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Talking Points

Friday 23 September 2011, 12:33PM

By Rugby World Cup 2011

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ROTORUA

<p>A spotlight on the hot topics at Rugby World Cup 2011.</p> <p>The game they play in heaven owes a debt to rival code rugby league.</p> <p class="articleText">Ireland&rsquo;s historic 15-6 victory over Tri Nations champion Australia in Auckland, the most noteworthy result to date, was built on a brick-wall defence.</p> <p class="articleText">The Irish ambushed the Wallabies with their successful tactics of holding up the tackled player to create a maul and either ripping the ball for a turnover or forcing Australia to concede possession through the &ldquo;use it or lose it&rdquo; rule.</p> <p class="articleText">It meant Australia&rsquo;s electrifying backline, boasting Will Genia, Quade Cooper, James O&rsquo;Connor and Kurtley Beale, hardly saw the ball and when they did grab the Gilbert, they had little room to move.</p> <p class="articleText">Ireland&rsquo;s defence coach Les Kiss, who represented Queensland and Australia as a wing in rugby league, can take some credit for the rapid rise of the 2009 Six Nations champions.</p> <p class="articleText">The world No.6-ranked Irish have conceded only three tries in their past four big matches - against Wales and England in the Six Nations and USA and Australia in RWC 2011.</p> <p class="articleText"><strong>Intercept tries<br /> </strong></p> <p class="articleText">Two of those were intercept tries, against England and the USA, when Ireland had the matches well in the bag, while a try to Wales was questionable and could have been disallowed.</p> <p class="articleText">Italy are the only Six Nations member who don&rsquo;t have a defence coach with a rugby league background.</p> <p class="articleText">Other RWC 2011 assistant coaches who have played league at the top level include Mike Ford (England), Graham Steadman (Scotland), David Ellis (France) and Shaun Edwards (Wales).</p> <p class="articleText">Australians John Muggleton (Georgia) and Phil Blake (Australia) and New Zealander Henry Paul (Russia) are former league internationals who are also contributing to rugby union&#39;s&nbsp;showpiece tournament.</p> <p class="articleText">&quot;I think Ireland&rsquo;s tactics of keeping the man off the ground and slowing down the recycling of the ball enabled their bigger and older forwards to get back into position and be ready,&quot; Muggleton said.</p> <p class="articleText"><strong>Big&nbsp;progress</strong></p> <p class="articleText">&quot;Australia couldn&rsquo;t attack them. They had to throw the ball backwards every time and give themselves the space to attack rather than flattening up, which is what you want to do.</p> <p class="articleText">&quot;Ireland&rsquo;s tactics of really contesting in that area and not actually putting the bloke on the ground slowed Australia&rsquo;s attack down and put them in a place which was uncomfortable for them.</p> <p class="articleText">&quot;If you can do that as a defensive group, then you&rsquo;ve made some big progress.&quot;</p> <p class="articleText">Muggleton, who as defence coach helped Australia secure the Webb Ellis Cup in 1999, and former Great Britain rugby league international Phil Larder were pioneers of coaches switching codes.</p> <p class="articleText">&quot;It developed from there. It&rsquo;s common now to have a rugby league bloke there (at rugby union clubs),&quot; said Muggleton, who will link with Super Rugby franchise Melbourne Rebels in November.</p> <p class="articleText">&quot;The advantage for some of us is that we actually played rugby or have been involved with rugby teams for a long period of time.</p> <p class="articleText"><strong>Tough challenge</strong></p> <p class="articleText">&quot;You get to learn more about the game the longer you&rsquo;re in it.&quot;</p> <p class="articleText">Muggleton certainly isn&rsquo;t one to shy away from a challenge.</p> <p class="articleText">The Georgians conceded six tries against England in Dunedin on Sunday while the Melbourne Rebels leaked 74 tries from 16 matches last season.</p> <p class="articleText">&quot;I&rsquo;m confident I can improve on that,&quot; he said with a laugh about the Rebels&rsquo; dreadful defensive record.</p> <p class="articleText">&quot;If I don&rsquo;t, I&rsquo;ll have no complaints if I get the bullet.&quot;</p>