Wallabies v Ireland – The Stats

The statistics from the game against Ireland confirm some of the areas that need attention!

Obviously the scrums were fantastic and it’s amazing that they are probably the strongest part of our game, given the shambles that existed only two years ago at the World Cup.  I credited the Wallabies with three tightheads – one a true tighthead and the other two were penalties against Ireland where we put them under so much pressure that they had to commit an offence to stop us gaining the tighthead.  In reality there was also another one but Kaplan decided we weren’t “square and steady” – even the Irish commentators knew they’d got away with that one!

Just as obviously the lineouts were a problem again but surprisingly, when I sat down to analyse them, the attacking lineouts weren’t as bad as they seemed when watching live.  Okay, we lost some throws at crucial times in crucial positions but it was not a total disaster.  However, the same can’t be said for the defensive lineouts where we continued to be totally ineffective. Watch out for a separate video analysis in the next couple of days analysing each lineout.

Next, let’s look at the contact area.  A few dropped balls but at least only one from Palu this week.  Breakdown was really good and I thought Pocock was superb.  I still rate George Smith but on the performances over the last few games, I’d be going for Pocock ahead of Smith at the moment if I were a selector.  The other area where Pocock really shone was in his speed in cover defence.  Good percentage of ball recycled at the breakdown and some good turnover of Irish ball.  The area that really surprised me was the number of missed tackles.  My first reaction was that I’d made a mistake, so I checked again and we really did miss 19 tackles.  More detail on who missed the tackles a little later.

Kicking in general play was fairly even in terms of the number of kicks but vast differences in metres gained and effectiveness of the kicks.  Obviously a lot of work to do to improve this area of the game.  Interestingly 19 of our 37 kicks were by Cooper with Giteau only kicking 9 times.  Watch for a separate video analysis over the next few days on all the kicks.  Penalties and free kicks fairly even, although I share people’s frustration with some of the decisions made, particularly the Palu yellow card.

Looking at some of the individual statistics, workload was shared around and the statistics don’t really show how much work Elsom was doing as I credited others with the tackle with Rocky arriving a close second on a number of occasions. Cooper running the ball far more than Giteau which reflects the fact that he was standing at first receiver most of the game.

In regard to the missed tackles, a total of seven were missed with players trying to make cover tackles on wide breaks or where others had missed the first up tackle (one for Steven Moore, both for David Pocock, one for Will Genia, two for Digby Ioane and one for Quade Cooper).  That still leaves twelve first up tackles missed.

I gave the final two of the game to Cooper – the first where the Irish winger went straight between he and Ioane but was held up, where I thought he was Cooper’s man. Others may give them half each and clearly there was a communication breakdown between them.  The BOD try was all Cooper’s as far as I’m concerned – he came up out of the line and took Giteau’s man leaving the hole for BOD.  Although I didn’t record it as a missed tackle, I also thought Cooper was way out of position on the other Irish try – he needed to number up but stayed inside, again leaving a big gap.  I’d suggest there’s going to be a fair bit of work on that 12/13 channel and the techniques of both Cooper and Ioane in training this week given the low success percentages.