Defensive questions require collective effort

INTERVIEW/LES KISS:Paris hurt. But the hurt was used to spark a huge defensive effort in Twickenham. Gerry Thornleytalks to the man who helped light the spark

IN THE fall-out from Paris, no one would have spent more time analysing the DVD than Les Kiss. A defensive system that had become the envy of the other teams in last season’s Six Nations conceded as many tries in Stade de France as it did in all five games last season. That hurt.

Kiss is a deep-thinking, slightly alternative defensive coach. He doesn’t seem to analyse performances in terms of tackle counts and missed tackles. He’s guarded about his modus operandi, and takes a somewhat personalised, holistic view, with the defensive and offensive performances inextricably linked.

So he particularly enjoyed the way Cian Healy and Keith Earls forced that turnover after 13 phases of English recycling from which Ireland stealthily struck for their first try.

In any event, the bottom line is about scoring more points than the opposition.

Opposing teams were struck by the improvement in Ireland’s defence last season, wherein they combined quickened line speed with “shooters” – who broke the line and made impact or turnover tackles.

There were always liable to be glitches this season, though Kiss clearly feels personally responsible for them. You can see the hurt in his eyes as he recounts that 33-10 defeat to France.

But the hurt was used to spark a compelling defensive effort in Twickenham. Sitting on the steps at the back of the Carton House hotel, looking out on a sun-drenched golf course (a break to rest muscles made weary by the new training regime he and Gert Smal have introduced), you can also see the pride in his eyes, almost paternal, with how the team defended against England.

You ask him if the French gave him his toughest day at the office with Ireland.

“Since I’ve been involved, yeah. The Kiwis early on were the only other team to score three tries against us. The one thing with the French game is, we started well, we defended well and pushed them back actually, and then chased a great kick and put pressure on them.

“But there’s something about the French that means you have to be relentless. Under the circumstances of the game we probably just became a bit narrow in our collective thinking and they just hurt us. I’m not so upset, or it doesn’t worry me if somebody misses a tackle. There’s something else that must come into play, and the key misses we did save. It was when we over-committed at the ruck that created the space out wide.”

Rarely have we seen the Irish defence dragged out of shape as the French did to that extent.

“Those things will happen. It’s something that you never want, of course, but what I really enjoyed from the weekend’s response (against England) is that I think we attended to those things well. A couple of the experienced guys – like Drico’s slight misreads in that French game, he was disappointed, and he came out and he turned it around in that English game.

“Certain people that we identified who could have controlled things better in that French game were very good against England. And although they’re a different team, the only thing you can do is deal with what’s in front of you, and we did that well.”

You always felt there was going to be a huge response in Twickenham to the events in Stade de France, and the key, according to Kiss, was not over-reacting. “I think that was critical in terms of being able to narrow it down, identify the two or three key things that make a difference. In attack we found them, and in defence we certainly found them.

“And I think the way that we prepared then was very focused to put us back on track. If I look at the English, the quality and intensity of our work in the areas that we looked at was A1. Communication was one, scanning and understanding when they’re trying to release extra numbers against a defensive line that’s down in numbers – they resourced those things well.

“So I found the biggest quality was that they maintained their collective spirit. They didn’t narrow individually and start to get blinkers on. They kept with each other, and that was the significant part for us.”

They toned down the individual, offensive hits by shooters, or, as Kiss puts it, “you just cool your jets slightly”, and instead collectively worked hard on their shape.

“If you try to get the magic play, that’s when it comes undone. So we just had to understand the Qs (questions) a little bit better for the England game and work more on our twos and threes and fours. It was important for us to build that collective will again.”

Those famous, official Opta match stats. Ninety-nine tackles; one missed. It’s too neat to be true, really, and, sure enough, it doesn’t tally with Ireland’s own count, which is probably more in the region of 150, with around five missed.

Kiss admits as much, without giving away their tallies, but Stephen Ferris is known to have led the way with a tally near 20, followed by Donncha O’Callaghan in second in the high teens. Paul O’Connell and the other backrowers also had high tallies, and, in a noticeably broader spread than in Paris, so too did O’Driscoll and the outside three.

