be hoping to build on this promising start.
- Correction: This piece was amended to name Seán Naughton at fullback rather than Harry West.
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Analysis Connacht intricate Rod Seib Stuart Lancaster URC