Some RWC 2011 stats to consider...
Overall it hard to believe these teams are in the quarter finals. Again these are averages for pool play at the RWC. They also score and concede on different sides of the field (see points). England v France looks like the perfect storm brewing... England scrum attract infringements, Walsh the ref hands out scrum infringements. France score on right side, England left side. Walsh the ref favours rights side for kickable pens... Perfect storm.
Time, possession and territory
•Both teams have just over 50% possession for the 1st half, but England have the lowest amount of average 1st half territory of any RWC team at 42%.
•England also spend the least amount of time in opp 22 in the 1st half with 7%. France fair better, ranked 4th highest with 18%.
•In the second half both teams improve a little, but to the levels you would expect for a quarter final team.
•Overall both teams have about the same amount of possession at 51% (rounded), and a woeful amount of territory 46% and 45% or 16th and 19th ranked respectively.
•England spent the least, on average, in the overall 22 in an entire game with 10%
Points
•As others have pointed out England conceded the fewest tries in RWC.
•Both teams succeed in the same number of drop goals.
•England are 17% more likely in RWC to take a penalty kick on the left side of the field than the right side of the field.
•England are 56% more likely to score a RWC try on the left side of the field than the right side of the field.
•England are 3 & 1/2 times more likely to concede a RWC penalty that ended up as a kick at the goal on the left side of the field than the right field.
•France are 3 & 1/4 times more likely in RWC to take a penalty kick on the right side of the field than the left side of the field.
•France are 5 & 1/2 times more likely to score a RWC try on the right side of the field than the left side of the field.
•France are 56% more likely to concede a RWC penalty that ended up as a kick at the goal on the right side of the field than the left field.
•France are 2 times more likely to concede a RWC try on the right side of the field than the left side of the field.
•England kickers in RWC: Wilkinson 45% (9/20); Flood 77% (10/13). In 2011 6-nations: Wilkinson 88% (7/8); Flood 86% (19/22)
•France’s kickers in RWC: Yachvili 81% (13/16); Parra 90% (9/10) Trinh-Duc 67% (4/6). In 2011 6-nations: Yachvili 67% (8/12); Parra 76% (16/21)
•Drop kicks if it comes down to this: In RWC (2011 6 –nations) Wilkinson 1/2 (1/3); Parra 0/1; Trinh-Duc 1/1 (1/4).
Attack & defence
•England are averaging 2.6 phases, the lowest in the comp. France are not much better, ranked 16th with 3.0 phases.
•Both teams when they do get into the opp 22, break a few tackles. England are averaging 6.0, ranked 6th highest, France average 5.5 7th highest.
•England offload 8.8 times, 4th ranked.
•Both team miss tackle ratios are similar. England miss on average 1 in every 6.5 tackle attempts. France miss on average 1 in ever 6.2 tackle attempts.
Errors
•England lose possession/turnover the all 18.5 times or 12 lowest. France 17.8 times, 15th lowest.
•England concede the 2nd most penalties in the comp, with 12.3 per game. France concede 9.25, 16th lowest.
•England concede the most ruck pens in the comp.
•France concede the least amount of penalties in their own half, so if this continues it should take the English kickers out of the equation. They do concede them in the opp 22, 2nd highest in the comp. This could have improved the amount of tries in the comp.
•England also concede the 2nd most amount of free kicks.
•England has a low amount of handling errors, 7.3 or 16th lowest. However this is likely to be a reflection of the lack of possession. France make 9.5 handling errors or 5th highest.
•Both team get forced in touch, or throw the ball into touch one of the least in the competition.
Set Pieces
•Both team have a large number of lineouts.
•England have the most lineout infringements in the comp
•France knock the ball on in the lineout the most of any team in RWC
•England favour the middle ever so slightly over the front for the throw. France favour the middle, but throw to the back the most of any RWC team.
•Both team line to throw the ball in quickly if the opp has kicked out from a long kick.
•England are 2nd in the comp for infringements on their feed
•England have won the least amount of scrum set largely due to the number of infringements that result in the scrum being completed. Note I only count the scrum won if the scrum is completed. getting an infringement is getting a
infringement its not winning the scrum.
•England are 3rd in the comp for resets on their feed. 28% of England’s scrums are reset
.
Ref stats – Steve Walsh
•5.5 scrum resets 2nd highest, 5.0 in 2011
•6.0 scrum infringements, highest in RWC, 4.9 in 2011
•21.3 pens awarded, 6th highest, 22.1 in 2011
•9.3 for ruck pens, lowest, 12.3 in 2011
•4.5 for scrum pens (Remember England’s scrum stats above?), 2nd highest, 4.3 in 2011
•5.0 pens for offside, 2nd highest, 3.3 in 2011
•7.0 pens awarded inside the 22, 3rd highest
•1.5 free kicks awarded (all scrum, sit remembering England’s scrum stats?), 3rd highest
•Almost twice as likely to award a penalty that ends up being a kick at the posts on the right side of the field( Remember in the Point section above which team that favours...)
