https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... es-autumn/
On the eve of his team’s 37-18 win over Australia, moments after hearing that arch-poacher David Pocock had been ruled out due to a neck injury, Sam Underhill gave a typically straightforward explanation of why it had been so important for England to improve their poor breakdown performances over the first six months of 2018.
“If your breakdown’s better, you have an opportunity to show that your attack is better. If your defensive breakdown’s better and you’re winning more penalties, you can show that your set piece is better.
“It’s almost an ‘in’ to the game, so the breakdown is allowing us to show what we can do over the rest of the game.”
Various statistics, all of them compiled by Opta, show that England’s autumn has seen more accurate breakdown performances on both sides of the ball. During the Six Nations, England won 577 attacking rucks and lost 27 of them, returning a success rate of 96 per cent from four matches.
Think how many points were squandered and how much field position was surrendered by those 27 lost breakdowns. Over four matches in November, England lost just seven rucks and won 304 more. The success rate has risen to 98 per cent.
Although Pocock’s absence last weekend was undeniably helpful for those figures, England faced Malcolm Marx and Duane Vermeulen at the start of November. We will come to their breakdown discipline in more detail later, but England reduced the average of three holding-on penalties per match (30 in total) that they conceded during the Six Nations to 0.75 (three in total over the autumn).
When it comes to ball retention, cohesive support play and effective running lines can be just as important as clearing out an opposition player and the carrier’s contact skills – ball placement, writhing on the floor to make the ball a moving target and other tricks discussed in this article. Underhill has epitomised this in recent weeks.
The 22 year-old Bath man also spoke about how much he enjoyed dovetailing with Brad Shields and Mark Wilson in a back row that has looked industrious, mobile and resourceful.
“Compared to some back rows we’re probably more similar individually, which gives a good balance,” Underhill added. “We maybe miss a huge stand-out ball carrier, but across us we have the ability to do that. As for sharing work-load, I really enjoyed working with them and trust them a lot.”
Over two impressive seasons with Ospreys, Underhill earned a reputation as a dynamic runner capable of puncturing the gain-line by hitting clever angles. However, injury woes and Bath’s attacking struggles meant that his first Premiership campaign did not showcase these qualities.
This autumn has witnessed the re-emergence of Underhill as a carrier. Helped by Shields and Wilson, who accumulated 68 metres with ball in hand against the Wallabies thanks to his scampering away from the base of scrums and around the back-field, he has hunted weak shoulders and allowed England to generate quick ruck-ball in spite of the absence of both Vunipola brothers.
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When Mako and Billy Vunipola return to the fold, their firepower must be complemented by intelligent support play and slick distribution from teammates. Both siblings are intuitive link-men too, so they can help put others through holes.
In defence, John Mitchell has evidently worked hard on breakdown decision-making as well. England won five jackal turnovers against Australia, taking their total for the autumn to 12. This is one more than they managed over the course of the Six Nations.
In November, they won a jackal turnover around once every 37 rucks they defended. For the Six Nations, that number was up close to 50. It did drop below 23 in South Africa, which may reflect the influence of Tom Curry and Chris Robshaw.
England have still forced other turnovers with aggressive tackling – often as part of an organised kick-chase – and by ripping the ball away from tacklers. Even so, jackalling success speaks to sharper opportunism and better communication with referees around the breakdown, both of which bode well for Rugby World Cup 2019.
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On Saturday, England only conceded six penalties across the 80 minutes, and their overall rate of breakdown penalties has steadily declined over 2018.
Look at the breakdown infringements they made during the Six Nations, over the three-Test series in South Africa and then this November:
These figures concern attack and defence, but the decrease in holding on penalties demonstrates more accurate attacking play with the decrease in ‘off feet’ offences suggesting greater restraint and accuracy in defence.
The figure of 3.3 breakdown penalties per match would be even lower but for the over-eagerness and ill discipline in the first half against Japan, which cost England their only yellow card of the campaign as well.
Tellingly, that game saw Lawes start at blindside flanker before Jones reverted back to Shields when Australia came to town.
Just as the make-up of England’s midfield for the 2019 Six Nations will be the subject of immense scrutiny, so will the back row as Billy Vunipola, Chris Robshaw and Tom Curry come back into contention.
But, as a cohesive combination, Underhill, Shields and Wilson continually gave England an ‘in’ into matches. They have done no harm at all to their prospects of earning tickets to Japan.