Second-Five-Eighth

Ian Madigan in Leinster colours. (c) Martin Dobey.

One of the more interesting head-to-heads during last month’s Pro 12 final was that at inside centre. While neither Ian Madigan nor Stuart Olding had a decisive impact on the outcome of that particular game, their futures in the position hold exciting possibilities for Irish rugby. Alongside JJ Hanrahan at Munster, these young players offer something different to the common concept of an inside centre.

The traditional view is that a 12 is someone to get your team over the advantage line, a big man who runs direct lines and takes out a few defenders. Jamie Roberts of Wales and Munster’s James Downey are fine examples of this ‘classic’ inside centre. These guys are 6ft 4ins and weigh around 110kg. While they are expected to offload out of the tackle, their main role is to get their team onto the front foot.

The trio of Olding (20), Madigan (24) and Hanrahan (20) come from an altogether different mould. Physically they are remarkably similar, standing at roughly 5ft 11ins and weighing around 90kg. In modern rugby, where giants like George North roam in wide spaces, these young Irish backs are a refreshing blast from the past.

It’s not really an issue of size here though, rather the different strengths that these talented youngsters offer. All three are versatile. Madigan has started at 10, 12 and 15 for Leinster. Olding has played at 10 and 12 for Ulster, but has experience at 13 and 15 at underage level. Hanrahan has been picked for Munster at 10 and 12. He too has the tools to play 15.

These are multi-skilled, complete players. What it means is that when they line out at 12 for their provinces, they offer a broad range of abilities outside the traditional role of a bosh merchant. All three are excellent playmakers. They share passing skills, vision, awareness of space and the ability to beat defenders with footwork rather than pure brawn.

Hanrahan on debut for Munster this season. (c) Ivan O’Riordan.

The development of the role of the inside centre is not confined to Ireland. At Toulon, the Australian Matt Giteau is the attacking playmaker in their backline. He too has a versatile past, having played 10, 12 and even 9 at the highest level. The positioning of a creative player at inside centre is popular in the Southern Hemisphere, where the 12 is often referred to as the ‘second-five-eighth’.

The perceived downside of having a smaller man at inside centre is a physical disadvantage. Of the trio highlighted here, Olding is probably the most effective ball carrier in traffic. His balance and footwork mean he is rarely smashed. But as Madigan showed on Saturday, he is more than willing to bash it up the middle when that’s required. Defensively, all three players are brave and make their tackles.

The positioning of Hanrahan and Madigan in the centre this season has to some extent been a case of needs must. With Ronan O’Gara and Jonny Sexton owning the outhalf positions at provincial level, the youngsters have had to fit in elsewhere. Next season, Madigan will be wearing 10 for Leinster, but Sexton will continue to block his way with the Ireland team.

At Munster, Ian Keatley will expect to be next in line at outhalf. For Ulster, Paddy Jackson looks being the number 10 for years to come.  Olding will also have to compete with Luke Marshall, another who had a superb season. But moving forward, there is real value in keeping Madigan, Olding and Hanrahan at ‘second-five-eighth’.

Ireland is blessed with a stockpile of strike-running talent out wide at the moment. The likes of Tommy Bowe, Simon Zebo, Craig Gilroy, Rob Kearney, Andrew Conway and Luke Fitzgerald need the ball in their hands as often as possible. With a distributing 12 on the pitch, the possibilities are thrilling.

Not only do Madigan, Hanrahan and Olding offer the passing game to get the ball wide quickly, they also possess the subtle vision and sleight of hand to slip these runners into gaps when they roam infield.

Whether through fluke or foresight, the Irish provinces have developed the role of the inside centre this season. The attacking variations that could result under Joe Schmidt are hugely exciting for Irish rugby.

Olding and Madigan are in North America with Ireland at the moment, where it looks as though Madigan will be seen as an outhalf. Strangely, Hanrahan isn’t in the Emerging Ireland squad for the Tbilisi Cup. Perhaps a big pre-season awaits?

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Photos: Ivan O’Riordan, Martin Dobey.

