Watch: Omar Mouneimne's Analysis Of England Ahead Of The RWC Final
- 4073
England and South Africa face off one again in the Rugby World Cup Final setting up a repeat of the final 12 years ago in France. Both sides have been in superb form on their way to the final and both look well-coached and stick to their structures.
In another Exclusive for Ultimate Rugby, professional defence coach Omar Mouneimne has analysed the two sides ahead of the all-important clash!
Before we dive into the analysis of the two's structures, here is Omar's pick of the stats as well as his prediction:
First up, we have a look at England:
Below we have a look at England's potent attack, particularly from the lineout.
England generate quick ball from a full lineout. Tuilagi carries it up hard but it's Farrell and Underhill's work at the breakdown that helps England keep the pace. Youngs plays the next pod of forwards and again it's quick ball at the ruck.
Everyone knows their role and it's crisp and electric as Daly gets Watson away with a lovely offload.
Once they get on the outside and they bend your defence like that, it's really hard to recover as they spread it wide again.
Again the ball carrier has multiple options and from there it's tips, passes in behind and as a defence, you are left scrambling.
England manage to turn the All Blacks inside out and their defence just can't cope. Courtney Lawes takes it hard to the line and you expect him to smash it up but he passes at the last second to Sinckler, who manages it get his pass away in contact.
They get close to the line and although it seems that the attack slows down, it's still clean ball at the ruck, Billy Vunipola goes close before Tuilagi drives over.
England do mix it up well at the lineout, as you will see in the next GIF.
Mako Vunipola is at first reciever and as a loosehead prop, you'd expect him to carry it up to the line. However, he runs it hard to the line and produces a backline player's quality pass out the back to George Ford.
But look at the options he had, he had Ford, his brother Billy, Owen Farrell and Manu Tuilagi. England are extremely clever in the way they construct it as if you ignore any of those players - as a defensive line - they will run over you or show and go.
So you have to pay attention and respect the potential ball carriers.
Contrast this to how the Springboks attacked from mauls. Damian de Allende stands flat and receives the ball, he has got options in Lukhanyo Am and potentially Handre, but the Springboks decide to bash it up.
Faf decides to run from the next ruck as no Springbok players run good enough lines, Wales turn it over and send South Africa back into their own half.
Another example shows that the Springboks were a bit predictable in their approach.
From the maul, they work the short side and open up the field on the right. From there they attack same side, same side, same side and end up with 8 players all bunched up together.
The set up is promising as de Allende must be respected as he could play the ball out the back as he does have options but as mentioned before he takes it into contact and the Springboks just bash it up with ball carries.
England were very innovate against the All Blacks from their set-pieces. Here you can see the All Blacks have stuck Aaron Smith at the front of the lineout and he is there to mark Ben Youngs.
England identified this Youngs wraps around the back with Sam Underhill coming forward and runs directly at Smith. This gets England on the front foot quickly and the All Blacks already have to track back.
From here England continue to attack well and go towards the openside. Once they come back the other way, Daly receives the ball and realises that he doesn't have enough numbers.
Instead of holding onto the ball and potentially concede the turnover, he drops it onto the boot and they apply the pressure on Goodhue in the corner.
Goodhue does incredibly well to stay infield but Smith clears into touch and again England another attacking lineout.
England's 'strangle defence' and excellent variation on their kicking game
England's strangle defence and variation with their kicks is excellent. Look at how well they turnover the ball from a relative poor kick.
They work it to the openside before Sinckler throws a nice pass out to Farrell and it's Ford who pins George Bridge in the corner.
Bridge opts to catch it and clears it into touch and England have an attacking lineout. That is a health net gain considering the passage of play started way back between England's 22 and 10m lines.
Keep an eye out for Omar's preview of the Springboks as we continue our build up to the Final of the Rugby World Cup.
