Statistics - 6 November Tests, Wk ii

November has come in with a bang. Tests everywhere. We have statistics on just six of them - Wales vs South Africa, Italy vs Australia, Scotland vs New Zealand, France vs Argentina, Ireland vs Canada and England vs the Pacific Islands.

Unfortunately the weather was not always generous - except in Cardiff with its closed roof. Oh, and it was sunny in ancient Padua.

There are some points of interest in the statistics. There are few penalties for offside - eight in six matches.  There were, for the second week in a row, messy scrums involving New Zealand. There was a lot of kicking, especially in Limerick.

There were three free kicks for skew feeds at scrums. There were two penalties for handling in tackle/rucks. There were two penalties for charging in shoulder first to the tackle/ruck. These suggest that the IRB's insistence could be working.

After the discontent at Murrayfield it may be wise for the IRB to turn its attention to the scrums.

Sanctionary Cards

Thered were four - three at the tackle. There were other incidents which may have merited a sanction - attacking the eyes and stamping on a face.

Recipients:

Jaque Fourie (South Africa) - infringement at tackle
Nick de Luca (Scotland) - infringement at tackle
Anthony Boric (Australia) - infringement at tackle
Semisi Naevo (Pacific Islands) - dangerous tackle

(i) Wales vs South Africa

Penalties conceded

Wales: 7
South Africa: 15

Reasons for the penalties

* = points conceded

Wales:
Tackle: 5 (Roberts*, Rees, Shanklin, Powell, Jenkins)
Offside: 1 (Martyn Williams*)
Scrum: 1 (Adam Jones)

South Africa:
Tackle: 12 (Burger* 2, Matfield, Smit* 3, Botha, Mtawarira* 2, Steyn, Fourie*, Du Plessis)
Discipline: 3 (Botha - shoulder; Du Plessis - preventing the ball from coming in; Januarie - dissent)

Wales missed two penalty kicks at goal.

Line-outs

Wales: 14 (4 lost, 1 free kick)
South Africa: 10 (1 quick, 1 skew, 1 free kick)

Scrums

Wales: 10 (3 reset, 2 collpases, 1 free kick)
South Africa: 8 (3 reset, 3 collpases, 12 free kick, 1 penalty)

Free kicks

Wales: 7 (3 marks, 2 scrums, 2 line-outs)
South Africa: 1 (mark)

Drop-outs

Wales: 1
South Africa: 1

Stoppages: 80

Kicks: 79

Wales: 38
South Africa: 41

Tackle/ruck/maul: 155

There was not one maul.

Advantage:

Played: 12
Effected: 4

(ii) Italy vs Australia

Penalties conceded

Italy: 8
Australia: 10

Reasons for the penalties

Italy:
Tackle: 4 (De4l Fava*, Mauro Bergamasco, Nieto* 2)
Scrum: 2 (Perigini, Nieto*)
Discipline: 2 (Canavosio - man without ball; Canale - man without ball)

Australia:
Tackle: 7 (Waugh** 2, Tahu* 2, McMenamin 2, Brown)
Offside: 2 (Moore, Waugh*)
Scrum: 1 (Robinson)

Italy missed a penalty kick at goal.

Line-outs

Italy: 19 (4 lost, 1 reset, 1 skew)
Australia: 10 (1 lost, 1 quick)

Scrums

Italy: 9 (3 reset, 2 collpases, 1 free kick, 3 penalties)
Australia: 5 (4 reset, 1 lost, 3 collpases)

Free kicks

Italy: 0
Australia: 2 (1 mark, 1 scrum)

Drop-outs

Italy: 0
Australia: 1

Stoppages: 72

Kicks: 65

Italy: 32
Australia: 33

Tackles/rucks/mauls: 118

There was just one maul.

Advantage:

Played: 16
Effected: 6

(iii) Scotland vs New Zealand

Penalties conceded

Scotland: 8
New Zealand: 11

Reasons for the penalties

Scotland:
Tackle: 6 (De Luca*, Hogg, Blair, Lawson, Mustchin, Gray)
Scrum: 1 (Dickinson)
Discipline: 1 (White* - air tackle)

New Zealand:
Tackle: 9 (Thomson* 3, Williams & Mackintosh, Boric, Messam, Rokocoko, Flynn, Kahui)
Scrum: 1 (Mackintosh*)
Discipline: 1 (Read - air tackle)

Scotland missed a penalty kick at goal.

Line-outs

Scotland: 11 (3 lost, 1 skew, 1 free kick)
New Zealand: 8 (1 reset)

Scrums

Scotland: 12 (14 resets, 16 collpases, 2 penalties, 1 lost)
New Zealand: 7 (3 reset, 2 collpases, 2 free kicks)

The scrums were a mess. There were 19 awarded and 23 without natural endings. It was no wonder that the crowd booed more than once.

