Statistics: World Cup's end

The 2011 Rugby World Cup is over. Like a child who waits and waits for Christmas and then suddenly it is over, so we waited for four years and now suddenly it is over, and New Zealand are the champions, beating France by a point in a gripping match.

We give statistics from the final and the third-place play-off. They include the number of tackles.

Results:

Final: New Zealand vs France, 9-8
3rd/4th Play-off: Australia vs Wales, 21-18

Sanctions

There were no sanctionary cards and no citings.

Possession

(i) Australia vs Wales

Penalties conceded: 18

Australia: 8
Wales: 10

Reasons for the penalties

Australia:
Tackle: 7 (Horwill, O'Connor, Higginbotham, Anthony Fainga'a, Slipper, Ma'afu, Ioane*)
Scrums: 1 (Slipper*)

Wales:
Tackle: 7 (Bradley Davies* 2, Shane Williams, Phillips, Faletau, James*, Halfpenny)
Offside: 1 (Bradley Davies)
Scrum: 2 (Jenkins, James)

Australia and Wales each missed two penalty kicks at goal, Wales.

Free kicks conceded

Australia: 1 (scrum)
Wales: 0

Line-outs

Australia: 12 (1 lost, 1 skew)
Wales: 14

Scrums

Australia: 7
Wales: 8 (4 resets, 7 collapses, 3 penalties, 2 free kicks)

Drop-outs

Australia: 2
Wales: 2

Stoppages: 68

(ii) New Zealand vs France

Penalties conceded: 17

New Zealand: 7
France: 10

Reasons for the penalties

New Zealand:
Tackle: 4 (Nonu, Smith McCaw, Ali Williams)
Scrum: 2 (Woodcock, Hore)
Discipline: 1 (Read - collapsing maul)

France:
Tackle: 6 (Palisson, Dusautoir 2, Servat, Trinh-Duc*, Harinordoquy)
Offside: 2 (Parra, Szarzewski)
Scrum: 2 (Poux 2)

New Zealand and France each missed two penalty kicks at goal.

Free kicks conceded

New Zealand: 0
France: 3 (1 scrum, 1 line-out, 1 maul)

Line-outs

New Zealand: 16 (2 lost, 1 quick)
France: 17 (2 lost, 1 free kick)

Scrums

New Zealand: 7 (1 reset, 3 collapses, 2 penalties, 1 free kick)
France: 6 (1 collapses, 2 penalties)

Drop-outs

New Zealand: 3
France: 3

Stoppages: 72

Tries per match

Australia vs Wales: 2 + 2 = 4
New Zealand vs France: 1 + 1 = 2

Penalties scored per match

Australia vs Wales: 2 + 2 = 4
New Zealand vs France: 1 + 0 = 1

Ratio of tries scored to penalties scored: 6/5

Ball-in-Play time

Jan Taljaard again provides these statistics.

The average for this kind of game is 33 minutes 29 seconds. 
 
Wales vs Australia (Barnes):
14 minutes 55 seconds + 23 minutes 44 seconds = 38 minutes 39 seconds

France vs New Zealand (Joubert):
17 minutes 48 seconds + 20 minutes 30 seconds = 38 minutes 18 seconds

Tackle Counts

Tackles win crucial matches, they say.

Australia vs France: 145 + 74 = 219
New Zealand vs France: 111 + 87 = 198