The Cipriani Sideshow
Few players in the English game are as high profile as Danny Cipriani. Luckily he’s been able to put the embarrassment of the summer behind him and in his first games for his new club delivered two scintillating pieces of skill resulting in tries for Matt Banahan and Charlie Sharples. Two reactive left to right passes under the pressure of the defence, one of them over 20m? No two ways about it, they were both sublime...
Jack Willis vs Ben Curry – Ruck Analysis
The clamour for England to have a “true” openside has escalated over the course of this 6N but for the most part (as we'll demonstrate), the larger issue for England was the lack of a true flanker at 6. Courtney Lawes could be very effective for the right side at 6 but he simply doesn’t fit within the balance of England’s current pack. To cut to the chase England need a scrapper at the breakdown....
England Ruck Analysis vs France
With England's struggles at the breakdown the current focus for discussion, I decided to undertake an analysis of their rucks during the England vs France Six Nations Match. I decided to base my analysis on the Ruck scoring method originally designed by the brilliant Demented Mole blog, linked here: https://dementedmole.com/2013/10/30/ruck-marks/ I mean why re-invent the wheel? In an attempt to get away from the almost meaningless...
Wasps vs Harlequins – Final 20 Analysis
Good game management is huge in Rugby Union. Ask people what game management is and you’ll likely be pointed in the direction of a kicking fly-half or halfbacks. Of course, kicking from 10 is part of it, but collectively it’s about the direction the team moves in at any given time, the approach they take to that period of play and how accurately they execute it. It can halt a team in its tracks, stealing their...
Anatomy of a Try – Reiko Ioane vs Wales November 2017
A good attacking play is about using space when it's presented to you. That space can be created that in a multitude of ways by building phases and momentum, counter-attacking or a 1st phase set play (or a strike move). With the complexity of modern defensive systems you'd be forgiven for thinking that you need more and more complex moves to break them down, but in reality, you just need to execute simple things well and this...
TDBA Podcast Season Two Episode Three – The Autumn Internationals
This week I analyse the weekend pasts matches, focusing on: England vs Australia Wales vs Georgia Scotland vs New Zealand I also briefly touch on Ireland vs Fiji and France vs South...
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