How the Irish national Rugby union team should play against teams from Southern Hemisphere

#3 Slow build up inside the own half

However, when building up a move from inside their own half, Ireland should not be so fast. They have to stay close to the ruck, play close passes and dictate the pace of the game. Conor Murray, their brilliant scrum-half, is a master of this art.

Ireland have employed this strategy at times in the Six Nations as well with resounding success. Following this tactics, they enjoyed more than 65% possession on an average in the Six Nations 2018. Against teams like New Zealand and Australia too, they can not afford to spread out the game too much inside their own half, as it would give the opposition a chance to win back possession.

They also must not allow NZ/Australia to intercept the balls and saunter to an easy try. And anyway, there should always be a second line of defense negating that possibility. Playing long passes inside their own half should be avoided as much as possible.