Mafi Makes Impression on Top 14

Mafi had some massive games for Munster, but many supporters found him inconsistent. (c) Ivan O’Riordan.

Amongst Munster fans, he was a divisive figure. Capable of moments of magic, but prone to lapses in concentration. 144 appearances over six seasons would have made many players heroes in Thomond Park, but Lifeimi Mafi never quite managed to achieve that status. When Munster announced the signings of James Downey and Casey Lualala, it was time to move on.

Relocated in Perpignan, Mafi’s first season in the Top 14 has been a success. He looks a better player in his new surroundings and has rapidly won over USAP’s fans.

36 appearances and six tries in all competitions make this the most prolific season of Mafi’s career in terms of playing time and scoring. At Munster, the ex-New Zealand underage international was seen purely as an inside centre, much to the disagreement of some. At Perpignan, his game time has been split between the 12 and 13 jerseys. The USAPistes Supporters Club say most fans prefer to see Mafi in the wider channel:

“Lots of us prefer him at 13, outside Sione Piukala. But David Marty is the undisputed starting 13 in the eyes of the coaches.”

These sentiments are backed up by Mafi’s displays when chosen at outside centre. Himself and Piukala managed to tear Clermont’s defence apart earlier in the season when partnered together (video below). Both of Mafi’s Top 14 tries came when he was fielded at 13.

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Regardless, the Tonga-born centre’s overall form has impressed. His skill set stands out for Perpignan, in particular the one-handed offloads which we saw glimpses of at Munster. At USAP, Mafi is completing 3 or 4 offloads per game. Watching him buzz around the pitch in that inimitable running style of his, the 30-year-old seems far more at ease than he did at Munster. This is being expressed in the confidence of his passes and offloads. (Check out this incredible pass!)

Equally, Mafi’s success rate could say something about the support play offered at Munster, an aspect that frustrated Lualala up until the closing stages of the season. Whatever the reason, Mafi’s increased creativity helped Perpignan to sixth place in the try-scoring standings for this Top 14 season. The USAPistes rate him as one of their most effective attacking elements:

“Mafi is a very good attacker. He’s lively and clever. He knows how to make ground when he has the ball.”

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Defensively, Mafi’s time at Munster was pockmarked by a few dangerous tackles and several instances of rushing out of the line to the team’s detriment. He could hit hard, but there was always a sense of not knowing what he was going to do. At Perpignan he has calmed in this regard. He still puts a hit on when he has the chance, but it’s far less common to see him shooting up headlessly.

For USAPistes, defence is “not necessarily the strong point” in Mafi’s game. The highlight reels going around France at the time of his move featured his most spectacular hits, and it was something that was expected from him at Perpignan. French fans appreciate a crunching tackle nearly as much as a skillful try. Mafi’s defensive game is more subtle now.

Signed to replace France and Toulon centre Maxime Mermoz, Mafi has had an excellent first year at USAP. He’s contracted until the end of next season and so far there’s nothing to suggest the club will be bringing in new centres this summer. The move to France has been a successful one, with Mafi showing facets to his game that never really flourished at Munster.

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Photos: Ivan O’Riordan.

Centre Experiment a Success for Madigan

Madigan doing what he does best: ripping a long, flat pass.

With many rugby fans and pundits seeing Ian Madigan as a possible Lion, Saturday’s win over Biarritz was his last audition for the part. The Leinster back’s versatility is seen as a big on-tour advantage. Having already played at both outhalf and fullback this season, Saturday saw the 24-year-old step in at inside centre.

So far in his career, Madigan has started 46 games for Leinster. 36 of those have come at outhalf and 9 at fullback. Last Saturday was his first appearance in the 12 jersey. At U20 international level, Madigan actually had more starts at fullback (5) than at outhalf (4). During the Six Nations, he made brief appearances for Ireland at inside centre. It’s clear that outhalf is his best position, and that he can now be considered as good cover for fullback. Last season, the Demented Mole even suggested trying him at scrumhalf. He’s versatile, that much is certain.

So how did the experiment of playing Madigan at 12 go?

