Nathan Johns

Borthwick ball and Ireland’s defence: Three charts reveal interesting tactical trends from Six Nations Statistics show how Ireland and other teams are adapting their Six Nations game plan midway through a World Cup cycle

Per Opta, Ireland's expected goal kicking success is 83.8%

The actual figure is 74.3%

Therefore, Ireland have been the worst goal-kicking side in the comp so far

Explored this and a few other surprising trends of the 6N so far for @irishtimes.com ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

A good look by @nathanrjohns.bsky.social at how Ireland's new attack shape kicked on at the weekend.

Ever since Andrew Goodman said he wanted Ireland to be better on transition, we’ve tracked progress

Twickenham was Irelands best counter attack display of this cycle

Where France go sans structure, Ireland turned transition into another set-piece

Analysis ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

Thanks Nick, hope all well

Come join us on TMS!

The odd one looked ok. It reminded me of losing to wales 2021. Some phase play stuff had promise, but rarely did it click. Farrell gambling that the same cycle repeats itself

I don’t think it’s about kick chase per we. Schmidts Ireland were good at that for instance. It’s what happens after. Ireland don’t have the decision makers (bar SP, who doesn’t have Jalibert/Ramos’ athleticism). Probably don’t have enough of the right athletes either

Analysis: Right now, Ireland’s game plan does not suit its players Ireland do not yet look comfortable embracing a greater focus on kicking and transition attack

Joe Schmidt was criticised towards the end of his Ireland tenure for not evolving his game plan

Andy Farrell, circa 18 months out from a World Cup, is experiencing just how hard evolution is

Thoughts from Paris ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

With the boot, or with ball in hand – Antoine Dupont remains an inevitable force Making his international return for the first time in 11 months, France’s superstar forced the game to unfold according to his will.

None of the trademark support lines or mesmeric ball in hand moments from Antoine Dupont.

Instead, he found other ways to bend the game to his will.

Analysis from Stade de France ⬇️

www.the42.ie/antoine-dupo...

Six Nations: One statistic will define Ireland’s opener against France on Thursday, and the whole tournament Two metrics reveal which Six Nations teams are built for modern rugby – and where Ireland must improve

Ireland's XV (back 3 in particular) points to their goal of getting better at counterattack

France, with their Bordeaux influence (paging Noel McNamara), are the transition gold standard

How do Ireland get better? Embrace the zero-ruck try

Analysis ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

The Jacques Nienaber conundrum: What’s going on with Leinster’s defence? A fascinating dynamic is at work in the province’s Champions Cup campaign as more and more opponents find ways to exploit Leinster’s imperfections

Leinster are conceding almost a full converted try more per game this season compared to last

Are flaws in Jacques Nienaber’s system leading to fissures, or is something else going wrong?

Analysis ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

News confirmed, King to captain Ireland.

No co-captains

McMahon is out with a long term knee injury but Monaghan is still with the squad

Sounds like Erin King is to be announced as Ireland captain ahead of the Six Nations

Aged 22, she only debuted for Ireland (in 15s) in 2024

Named World Rugby breakthrough player that same year

Edel McMahon and Sam Monaghan were co-captains at the World Cup

Rory Best on how Ulster have turned things around The Counter Ruck Podcast

Interview time on the @IrishTimesSport rugby podcast

Rory Best, an ex-Ireland captain under Joe Schmidt, is now general manager at Ulster

What does a GM actually do, and how have Ulster become Irish rugby's good news story?

Listen ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/the...

‘The skill level is so much better’: AIL’s rise opens the door to the professional game for club players The perception that the league is a ‘graveyard’ for young players eyeing professional careers ‘is changing’, says Clontarf’s Dylan Donnellan

In the last few years, more AIL players have stepped up to provincial rugby

Conor Bartley at Munster
Bradley McNamara at Ulster
Jerry Cahir, Bobby Sheehan, Ivan Soroka and Dylan Donnellan at Leinster

Why are more clubmen getting chances at pro level?

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

Tadhg Beirne: ‘The style of the game has gone backwards’ Munster forward would prefer if rugby had more flow after defeat to Leinster in scrappy affair

Interesting stylistic clash on Saturday night which dominated the post-match press chat

Munster are raging against rugby's trend of kicking and set-piece battles.

Leinster want to be more creative but think it's naive.

Who is right?

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

Leinster show grit to beat Munster in scrappy URC clash at Thomond Park Josh van der Flier shines in game lacking in attacking quality but full of physicality and niggle

Grit and niggle aplenty, but enough quality to give punters their money's worth?

Report from Thomond ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

Cold but 🔥

Bonus-point win for Munster as they get job done against Ospreys Entertainment was in short supply in Wales, with both sides lacking quality

Bonus-point win for Munster as they get job done against Ospreys

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

Bridgend tonight

Ospreys vs Munster, Brewery Field

Old school club ground

For @irishtimes.com

Below-par Leinster grind out win against Leicester in Champions Cup Tries from Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan meant the Irish province left Welford Road with four points

If Leinster go on to win Europe, this is the type of performance that will be painted as a gritty, vital win

For now, tho, all that can be said is they still look well below par

Report from welford road ⬇️

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...

'I don’t know how much longer I would have been comfortable just playing in URC games and never in Europe' The former Leinster wing speaks to Nathan Johns about his move to Gloucester and lessons learned about injury.

Given the wider conversation on lack pace in Irish rugby, Rob Russell’s claim to be the fastest man in Leinster last year caught the eye

But he couldn’t stay fit and Leinster ultimately let him go

Spoke to Rob about life in Gloucester, injury woe and the need for speed ⬇️

the42.ie/6897219

'I was a late developer' - Joshua Kenny's unorthodox route to Leinster's first team Kenny charts his path to the URC, via athletics, sevens and the AIL.

According to the Leinster website, Joshua Kenny is 6'3 and 100kg. Add to that his yard of pace

Not many wings with that profile in Irish rugby

Regardless of how far he goes, Kenny's story of landing on his feet after 7s was culled is worth highlighting ⬇️

www.the42.ie/joshua-kenny...

1) not really dealing with my point about disingenuous use of quotes

2) Mike’s point is he’d like to see Ireland change a few things (be cuter essentially, esp in your clip) but Saturdays disaster is an outlier. I don’t think that’s too objectionable

Yeh would agree with this. FWIW, Ross pretty much says Ireland need to be cute whoors. It's not burying head in the sand, but it's acknowledging Saturday was an outlier with multiple factors

Not really fair to omit the first half of that sentence:

"They probably would have got a few penalties out of us but it would have been fairly even.”

I would argue that the widespread exploration of scrums this week is an inherent acknowledgement that Ireland had a problem.

The piece does focus on better prop technique as much as one scrum where SA took a risk with their angle

It doesn't say it would be fine, it just says the damage wouldn't have been as dramatic. The point is made that Ireland have been ok against the Boks in the last few years

Now, do SA have a stronger culture of developing scrummagers and significantly better depth? Of course

Scrums for dummies: What goes on in there and why Ireland needn’t panic after Springbok ordeal Former Ireland tighthead Mike Ross talks us through the finer details of the scrum as well as the ‘PR campaign’ against Andrew Porter and lessons from the loss to South Africa

Tired of rugby analysts being happy with a lack of knowledge of the scrums

So I called up a scrum expert to get the verdict on Ireland's Springbok capitulation

TLDR: Ireland shouldn't be worried, but the 'Boks are ludicrously powerful. What makes them so good?

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/...