Pressure and Game Management

Speaking after the Champions Cup game at the Stade Marcel Michelin against Munster, Clermont coach Frank Azema spoke to the press about how his team had “died little by little out there. Munster bring you into this vicious circle where you can no longer control your game. They managed to take control of the match, pressured us, beat us in the tackle and on the ground and we couldn’t get our heads above water”.

I want to go through what I had seen from Munster and how they had used both attack and defense to strangle Clermont's grip on the game. To set the scene, Munster had conceded four tries and we 28-9 down after 24 minutes. Through a game plan of kicking points when available something almost alien to recent Irish sides they managed to pull themselves back to 28-19 by the 44th minute. JJ Hanrahan had just kicked another penalty to make it 10 unanswered points by Munster and Clermont trotted out to the half way line to kick off.

Lopez takes a fantastic kick off, landing it right on the Munster 22, close to the touchline. It is beyond Kleyns reach but a miscommunication between him and Daly leads to a knock on and an attacking scrum to Clermont in a terrific position.

This leads to the "you have him" scrum. Slimani has been in trouble at the set piece for a while now and once more he resorts to the shortening bind and driving in at an angle. The Munster scrum are well aware of what he is doing and both Marshall and Wycherley are able to keep straight and drive him up. You can see quite clearly that once he has gone in and up that there is no real transfer of power from the second row behind Slimani. Also something that has maybe gotten lost in Josh Wycherley's performance is how well Stephen Archer and Jean Kleyn scrummaged on the day. Archer just keeps the head down and transfers the power from behind through to the Clermont loosehead and hooker forcing the scrum to spin around.

Munster win the penalty and JJ's kick brings play just inside Clermonts half. Munster go with a 6+1 lineout and keep the ball tied in for a maul. They are not looking for disguise on the lineout because as you can its purely timing with everyone moving to the front of the lineout as the ball is thrown to Kleyn at 2. Munster protect the ball well with a nice wedge around Kleyn, Beirne Coombes and Stander applying the driving power and Marshall directing the play at the back. Clermont are unable to cope and forced into stopping it illegally by swimming up the side to sack the maul.

The penalty is just outside JJ's range given how close it is to the half way line and touchline so Munster kick the line. JJ over cooks the kick into the deadball area and Clermont can breath a sigh of relief until they realize its another scrum.

Again Slimani is under huge pressure but Clermont get the ball back quickly enough for Bezy to fish it out before the Matt Carley has to make a call.

What strikes me about this play is the workrate and intelligence of Murray and POM. The Clermont winger has come in from the blindside and they now have their entire backline attacking the openfield space giving them a 6 v 4 against the Munster defenders up in the line. (screenshot below)

Murray sprints out to cover the Lopez with POM following closely behind. Clermont try to get the Munster line to bite by using Barraque to straighten, faking the crash but passing back to Lopez on the loop. Murray has closed the gap on Lopez as he receives the ball and scrags him to the ground as he gets the ball away. De Allende takes the runner coming from deep which allows JJ to drift wide and help out Farrell. Farrell takes Penaud and Earls has made the decision to come in and try and cut the ball off from going wide to Raka, As Penaud goes to ground from Farrells tackle, Earls and JJ are the first over the ball. Farrell gets to his feet and his counter ruck forces Clermont back, where POM and De Allende continue to pressure. Clermont are under huge pressure, going backwards against a defense swarming them with numbers and Ravai makes a decision to carry upright into contact which he knocks on.

Munster scrum outside the Clermont 22 and in a great position to launch an attack. Murray is given a rock solid platform from the back of the scrum with the Munster centres standing in narrow, close to the scrum with Earls by their side. Farrell runs a line from outside centre directly back at the scrum itself to fake the crash ball, allow Murray to slip the ball out the back to JJ who runs at the 12 channel. Earls support line is fantastic on his inside and the space Farrell has created by distracting the 10 allows Earls to ghost through. Fritz Lee is forced to cover across and make a last gasp cover tackle.

De Allende picks up the ball from the base of the ruck and fakes the pop pass to the forwards coming around the corner after the scrum. De Allende spots the gap between the A and B defenders and powers an extra 5 metres as he pumps the legs. Murray has quick ball and a pop pass to Archer on the charge. Fritz Lee is caught killing the ball and Carley puts his out for another penalty to Munster. Munster take their points and they are back within one score at 28-22.

Clermont kick off, yet again, hoping to get some territory and play in the Munster half. Farrell claims the kick off in the middle of the pitch just outside the 22. CJ drives the ball up and towards the touchline to give Munster their preferred position for the exit box kick. I don’t think Murray meant it to be that short in distance but Daly taps it back and Munster reclaim possession.

Munster fake the crash ball with Kleyn who pulls the ball back to JJ who kicks long down the middle between the two Clermont defenders. The Munster kick chase is excellent and Raka is under huge pressure from Coombes and De Allende. As Raka goes to ground POM follows up and drags the Clermont scrum half 5 yards up the field. Clermont are now trying to reorganise quickly while still under pressure. Lopez can’t get the kick off due to the chasers so he has to pass deeper to Barraque who can’t make touch. Haley picks up and counters back inside the Clermont 22 but is forced into touch.

Munster compete in the air at the Clermont lineout on their 22 and are able to stop the maul from progressing. Clermont exit but Daly claims the box kick and Munster reset close to half way. CJ hits a hard line back inside once more making good ground. Allowing Murray quick ruck ball before De Allende puts in a clever kick to pin Clermont back inside their own 22 once again. From that lineout the Clermont throw isn’t straight and Munster regain possession deep in Clermont territory once again. This must be completely demoralising for the Clermont players.

Munster take the lineout option and fake the maul, which has been so effective, but CJ disengages from the back and pops the pass to Murray. Coombes is lurking in the backline but Murray skips him and gives to Farrell to crash it up. Quick ruck ball then gives De Allende the option to do the exact same thing as Munster attack in waves.

Off De Allende’s crash ball, Marshall runs a line close in to Murray that draws in two defenders. CJ runs a clever line behind him which allows Murray the chance to drag the pass back and CJ to run into the space created. A great handoff on Penaud and an offload to Haley is done almost in unison. Haley gets ball and man in one go as Matsushima makes a cover tackle. Haley tries to offload to Daly on his shoulder but it doesn’t go to hand with Daly ready to just flop over the try line.

It matters little as Marshall was taken out off the ball and Cancoriet received a yellow card and allowed JJ to knock over another penalty to make the score 28-25 with 57 minutes on the clock.

Munster scored 9 points in 13 mins playing clever cup rugby. They used a solid set piece from both lineout and scrum to launch their attacks but only when in Clermont territory and only on Munsters terms. They kicked and exited well forcing Clermont to turn and retreat. Losing field position time after time only caused more pressure on Clermont.

Munster relied on their old skool basics of defense, set piece and taking the points on offer. They made Clermont play in parts of the pitch they weren't comfortable in and Munster have added subtlety to their attack with some lovely movements off the ball to complement their direct attack. The pressure told for Clermont and eventually they had no answer to Munster's relentless onslaught.