He had an uncharacteristically nervy start to the game, knocking on 2 of his first 3 touches. The first knock-on came as Leinster tried to send Madigan boshing into the Biarritz defence direct from lineout possession, clearly not a role he’s built for. Biarritz outhalf Barraque stopped him in this tracks and Madigan spilled the ball forward. Minutes later, another knock-on. This one came under very little pressure and with a 3-on-2 outside him. He was clearly aware of this, planning his next move before he’d even caught the pill. Not a great start.

Madigan’s first defensive involvement will be marked as a missed tackle, but came from a scrappy situation after Leinster over-threw at their own lineout. The screengrabs below show what happened. While it was an unusual situation, it shows the demands of defending in the 12 channel. Coaches everywhere preach the importance of not getting pierced in the middle of the pitch. While the blame here should be shared amongst a few players, Madigan will be annoyed not to have prevented the line-break.

Click to enlarge. The action starts in the top left after Strauss overthrows at the lineout and Heguy claims the bouncing ball for BO. Moving to the top right, you can see that Sexton has stepped in to tackle Heguy but without preventing the pass to Barraque. Madigan has already drifted a little and the gap is opened. Moving to bottom left, Madigan tries in vain to grab the BO outhalf, but is in a bad position and gets handed off. Finally, bottom right, you can see that Barraque has offloaded to Ngwenya, who goes all the way to the 22, Leinster give away the penalty and 3 points.

From there, Madigan’s performance improved. In the next 5 minutes, he made two tackles on Baby and Traille, going in low on both occasions and halting their progress. It was exactly what Madigan needed, something to get him into the game. His first positive attacking contribution came after 25 minutes, taking a switch off Sexton and popping the ball inside to Nacewa. Madigan’s ease of handling was evident, highlighting the advantages of using him as an Aaron Mauger-style second five-eight.

Two of Biarritz’s first three kick-offs were aimed directly into the zone where Madigan was situated. The intention was to put Damien Traille directly up against Madigan for the high ball. The first time, the French centre got above his opposite number, nearly claiming the ball, before his team gave away a penalty. The clear sign that Biarritz intended to target Madigan was Traille slipping a sneaky little kick to the Leinster 12 as they got off the ground. BOD was clearly not happy!

On the second occasion, Rob Kearney recognised the ploy, sprinting forward and actually knocking Madigan over in order to claim the ball. It’s not a major thing, but worth watching if Madigan is to play at 12 again. At 5’11”, he’s not the tallest and could be targeted in a similar manner.

Biarritz looked to target Madigan with short drop-offs. On the left, Traille gets above Madigan. On the right, Rob Kearney recognised the tactic and arrives to rescue the situation. Click photo to enlarge.

The remainder of Madigan’s half involved some effective clean-outs at ruck-time, and one gorgeous pass. With time up on the clock, Leinster quick-tapped a penalty. Sexton move it to Madigan, who looked up to see that Baby had shot out of BO’s defensive line. Most players would have either trucked it up or thrown a looping pass over Baby. But Madigan’s vision allowed him to fire a flat pass in behind Baby, straight to Nacewa on the wing. Leinster were over the gain line, Biarritz were scrambling and the passage ended with Jamie Heaslip scoring.

Madigan’s role as a second-five eight was really interesting to watch. While Gordon D’Arcy is certainly no battering ram, Madigan’s skills are more suited to a play-making role in the centre. All of Leinster’s backline possess good passing skills, but Madigan is the best passer in the country. The above was the most obvious example of the benefits of playing Madigan at 12. His passing and creativity open up even more possibilities for Leinster in wider areas.

Madigan’s second-half got off to a flyer, quite literally. As Biarritz attacked in the Leinster 22, Synaeghel knocked on and Madigan intercepted. He then showed exceptional pace to burst away and came up just 5 metres short, caught by Ngwenya. The American winger was sin-binned and Leinster added 3 points. That sheer pace is something we haven’t seen too much of in Madigan’s game, but it’s just another string to his bow.

Madigan almost scores a length-of-the-field try. Top left, he’s onto the BO knock-on in a flash. Top right, he shows great acceleration to burst away. Bottom left, Ngwenya is making ground. Bottom right, hauled down agonizingly short!

