2010 Tri Nations Statistics

The All Blacks completed a clean sweep of the Tri Nations competition in 2010, the first team ever to do so.  It was a remarkable achievement built on the back of a great brand of attacking rugby.  There’s no doubt they are the best side in the world at the moment.

What do the statistics from the competition show?  Are the Wallabies or Springboks getting closer to the All Blacks?  Well for the Wallabies the numbers show a positive trend but for the Springboks their numbers are heading the wrong way.

Following is a short summary of the key statistics.  To get the full picture, click on the links at the bottom of the page to download the statistics package which now includes statistics for the All Blacks and the Springboks as we know it’s not just Wallaby fans who come to Green and Gold Rugby for quality rugby analysis.  There are two sets of statistics available – a short version with the same statistics measured for every game for each team and a second more detailed version for the Wallabies.  The detailed versions for the All Blacks and Springboks are only available for the games they played against the Wallabies.

There are a mountain of numbers to get through but in addition to keeping you well informed, our aim in producing these statistics is to give you the basis to prepare your own analysis and share with us.  What do you make of the numbers?  We look forward to your feedback.

Lets look at set pieces – kickoffs and scrums are areas the Wallabies need to work on but the lineout was good.  The lineout is one area where the All Blacks are struggling and the Wallabies really need to go after their lineout in Hong Kong.

KICKOFF RECEIPTS	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Ball Received	36	41	36
Won	25	34	30
Won %	69%	83%	83%

SCRUMS	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Ball Fed	38	35	56
Won	29	34	55
Won %	76%	97%	98%

LINEOUTS	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Ball Fed	58	59	59
Won	50	47	50
Won %	86%	80%	85%

In terms of possession and what each team did with that possession, the Wallabies and All Blacks kicked much less than the Springboks but as a result of using the ball more incurred more lost possession whilst attacking.

POSSESSION	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Times in Possession	230	261	265
Try / Field Goal	7%	8%	5%
Penalty / Free Kick For	14%	11%	12%
Penalty / Free Kick Against	1%	3%	2%
Breakdown Lost	13%	13%	15%
Possession Reset	3%	2%	3%
Possession Lost	25%	28%	17%
Kick (+)	29%	25%	34%
Kick (-)	8%	10%	12%
Total	100%	100%	100%

On attack the Wallabies and All Blacks were much more dangerous than the Springboks.

ATTACK	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Line Breaks	44	38	18
Tries	17	22	13

In defence the All Blacks hit the 90% mark I suggested prior to the Tri Nations the Wallabies would need to attain to beat the All Blacks. The Wallabies performance wasn’t bad but just a couple of percentage points can make all the difference to winning or losing so they need to match the All Blacks in this area and the Springboks have a fair bit of work to do.

DEFENCE	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Tackles Attempted	1033	833	977
Tackles Missed	147	86	180
Tackles Made	886	747	797
Tackle Accuracy %	86%	90%	82%

At the breakdown the Wallabies were the best performed side just edging the All Blacks.  Once again the performance of the Springboks has slipped.

BREAKDOWN	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Ball Taken In	553	592	510
Retained	524	557	470
Retained %	95%	94%	92%

In terms of the score, the All Blacks were way ahead.  That’s the difference it makes when all of the components in a teams game are working well.

SCORES	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Points For	162	184	147
Points Against	188	111	194
Points Differential	-26	73	-47

The statistics contained in these reports as to where tries are scored from are based on where the phase on which the try was scored commenced.  In my article last week on the tries scored in the Tri Nations I included some alternate statistics based on where the possession sequence the try was scored from commenced.  Those alternate statistics and a breakdown of the times the tries were scored together with a breakdown between forwards and backs scoring follow.

FIELD POSITION START FOR TRIES	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
> 50 Metres	35%	59%	15%
20-50 Metres	12%	14%	15%
10-20 Metres	29%	18%	31%
< 10 Metres	24%	9%	39%
Total	100%	100%	100%

TIME TO SCORE TRIES	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
< 20 Minutes	47%	32%	15%
20-40 Minutes	23%	18%	31%
40-60 Minutes	12%	18%	23%
60-80 Minutes	18%	32%	31%
Total	100%	100%	100%

WHO SCORED TRIES	Wallabies	All Blacks	Springboks
Forwards	19%	32%	62%
Backs	81%	68%	38%
Total	100%	100%	100%

Finally a quick summary of the defence statistics for some of the Wallabies.  More detail on each player is included in the statistics package but these defence numbers highlight the problem with Quade’s defence.  It’s also interesting to see the number of missed tackles by Rocky.

 

[table "8" not found /]

Wallabies – All Games Detailed

Wallabies v All Blacks – Detailed

Wallabies v Springboks – Detailed

Wallabies – All Games Summary

All Blacks v Wallabies – Detailed

All Blacks – All Games Summary

Springboks v Wallabies – Detailed

Springboks – All Games Summary