How will Italy target Ireland

Italy are probably the forgotten team of RWC 2011. They may be quietly confident of staging upset after beating France and running Ireland so very close this year. Personally I doubt their ability to play away from home.

However if Ireland lose to Australia (a likely enough possibilty) it becomes a winner take all match in Italy v Ireland.

What will Italy do to target the Irish and can they get a quarter final?

I'm more worried about this game than other people seem to be too.

They will target our scrum as per usual I'd say.

Try to keep the game slow realistically (even though their backs are improving they lack a 10)

Put considerable pressure on our lineout especially at the tail and force us to go the front where it is harder to employ off the top ball and will force us into a tighter game which suits there defence.

"What will Italy do to target the Irish and can they get a quarter final?"
Find some Aussie 10 with an Italian gran...oh wait

I suspect they will take solace from the Scotland match. They are not dissimilar. They lack any shred of creativity in the 10-12 axis but they have a strong pack and good runners in the backs.

Yeah will be

a) pick and go
b) one off runners off 9
c) hit ups in midfield
d) kick long/high

I think a series of hard direct attacks on the 10-12 channel is the best way forward. Irelands mistake in 6 Nations was to try to go wide every time which resulted in a side to side game.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:I'm more worried about this game than other people seem to be too.

They will target our scrum as per usual I'd say.

Try to keep the game slow realistically (even though their backs are improving they lack a 10)

Put considerable pressure on our lineout especially at the tail and force us to go the front where it is harder to employ off the top ball and will force us into a tighter game which suits there defence.

This is the crunch game for us Pete and it's not a guaranteed win by any stretch. Italy will be targetting this game for sure and the 6N will have given them the confidence that thy can beat us.

They'll obviously target our scrum and they demolished our lineout in the 6N too so that will be a big area for them too.

I think if we get clean ball we'll have too much ability out wide but if they can dominate up front then this could be a very close game.

I just hope Kidney has learnt a lesson from the 6N with regards backrow selection and how important it is too always have at least 3 lineout targets on the pitch.

I think if you attack the midfield with dummy runners the Italian defence tends to get a little confused.

Going right to left:

If you have 12 and 13 drifting hard out and 11 coming out to in and 14 off 10's shoulder

If 12 runs a switch and 13 drifts but stays fairly flat with 15 coming straight through the middle of them.

Ball to 12 who has many options (a) 14 on inside (b) 13 on outside (c) 10 wrapping

Things like this tend to put the Italians on the backfoot, they are solid tacklers but when they are unsure of who to hit it's seems easy to make yards in the tackle (if they even get a tackle in)

We should vary our lineout more also, throws to front lifter and back to hooker, over throws to midfield, one throw right to the back next right to the front, throw to POC twice in a row, then have him lifting from behind.

"Find some Aussie 10 with an Italian gran...oh wait "...

Or get an aussie fullback with real silly full grown mutton chops.... oh wait...

hahaha!

I would be mightilly relieved if the USA or Russia beat Italy before we played them, don't see it happening but would make me sleep a bit easier.

Italy will try and use their centres to create holes which is where Canale and co. will attack. I would expect to see a lot of carries from the backrow aswell from the likes of Parisse and Sole. I think they will be very physical but there are question marks over how creative they can be.

I think if they were smart they would block off our lineout at the tail too?

Can see them aiming to knock up in the centres a lot. Possibly using short blindsides so we don't have numbers to gang tackle.

pete (buachaill on eirne) wrote:I think if you attack the midfield with dummy runners the Italian defence tends to get a little confused.

Going right to left:

If you have 12 and 13 drifting hard out and 11 coming out to in and 14 off 10's shoulder

If 12 runs a switch and 13 drifts but stays fairly flat with 15 coming straight through the middle of them.

Ball to 12 who has many options (a) 14 on inside (b) 13 on outside (c) 10 wrapping

See, this is exactly the kind of stuff a team with powerful strike runners in the back three and creative, ball-playing centres needs to be doing. As opposed to we'll use our small centres on the crash ball and not use our wingers...

I feel our strategies in attack are not always best suited to the personnel we have. I feel the way we play we are reliant on D'Arcy not getting injured. I want to see us try some new things at the weekend in attack.

My real name isn't Joe Schmidt I swear!

Wales do it really well I got to say with Shane Williams, they put him at 12 and the centres outside him, the centres look to switch and crash while shane drifts across both of them laterally. The defence is held and Shane puts on the afterburners and its a 3 on 1 for Wales. Give the pass then its a 2 on 1 with the opposition fullback.

Using misdirection dummy runners who are actually really threats is very, very important.

That's how we should use SOB off lineouts I think. Short lineout hit SOB or Wallace off the top let them gain yards. Do that twice then use them as dummy runners the third time.

I'd imagine Italy will see the forward contest as their big chance to assert some dominance, and in that regard it'll be interesting to see the team selections. I think Kidney will want Ross, Best and Healy for this one, both to give them a chance for a proper warm-up, and also to allow the backs combinations a platform to operate properly, something the make-shift side against Scotland didn't really get.

It'll be interesting to see who gets picked for the Irish centres. I wonder if Kidney will try a different balance, perhaps McFadden at 12 with Earls at 13, or whether D'Arcy and BOD will be fit to return.

Italy will look to win at scrum time
They will target lineout
Their backrow will look for at least parity
They will look to play territory and look to tick the scoreboard over through penalties
They will hope for turnovers with the ball spread to the likes of canale quickly for counter attacks.
They will want to have large stages of possession to starve the Irish attack of time on the ball and opportunities. This will be through pick and goes coupled with forwards running at 10-12 channel.

How can Ireland beat Italy?
- Get parity at scrum
- get under the skin of their tight 5
- boss the breakdown
- mix up forward drives and wide ball
- don't kick away possession
- don't box kick
- thrust our catalogue of set piece moves
- use bowe/kearney and others coming into the attacking line
- use our bench aggresively

I really think overloading the midfield is critical against them, make it so they have to think. They are not as smart defensively as other teams make them unsure of who they are meant to be covering.

Bossing the breakdown will be tough as will getting scrum parity, not easy against Italy.

I wouldn't suggest going wide early against Italy (except off turnovers) it can lead to forcing the pass or being isolated.

Set piece moves our vital against a team like Italy