S15: Scrum, play time
From the last two rounds of the Six Nations we published details of scrums and ball-in-play time. Now we are doing the same for the first round of the Super 15, and Super 15 does not come off all that well.
It's not international rugby but we are able to make some comparison with the Six Nations. After all there were 15 All Black forwards in the clash between the Blues and the Crusaders.
Scrums are important as resets eat up time and the International Rugby Board is concerned about it as spoiling the game and spoiling the game as a desirable spectacle.
The ball-in-play time is sent to us by Jan Taljaard who has been keeping a record of this since 2000. The average for matches of this kind over the years is 33 minutes 27 seconds, which means that the England-Italy match is exceptional. It also shows that the first week of Super 15 was, as we all suspected, below par when it came to the time the ball was in play - except for the Lions-Bulls game but the scrumming was better.
Ball in Play
Super 15
Hurricanes vs Highlanders (Stuart Dickinson): 14 minutes 30 seconds +17 minutes 50 seconds = 32 minutes 20 seconds
Rebels vs Waratahs (Mark Lawrence): 14 minutes 45 seconds +16 minutes 20 seconds = 31 minutes 05 seconds
Blues vs Crusaders (Chris Pollock): 14 minutes 41 seconds +14 minutes 58 seconds = 29 minutes 39 seconds
Brumbies vs Chiefs (Jonathan Kaplan): 16 minutes 31 seconds +16 minutes 13 seconds = 32 minutes 44 seconds
Sharks vs Cheetahs (Craig Joubert): 15 minutes 14 seconds +12 minutes 55 seconds = 28 minutes 09 seconds
Lions vs Bulls (Marius Jonker): 18 minutes 12 seconds +19 minutes 02 seconds = 37 minutes 14 seconds
Reds vs Force (Ian Smith): 13 minutes 23 seconds +12 minutes 22 seconds = 25 minutes 45 seconds
Six Nations
England vs Italy (Craig Joubert): 17 minutes 13 seconds + 22 minutes 59 seconds = 40 minutes 12 seconds
Scotland vs Wales (George Clancy): 16 minutes 29 seconds + 22 minutes 46 seconds = 39 minutes 15 seconds
Ireland vs France (Dave Pearson): 14 minutes 47 seconds + 19 minutes 17 seconds = 34 minutes 04 seconds
Wales vs England (Alain Rolland): 18 minutes 28 seconds + 22 minutes 08 seconds = 40 minutes 36 seconds
Italy vs Ireland (Romain Poite): 19 minutes 05 seconds + 20 minutes 07 seconds = 39 minutes 12 seconds
France vs Scotland (Wayne Barnes): 20 minutes 03 seconds + 17 minutes 25 seconds = 37 minutes 28 seconds
Craig Joubert is common to both Six Nations and Super 15. His Six nations match has 12 minutes 3 seconds more ball-in-play time than his Super 15 match. But then the Super 15 match was played in cyclonic rain.
Scrums
Super 15
Hurricanes vs Highlanders: 21, 1 resets, 5 collapses, 2 free kick, 3 penalty)
Rebels vs Waratahs: 24, 9 resets, 17 collapses, 1 free kick, 6 penalties)
Blues vs Crusaders: 10, 2 resets, 3 collapse, 1 penalty)
Brumbies vs Chiefs: 22, 3 resets, 9 collapses, 4 free kick, 6 penalties)
Sharks vs Cheetahs: 17, 1 resets, 2 collapses, 5 free kick, 5 penalties)
Reds vs Force: 18, 5 resets, 5 collapse, 1 free kick, 3 penalties)
Lions vs Bulls: 15, 1 reset, 5 collapses, 1 free kick, 4 penalties)
Totals: 128 scrums, 22 resets, 46 collapses, 14 penalties, 16 free kicks
Percentages
Resets: 17%
Collapses: 36%
Penalties: 11%
Free Kicks: 13%
Six Nations
England vs Italy: 5 scrums, 1 reset, 3 collapses, 1 penalty
Scotland vs Wales: 11 scrums, 6 resets, 10 collapses, 3 penalties, 2 free kicks
Ireland vs France: 20 scrums, 5 resets, 14 collapses, 3 penalties, 2 free kicks
Wales vs England: 14 scrums, 2 resets, 6 collapses, 3 penalties, 2 free kicks
Italy vs Ireland: 14 scrums, 2 resets, 11 collapses, 6 penalties, 1 free kick and a penalty try
France vs Scotland: 14 scrums, 3 resets, 9 collapses, 4 penalties, 4 free kicks
Totals: 78 scrums, 17 resets, 53 collapses, 20 penalties, 11 free kicks, 1 penalty try
Percentages
Resets: 22%
Collapses: 68%
Penalties: 27%
Free Kicks: 14%
After six Six Nations matches and seven Super 15 matches, the statistics suggest that the ball is in play more in the Six nations but that scrummaging is far better in the Super 15, Melbourne notwithstanding.