2. Get out a little bit to have a good overall veiw of the breakdown area but ensure your chest is pointing towards the defensive post with your inner most leg up the breakdown forward
DaftMedic, I think you have mistaken this for one of your hospital's Strip Twister forums!
For the OP, there will be times when you guess - and in perhaps 50% of those occasions you will be wrong. That doesn't mean that you were wrong to go with your gut, but it does mean that your gut will lead you astray quite often - and when it does, you risk losing the respect of the players. In my experience, they will accept more readily an honest call of "unsighted! Play On!".
As you identify, the key here is positioning so you will have to rely on your gut less often. What DaftMedic was trying to say was this, I suspect:
a) you need to get fit enough to start on the blind side of any breakdown, yet still arrive with the Jacklers to the next one.
b) if you are that fit, then arrive, locate the ball, then step back on an angle of 45 degrees towards the short side. So equal distance back, and towards the touchline.
c) this opens up your field of view so you see arriving players (check for angle of entry, staying on feet, shoulder charge claiming "clearout Sir!)
d) it also means you can see the defensive backs and their offside line;
but:
e) you have to be quick to get to the next breakdown.
Depending on whether you had a break from the game between playing and reffing, this positioning may be a big ask until you develop better fitness. Rule 1 - get fit to ref, don't ref to get fit. But until you achieve better fitness and speed, you may need to cheat a bit by positioning yourself infield of the ruck. If so: Rule 2 - Stay out of the #9/#10 channel! You need to know whether the 10 is flat (stay deep) or deep (stay flat). Either way, you still get in close to locate the ball, then step back into the infield. Face the posts not the ruck, and turn your head to see what you need rather than your body. Make a show of pointing to the offside line even if monitoring something else - keep them guessing. And when the ball is at the base - then you quickly check the offside line.
It's good that you have self-identified the solution (positioning). There's no one answer, but many assessors have a clear view of optimum that won't differ too much from mine. But you know yourself whether "optimum" will leave you exposed - and you will develop strategies to adjust. Don't let those adjustments become your default norm, however. Always view them as temporary solutions until you fix the fitness/speed problem.
Good luck - keep 'em coming.