“You see, we measure it differently to them. I guess with the stats that come out afterwards, they’re credible because that’s what they see and everyone is measured in the same way. They measure them under the same lens, so it’s valid. I look at them and I find them interesting to see how they measure us compared to the opposition. We don’t measure the opposition on our stats, we just measure ourselves based on the one or two key measures that our guys are trying to attain, particularly in defence.

“The numbers were good. We didn’t have many missed tackles, that’s for sure, and I’m very pleased with that.

“There’s other things that pleased me more in defence, though, things that I think define a team. It’s a thing that we build internally and it’s a little key driver for us.”

This year’s itinerary has proved a rollercoaster defensively. The Italians were quite patterned, with scrumhalf Tito Tebaldi taking ages to organise two close-in pods from which to choose. But, that said, they demanded a high work-rate from Ireland’s defence.

“If you look at the Italians in the area where you know they’ll come at you, I think we handled that very well.”

The charge-down try conceded to Kaine Robertson, reasons Kiss, was down to what he terms “a little chaotic thing”, adding that it gave them a foothold in the game at the end of the first half.

“I think that’s what changed at half-time. They sort of shifted it into our corner and hoped that we would make another mistake like that. If they didn’t score just before half-time they may have chased the game a bit more. So, we turned up where we had to. We knew if we stopped the certain patterns and regimented things they have, we probably had a good chance of stopping the rest of it.”

But if the Italians were quite patterned, the French were clinical in carrying out their attacking gameplan, and the English were especially demanding around the fringes, then the Welsh are something altogether different again. And damned dangerous, particularly if they fall behind and start to improvise. That’s when their innate footballing skills come to the fore.

With Stephen Jones pulling the strings, they can hit you with the hard running and offloading of Jamie Roberts, the silken skills and creativity of James Hook, the footwork, broken-field running and finishing of Shane Williams, the wheels of Leigh Halfpenny or the intrusions of Lee Byrne, who’s as good at hitting the line as any fullback in the world.

They possibly have more individual game-breakers who can play off-the-cuff than any other team in Europe. It’s quite a potent mix, and if they can’t go through you or round you, then, as they showed in the second half against France, they can deftly go over with delicate chips.

“We’ll have to be good in the trenches,” says Kiss as a starting point. “I think there’s going to be more channels questioned, not only the wide ones. It’s the little things that would concern me going forward. Right along the line there’s something that can happen, a la the French in a way. But it’s different. It’s a Welsh way. And Williams has come into some good form.

“So there’s another challenge there, to make sure that collective will, that desire, and understanding in how we know that things won’t be perfect but how we respond to anything that’s not quite right. And that’s a key for us. We can understand that they can hurt you a little bit, but it’s our choice how far they can hurt us and how far we work off the ball in those situations. There’s a responsibility in every individual to actually make their play. But no one’s perfect, and we rely on each other. That’s why we’re a team, and how we rely on each other is going to be important.”

Ireland did go to the Millennium Stadium last year and kept Wales try-less, but a key difference is the presence of Hook, whose running and vision have been afforded ample room for expression at outside centre.

“I think he’s an interesting 13 player,” admits Kiss, “or mix that they’ve got in that midfield now (alongside Roberts). I haven’t quite got my head right around it yet, but it’s an interesting challenge, because Byrne comes into that in the way he can hit those beautiful short lines. He seems to ghost to it, but he’s suddenly there. It’s quite deceptive in those channels.

“And I think Hook is the type of character – despite there being a few intercepts and maybe things haven’t always gone quite right for him – I don’t think he’s one to pull up stumps and say ‘I won’t do that any more’. He’ll keep going for it, so we have to have a mindset to prepare for that.

“They’re a good team. What Declan says is true. There’s been certain circumstances around their games to date, but they finish well and I don’t think they’re going to give us a start like that through their own errors. If we do get it, it’ll be through us playing some good footie.”

And, though he wouldn’t be of a mind to say it, vice versa.