“Unpredictable.” It’s a simple answer for Andrew Goodman when asked how the Lions’ attack will look.
On one hand, no one wants the opposition to know what’s coming. On the other, it stands to reason that the coaches themselves haven’t figured out exact plans yet. According to those involved, it remains to be seen exactly how Andy Farrell will dovetail with new assistants Richard Wigglesworth and Goodman in terms of precise job specs.
Educated guesses can be made. Farrell, widely seen as the mastermind of Ireland’s attack of recent years, clearly enjoys working with Goodman, given he has now hired him twice. Throw in snippets of what Wigglesworth has done with England and we might be able to piece together a green-tinged game plan enhanced by snippets of other philosophies that intrigue Farrell.
Have the Lions left Ireland in the lurch?
“When you look at the four home nations, different little bits they’ve done well over the Six Nations, we want to combine that, come together and show something different which maybe Australia haven’t seen yet,” says Goodman. “That’ll be the goal, to get an attack that’s unpredictable, ability to play at the line, [for] the lads to play eyes-up rugby.”
Specifics of what each country does well were not overly forthcoming from Goodman or any other coach. So the exercise of piecing it all together is left to us.
Ireland, as has been well documented, looked to change their attack during the Six Nations. Kicking numbers are up. Possession stats are down. Efficiency is the order of the day. It worked for the first three rounds, only to come unstuck against France. A sluggish follow-up display against Italy left a sour taste; Ireland’s new attack failed to impress.
“I thought we had some good stuff through the first couple of games, scored some nice tries and put in some good phases in attack,” says Goodman. “When you think around that French game in the first 20 minutes, we weren’t as efficient as we should have been. “It’s a different attack as you would sometimes do outfield a little bit more.
“Generally there’s a 13-2 defence outfield. It might be 14-1 or 15-0 sometimes [inside the 22] so space isn’t as easy to get to. Intensity of the tackles, [and] the amount of two-man tackles come up so the collision area is very important when you get in there, being efficient in what you do and being aligned in the style of play in that area.”
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Of the four Lions eligible countries in the Six Nations, Ireland had the second worst rate at converting 22 entries into tries (34.7 per cent). England (51 per cent) were the best.
If Ireland struggled to be clinical inside the 22, their set play attack looked strong for the most part − 90 per cent of Irish scores came from set piece. When forwards supply possession for the backs, that is Goodman’s area, building on a series of impressive power plays from November. The two-phase strike for Tadhg Beirne’s try against England is a case in point, as was Jack Crowley’s delicate pullback for Hugo Keenan to score off a scrum versus Italy.
You can’t mention Irish set-piece scores without remembering Joe Schmidt. The man in charge of the Lions’ opponents infamously brought his skill in that area to Ireland and first Leinster, including when Goodman himself played for the province. It’s all interlinked.
“The thing I loved about Joe was the opportunity he saw, the excitement he brought to some of the plays he brought to the table, a great analytical eye not only around numbers but around opportunities,” says Goodman.
Combine Goodman’s set piece nous with English efficiency – and the general kicking knowledge of someone like Wigglesworth – and things suddenly look a lot rosier.
England’s ability to be so ruthless with their opportunities comes at least in part from how these chances originated. Nearly a quarter of their Six Nations tries came off turnover ball – the highest of any Lions nation. If able to break the line quickly against a defence which has not yet set, it becomes far easier to score. It was a quality lacking from the Irish attack.
Scotland, for their part, present a similar threat. They were comfortably the best Six Nations team for rate of tries coming from kick return (25 per cent). A back-three player leading the way for metres made is not noteworthy in and of itself, given the space in front of them when receiving kicks. Nevertheless, that Scottish fullback Blair Kinghorn gained over 200m more than second place (574m vs Marcus Smith’s 366m) suggests a significant threat.
Given the presence of Farrell and Goodman, it stands to reason that the Lions may well go to the Irish playbook of keeping most players close to the ball, narrowing defences in midfield before throwing long passes to wingers in space. This was effective in the Six Nations when James Lowe was powering through defenders. Pair him with a speedster – say, Tommy Freeman – and that plan looks all the more potent.
Combine that phase play with Goodman’s already impressive strike-move playbook. Then add English counter-attacking efficiency alongside Scotland’s kick-return threat. It’s an exciting outlook. It always is when bringing together the best of the best. The tricky part is gelling it all together in such a small time frame.
“We might have stock plays we run for the first few games because we’ve got so much you need to cover before you head to a Test match series,” acknowledges Goodman. “That’s a really important part of coming in, [not] dumping everything in on the players straight away. Let them go out and feel each other, get connected about how we’re going to play through our phase, through our counterattack and get them excited and aligned.
“As an attacking group for the Lions, we’ve got to have some different tools that we go to. One way of attacking isn’t going to be good enough against a Wallabies team. We’re going to have to add layers on our attack as we go through this tour.”
