Matt Williams spoke to Monday Night Rugby about the ‘shocking’ body language of Ireland in their narrow victory against Italy on Sunday.
The former Leinster coach believes that the physical stature and lack of communication between the players is a concern, but that it is not yet ‘panic stations’ as the lack of consistent form is not terminal.
Sounding a note of caution that Ireland have still only lost one game, Williams also believes that a lack of solidity at the breakdown has exposed pre-existing problems with Ireland’s offense.
“The form – not the class – has departed. Whether that is temporarily, we will see. I don’t think that it is panic stations, but I have been a bit of a lone voice in recent years in saying that Ireland’s attack has been poor.
“With the exception of the first half of the game against England [in 2018], which was absolutely magnificent rugby, this year has brought it out as well.“
Matt says that the lack of precision from the Irish backs has highlighted the issue further in this Six Nations, but that the technical problems squad-wide are also a problem.
“The passing yesterday was very poor. I would have to go back to Declan Kidney’s last game for passing and handling as poorly as the boys did yesterday.
“All of these problems are fixable and you can remedy them. It is not panic stations but is concerning.
“The way that they play, Ireland have to dominate. We know that if they are not up at half-time they are done with – that trend goes back to when Joe started.
“When they are just a little bit out of sorts, like they are now, they really struggle to put their game together. They are really struggling at the moment.
“Body language in sport is so important. If you read across all the advisors on sport […] they all talk about your physical stature on the field – be it a tennis court, or a rugby field, or a GAA field
“The guys looked absolutely shocking yesterday. There was no talk – no leadership. That shouldn’t just come from Peter O’Mahony, we can’t blame him – that has to come from everyone on the team. There was zero talk.
“That came across – especially at line out time and set plays – as a fear of failure, or a lack of confidence. Which is just extraordinary for a team that has just performed the greatest year that Irish rugby has ever seen.
“So it is a conundrum right now. A real question mark over why this has occurred."
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