His next two contributions were defensive. The first was an excellent tackle on a surging Thibault Dubarry. His hit was strong and actually forced a knock-on, which wasn’t noticed by referee Wayne Barnes. The next was another low tackle on Traille, bringing him to the deck.

With Sexton subbed off, Madigan moved to outhalf and taking over place-kicking duties on the 50 minute mark. He began by converting Nacewa’s try with ease. His form off the tee is excellent, and that continued on Saturday, with 3 from 3 in total.

Overall, Madigan’s first outing in the 12 jersey for Leinster was a positive one. While there were signs that he was slightly uncomfortable in the role at first, he grew into the game and managed to show off some of his skills. With Jonny Sexton still only 27, it’s something we may see more of in the future, possibly with the Irish national team. In terms of a Lions audition, Madigan showed glimpses of the skill set he can offer. Would you have him on the Lions squad or with Ireland this summer? Is there a future for Madigan at 12 alongside Sexton for Ireland? Let me know your views!

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Madigan’s stats vs. Biarritz, from ESPNScrum.com:

Kick/pass/run: 0/13/6     Metres run: 102     Clean breaks: 1     Defenders   beaten: 3     Tackles made/missed: 7/2

McFadden the Answer at 12

McFadden is the PRO12's most accurate place-kicker. (c) Ken Bohane.

Praise for Fergus McFadden is a regular thing here on the pages of The Touchline, but the simple fact is that the 25-year-old is having a superb season for Leinster. His display against the Ospreys on Friday night showed exactly why he should have been starting at 12 for Ireland during the Six Nations. Gordon D’Arcy had a predictably disappointing tournament and he has been on the decline for the last year at least.

Despite some intermittent flashes of his old self, the 32-year-old has been far from his best for Leinster and the time has come to replace him at both provincial and international level. McFadden is his obvious and deserving successor, as proven by his performance against the Ospreys. He was as busy as usual with ball in hand, making several half-breaks as well as some other strong carries in traffic. He almost scored in the 56th minute after dummying and using his strong fend to break the Ospreys’ defence. Richard Fussell did well to haul him down.

Much has been made of McFadden’s missed tackle on George North in the Six Nations opener against Wales. It was a spectacular one and isn’t easy to forget, but that incident was far from the norm for the Kilkenny man. It wasn’t even McFadden’s tackle to make; he was forced to step in due to D’Arcy’s failure to take his man. Against the Ospreys, McFadden’s defensive game was solid, with one stand-out hit on Jason Tipuric just before half time, where he drove the Welsh international 5 metres backwards.

Despite his 11 caps, McFadden's international career hasn't burst into life just yet. (c) Liam Coughlan.

His place kicking was a little less smooth than usual, although he still converted 6 from 8. The best effort of the night came from inside Leinster’s half. McFadden’s routine off the tee is best described as unfussy. He certainly takes less time than other leading place-kickers but he consistently gets the job done. He is the PRO12’s most accurate place-kicker and will look to continue the massive improvements he has made in this area. Having him alongside Sexton for Ireland would also leave us with a proven goal-kicker on the field if Ian Madigan were to be used off the bench.

McFadden was clearly motivated to show what he offers after a frustrating Six Nations spent mainly on the bench. Another highlight of his performance was the booming 70m clearance kick out of Leinster’s 22 in the first half. It was a beautiful spiral and showed how hard the centre is working on his core skills. His ever-improving handling also showed up well as himself and Madigan worked a smart loop to release Nacewa earlier in the game.

All the signs this season point to a player who is working hard to improve himself and is really starting to peak. At the other end of the scale, D’Arcy is showing clear signs of decline and has passed his peak as a player. McFadden is the best inside centre in Ireland right now and if he continues this type of form, he must start at 12 on the Irish tour to New Zealand.

*Do you agree that McFadden is the answer for Ireland at 12? Do you think D’Arcy still has time left at international level? Would you like to see other players given a chance at inside centre? As always, feel free to drop a comment below with your thoughts and views!

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Photos courtesy: Ken Bohane, Liam Coughlan.