{"id":247408,"date":"2025-10-28T23:49:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247408\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T23:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T23:49:07","slug":"all-blacks-defence-dialed-in-for-beautiful-ireland-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/247408\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks defence dialed in for \u2018beautiful\u2019 Ireland threat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All Blacks<\/a> defence coach Tamati Ellison has praised Ireland\u2019s evolution on attack as \u201cworld-leading\u201d, saying the global trends have followed their old-school counter to modern rush defences.<\/p>\n

Ellison, who is tasked with defusing the Irish attack this week in Chicago, labelled Andy Farrell\u2019s style of play a \u201cbeautiful brand of rugby\u201d, but said his team has settled into their defensive structures over the past four months and is in good shape on that side of the ball.<\/p>\n

While he stopped short of saying New Zealand<\/a> had an upper hand thanks to their mid-season form, Ellison was pleased with the improving level of understanding and execution he\u2019s seen from his men.<\/p>\n

With that said, there were some big scorelines conceded in the recent TRC campaign, and the two losses incurred forced the coaches to reframe their messaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learnt through the Rugby Championship<\/a> that we needed to be a bit more positive in reinforcing the things we\u2019re doing really well,\u201d he told reporters in Chicago when asked about his review of the All Blacks\u2019 defence in the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen scores blow out, you can tend to move away from the process a wee bit, and get dictated to by the scoreline. So, we\u2019re just making sure that we\u2019re connected with the leaders and we\u2019re all driving the same thing during the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure if it was a positive or negative (review); it\u2019s just getting better regardless of the scoreboard, that\u2019s the key part.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach added that the team\u2019s growth had now allowed them to look at the finer details of their defence, shifting from the macro to the micro aspects of their game plan and execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are parts of our game where we\u2019re really putting our money down. We\u2019ve had a few Tests now, so we can really dial into the fundamental parts of the collision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got our structure now, we\u2019ve got people in the right places and continuity of selection, so it allows you to grow in other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of how far New Zealand have come, though, Ellison knows Ireland<\/a> will have a few tricks up their sleeve as they look to unravel it all. He said the \u201cshort pass game\u201d is the World No.3 side\u2019s biggest weapon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll swing and overload edges with their skillsets. They turn, they trust their game, they\u2019ll kick well on the edges and out of hand, nine and 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they\u2019ll be mapped well. Andrew Goodman is a good coach; he does his homework, and he\u2019ll have some specials for where he feels like there\u2019s weakness. So we\u2019ve got to make sure our structures are really strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

That short passing game earned more praise when Ellison reflected on Ireland\u2019s ascendancy as one of rugby\u2019s top contenders over the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve definitely grown. I think they were world-leading in some of their attacking shapes, and a lot of teams have copied that for sure\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a period in New Zealand where we looked to the long, flat ball, and playing on top of teams. As defences came higher on the edge, being able to draw people off their line with the short-pass game, it was a throwback to the older days and a time gone by.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve brought that back for sure, and others have probably copied that in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former All Black was involved in 2012\u2019s historic 60-0 pummeling of Ireland in Hamilton, and returned to the Test environment for 2024\u2019s 23-13 win in Dublin. Reflecting on the latter of those two contests, he said the recipe for New Zealand\u2019s success was clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our discipline was good. We were pretty clear on our plan defensively, and the boys trusted that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll probably be pretty disappointed on the individual side, if they reflect, but our discipline was a big part last year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks defence coach Tamati Ellison has praised Ireland\u2019s evolution on attack as \u201cworld-leading\u201d, saying the global trends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-247408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}