Free kicks

Scotland: 4 (2 scrums, 1 line-out, 1 +10)
New Zealand: 0

Drop-outs

Scotland: 0
New Zealand: 2

Stoppages: 81

Kicks: 42

Scotland: 15
New Zealand: 27

Tackles/rucks/mauls: 14

There were six mauls

Advantage:

Played: 14
Effected: 4

(iv) France vs Argentina

Penalties conceded

France: 11
Argentina: 7

Reasons for the penalties

France:
Tackle: 8 (Harinordoquoy, Picamoles* 2, Szarzewski, Barcela, Jauzion*, Dusautoir 2)
Scrum: 1 (Mas)
Discipline: 2 (Harinordoquoy - obstruction; Harinordoquoy - air tackle)

Argentina:
Tackle: 5 (Leonelli, Tiesi, Stortoni, Albacete, Kairelis)
Offside: 1 (Albacete)
Discipline: 1 (Albacete - obstruction)

Line-outs

France: 14 (3 lost, 1 quick)
Argentina: 23 (3lost, 2 skew, 1 quick, 1 free kick)

Scrums

France: 8 (1 reset, 2 lost, 1 free kick)
Argentina: 10 (6 reset, 5 collpases, 1 free kick, 1 penalty)

Free kicks

France: 2 (marks)
Argentina: 3 (2 scrums, 1 line-out)

Drop-outs

France: 3
Argentina: 4

Stoppages: 85

Kicks: 82

France: 40
Argentina: 42

Tackles/rucks/mauls: 125

There were eight mauls.

Advantage:

Played: 17
Effected: 9

(v) Ireland vs Canada

Penalties conceded

Ireland: 6
Canada: 9

Reasons for the penalties

Ireland:
Tackle: 4 (Fitzgerald 2, Kearney, Jennings)
Offside: 1 (O'Callaghan)
Discipline: 1 (Reddan - interfering with ball in touch)

Canada:
Tackle: 6 (Burak, Riordan, Pritchard, Tkachuk 2, Mensah-Coker)
Offside: 1 (Riordan)
Scrum: 1 (Riordan)
Discipline: 1 (Riordan - shoulder charge)

Line-outs

Ireland: 12 (1 skew, 1 free kick)
Canada: 8 (1 lost, 1 skew)

Scrums

Ireland: 7 (3 reset, 2 collpases, 2 free kicks)
Canada: 16 (5 reset, 4 collpases, 2 free kicks, 1 penalty)

Free kicks

Ireland: 4 (3 scrums, 1 +10
Canada: 2 (1 scrum, 1 line-out)

Drop-outs

Ireland: 0
Canada: 2

Stoppages: 74

Kicks: 90

Ireland: 48
Canada: 42

Tackles/rucks/mauls: 148

Advantage:

Played: 16
Effected: 7

(vi) England vs Pacific Islands

Penalties conceded

England: 14
Pacific Islands: 9

Reasons for the penalties

England:
Tackle: 7 Cipriani, Rees* 2, Stevens, Borthwick* 2, Palmer)
Offside: 2 (Sheridan, Stevens)
Scrum: 2 (Sheridan 2)
Discipline: 2 (Sackey - man without ball; Noon - air tackle)

Pacific Islands:
Tackle: 5 (Rauluni*, Stowers, Naevo, Taione, Tagicakibau)
Offside: 2 (Rauluni, Hola*)
Scrum: 1 (Johnston)
Discipline: 1 (Nazevo - air tackle)

Line-outs

England: 9
Pacific Islands: 15 (2 lost, 1 skew, 2 quick)

Scrums

England: 5 (4 reset, 4 collpases, 1 lost)
Pacific Islands: 9 (2 reset, 3 collpases, 3 penalties, 2 free kicks)

Free kicks

England: 3 (2 marks, 1 scrum)
Pacific Islands: 2 (1 mark, 1 scrum)

Drop-outs

England: 1
Pacific Islands: 3

Stoppages: 77

Kicks: 56

England: 33
Pacific Islands: 23

Tackles/rucks/mauls: 175

Advantage:

Played: 11
Effected: 7

Some Match Totals

Stoppages per match

France vs Argentina: 85
Scotland vs New Zealand: 81
Wales vs South Africa: 80
Ireland vs Canadavs: 74
Italy vs Australia: 72
England vs Pacific Islands: 77

Tries per match

France vs Argentina: 0 + 0 = 0
Scotland vs New Zealand: 0 + 4 = 4
Wales vs South Africa: 0 + 2 = 2
Ireland vs Canada: 8 + 0 = 8
Italy vs Australia: 1 + 2 = 3
England vs Pacific Islands: 5 + 1 = 6

Tries per team

Australia: 2
Argentina: 0
Canada: 0
England: 5
France: 0
Ireland: 8
Italy: 1
New Zealand: 4
Pacific Islands: 1
Scotland: 0
South Africa: 2
Wales: 0

Penalties conceded per match

France vs Argentina: 11 + 7 = 18
Scotland vs New Zealand: 8 + 11 = 19
Wales vs South Africa: 7 + 15 = 22
Ireland vs Canada: 6 + 9 = 15
Italy vs Australia: 8 + 10 = 18
England vs Pacific Islands: 14 + 9 = 23

Penalties per Team:

Australia: 10
Argentina: 7
Canada: 9
England: 14
France: 11
Ireland: 6
Italy: 8
New Zealand: 11
Pacific Islands: 9
South Africa: 15
Scotland: 8
Wales: 7

Sanctionary Cards per team:

Australia:
Argentina:
Canada:
England:
France:
Ireland:
Italy:
New Zealand: Y
Pacific Islands: Y
South Africa: Y
Scotland: Y
Wales:

Y = yellow card
R = red card
C = cited and suspended