Ruck Stats Review: Brumbies v Force

A clinical effort by the Brumbies making better use of the width of the pitch and getting the ball to their impressive ball runners.  Great defensive effort to negate the Western Force’s ball retention (4 x 20 phases), particularly in the 2^nd half.

Western Force struggled to turn sustained effort, and improved set piece performance, into points despite having 75% possession and 82% territory in the 2^nd half.  Came away from Canberra without even a bonus point loss in going down 27-15.

Remember:

1. Early means 1^st or 2^nd AFTER the ball carrier has been tackled and brought to ground.
2. Impact means active engagement: strong physical contact, changed shape of ruck, clean-out, protecting ball etc. (more than hand on someone’s bum or arriving after the hard work has been done).  Yes it’s subjective – but as I collect all data at least it’s consistent.

3. Impact DOES NOT equate to Effectiveness. I’ve concluded that coming up with an effectiveness measure is just too hard in the time that I have available – but open to suggestions.

Brumbies vs Western Force – What do the Ruck Statistics tell us?

Comments:

1. Ruck involvement by the Western Force Forwards showed the same trend which appeared in the game plan by the Wallabies in the latter stage of the 2014 RC and continued through the EOY Tests: standing off defensive rucks and only engaging when there was a clear advantage and opportunity to gain a turn-over. Force forward rucks in attack outnumbered rucks in defence 6:1.  The Force back row gained 6 turn-overs (Ben McCalman 2) from 33 defensive ruck involvements.
2. Ruck involvement by the Brumbies forwards, particularly by Ita Vaea and Jarrad Butler, showed a more traditional game plan with a higher level of involvement in defensive rucks. Brumbies forward rucks in defence almost equalled rucks in attack.  The Brumbies forwards gained 4 turnovers from 79 defensive ruck involvements.
3. Steve Mafi was the standout forward and lock showing the highest level of ruck involvement with strong support of the ball carrier. Mafi had most run metres of the forwards with 4 defenders beaten.  Mafi scored an opportunistic try.
4. Nathan Charles earned the ruck accolades for the front rows providing strong protection for the ball carriers.
5. Ita Vaea outpointed other back rowers with his tireless defensive efforts at the breakdown and high tackle count (20 at 95%). Strong performances also by Jarrad Butler and Chris Alcock.
6. The Western Force lost little momentum from off the bench with both Kane Koteka and Chris Heiberg maintaining ruck pressure in their short game times.
7. For the 2^nd week in a row, Junior Rasolea had the most ruck involvements of the Backs – and many the Forwards.

The following tables show ruck involvement for each 10-minutes of the match.

Comments:

1. Commendable near-80 minute efforts by Vaea, Butler, Carter, Mafi, Alcock, Wykes and Charles.
2. Some big efforts (ruck/minute) by Mafi and Alcock during the match.
3. Strong contributions from off the bench by Koteka, Heiberg and Smiler in the hectic last 10 minutes.

Other significant ruck efforts:

Brumbies           

Mann-Rae (24 min)– 11 rucks (91%/100%)

Kuridrani – 11 rucks (73%/100%)

Laealiifano – 10 rucks (90%/100%)

Force    

Holmes – 13 rucks (100%/100%)

Brache – 11 rucks (82%/100%)

Godwin – 11 rucks (91%/100%)