Statistics: Tri-Nations v
After a week's break the Tri-Nations resumed with a match in Sydney in which New Zealand beat Australia 19-18. We give some statistics in this match with some accumulated stats. Because of all the talk about kicking we give some statistics of kicking so far in the Tri-Nations..
Sanctions
Sanctionary Cards
There were one card - against Australia, a second one for Richard Brown. After Robbie Deans's concerns about illdiscipline and his threats to his players, Brown was again sin-binned and Rocky Elsom was twice penalised for air tackles.
Recipients in Tri-Nations so far
JP Pietersen (South Africa) - high tackle
Isaac Ross (New Zealand) - offside at a tackle/ruck
Bakkies Botha (South Africa) - offside
Matt Giteau (Australia) - dangerous tackle
Richard Brown (Australia) - repeated infringement by the team
George Smith (Australia) - professional foul
Richard Brown (Australia) - dangerous tackle (tip tackle)
Penalties conceded
In this section we record the times a team was penalised.
Australia vs New Zealand
Total number of penalties: 23
Australia: 11
New Zealand: 12
The reasons for the penalties were as follows:
* = points conceded
Australia:
Tackle/ruck/maul: 5 (Ashley-Cooper, Horwill* 2, Brown, Turner*)
Offside: 2 (Giteau*, Polota-Nau)
Discipline: 4 (Elsom - air tackle; Elsom - air tackle; Sharpe & Polota-Nau - obstruction; Brown - dangerous tackle)
New Zealand:
Tackle/ruck/maul: 10 (Kaino** 2, McCaw 3, Hore 2, Cowan, Nonu*, So'oialo*)
Off-side: 1 (Mortlock*)
Scrum: 1 (Robinson)
Discipline: 4 (Kaino - obstruction; Thorn* - dissent)
New Zealand missed a penalty kick at goal.
Tackles/Penalties
This gives the number of penalties at ruck/tackle as a fraction of the total number of penalties: 15/23 - 65%
Getting possession - line-outs, scrums, free-kicks, drop-outs
In this section the figures represent the number of times you get to play with the ball.
Australia:
Line-outs: 10
Scrums: 9 (5 resets, 11 collapses, 2 4 free kicks)
Free-kicks: 4 (2 scrums, 2 marks)
Drop-outs: 4
Australia, it seems, remains the land of the falling scrum.
New Zealand:
Line-outs: 16 (1 lost, 3 quick)
Scrums: 160 (2 reset, 2 collapses)
Free-kicks: 2 (scrums)
Drop-outs: 1
Stoppages (total of line-outs, scrums with resets, free kicks, penalties, drop-outs): 76
Scoring
Tries
This is the number of tries each team scored.
Australia: 0
New Zealand: 1 (Nonu)
Tries/penalties scored
This gives the ratio of tries scored to penalties scored by each team:
Australia: 0/6
New Zealand: 1/4
The ratio of tries scored to penalties goaled is 1/10
Some 2009 totals
Results
New Zealand vs Australia, 22-16
South Africa vs New Zealand, 28-19
South Africa vs New Zealand, 31-19
South Africa vs Australia, 29-17
New Zealand vs Australia, 19-18
Tries scored
Australia: 1 + 2 + 0 = 4
New Zealand: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4
South Africa: 2 + 1 + 1 = 4
Conversions scored
Australia: 1 + 2 + 0 = 3
New Zealand: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 4
South Africa: 0 + 1 + 0 = 1
Penalties conceded
Australia: 14 + 8 + 11 = 33
New Zealand: 10 + 11 + 14 + 12 = 47
South Africa: 4 + 7 + 5 = 16
Penalties scored
Australia: 3 + 0 + 6 = 9
New Zealand: 5 + 3 + 4 + 4 = 16
South Africa: 6 + 8 + 7 = 21
Drops scored
Australia: 0 + 1 + 0 = 1
New Zealand: 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0
South Africa: 0 + 0 + 1 = 1
Free kicks conceded
Australia: 2 + 3 + 2 = 7
New Zealand: 3 + 2 + 0 + 4 = 9
South Africa: 1 + 5 + 1 = 7
Line-outs lost
Australia: 0 + 9 + 0 = 9
New Zealand: 4 + 3 + 4 + 1 = 12
South Africa: 1 + 1 + 0 = 2
Stoppages per match
New Zealand vs Australia i: 77
South Africa vs New Zealand i: 62
South Africa vs New Zealand ii: 73
South Africa vs Australia i: 89
Australia vs New Zealand ii: 76
Kicking
Much has been said about kicking in matches, most notably by Graham Henry who said that the Springboks were boring.
In this fifth match, between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney, Australia kicked 35 times, New Zealand 30 times. 65 times in 80 minutes.
Here are some accumulative statistics after five rounds. Unfortunately the kicks are not related to possession. The South Africans kicked more but they had far more of the possession.
Distance is in metres.
Australia
Matches played: 3
Kicks into the open: 11 (Distance 581; average distance per kick 52,8)
Kicks to opponents: 35 (Distance 1 644)
Up-and-unders: 8 (Distance 152)
Crossfield kicks: 0
Short kicks: 5 (Distance 49)
Chip kicks: 4 (Distance 84)
Grubber kicks: 3 (Distance 62)
Out on full: In 22 - 18 (Distance 701); outside of 22: 3
Charges down: 2
Total: 89 (Distance 3273)
New Zealand
Matches played: 4
Kicks into the open: 11 (Distance 631; average distance per kick 57,4)
Kicks to opponents: 32 (Distance 1232)
Up-and-unders: 31 (Distance 802)
Crossfield kicks: 0
Short kicks: 3 (Distance 43)
Chip kicks: 9 (Distance 185)
Grubber kicks: 10 (Distance 205)
Out on full: In 22 - 5 (Distance 165); outside of 22: 2
Charges down: 6
Total: 109 (Distance 3263)
South Africa
Matches played: 3
Kicks into the open: 12 (Distance 672; average distance per kick 56)
Kicks to opponents: 18 (Distance 886)
Up-and-unders: 38 (Distance 1072)
Crossfield kicks: 4 (Distance )
Short kicks: (Distance 85)
Chip kicks: 2 (Distance 39)
Grubber kicks: 9 (Distance 178)
Out on full: In 22 - 13 (Distance 471); outside of 22: 4
Charges down: 2
Total: 105 (Distance 3430)
Average per country
Number of kicks per match
Australia: 29,7
New Zealand: 27,3
South Africa: 35
Distance per kick
Australia: 36,8
New Zealand: 30
South Africa: 32,7
We are indebted to Soundure for the statistics on the kicks.