June Tests - Part One

Fiery start in cold Carisbrook

The June Tests got off to a fiery start in Dunedin when England played New Zealand. What a clash! Then followed three other intensely contested Tests.

They were tough for the players and also for the officials. But the players were allowed to play, mostly fifteen against fifteen.

We shall discuss laws on four of the weekend's Tests - those in Dunedin, Bloemfontein, Tucumán and Melbourne.

We shall do it in two parts, one with a host of statistics and one with discussion of points of law.

Statistics

1. Sanctions

Strange word sanctions> I can sanction something and thereby agree that it goes ahead. I can sanction somebody and thereby punish him.

There were three bits of sanctioning, in the second sense, on the weekend.

There were two yellow cards - one for Schalk Burger of South Africa for foul play ("swinging arm") and one for Colin Charvis of Wales for seriously infringing the laws.

In addition Stuart Grimes of Scotland was cited, found guilty and suspended for two matches for illegal use of the boot.

To the bemused layman there may well have been activities in the weekend's matches which were worse than those of the sanctioned trio.

2. Penalties conceded

In this section we record the times a team was penalised. In (i), for example, New Zealand were penalised were penalised seven times, England ten times.

* = penalty goaled from the infringement

(i) New Zealand vs England

New Zealand: 7
England: 10

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

New Zealand:

Tackle/ruck: 5 (Robinson 2, Haymans*, Rush)
Off-side: 2 (Carter 2)

England
Tackle/ruck: 3 (White*, Catt, Shaw)
Off-side: 3 (Shaw, White*, Thompson*)
Discipline: 4 (Jones - air tackle at line-out, Cohen - verbal abuse, Thompson - pulling leg in maul, Dallaglio - high tackle*)

(ii) South Africa vs Ireland

South Africa: 9
Ireland: 9

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

South Africa:
Tackle/ruck: 6 (Burger*, Botha*, Du Randt 2, Van der Linde, Britz*)
Off-side: 1 (Cronjé)
Scrum: 1 (Andrews)
Discipline: Burger - swinging arm)

Ireland:  
Tackle/Ruck: 6 (O'Connell** 2, D'Arcy*, O'Kelly, Easterby, Corrigan)
Scrum: 2 (Corrigan 2)
Discipline: 1 (O'Kelly - stomping)

(iii) Argentina vs Wales

Argentina: 10
Wales: 11

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

Argentina:
Tackle/ruck: 6 (Gaitán*, Fernández Lobbe*, undetermined, F Contepomi, M Contepomi, Guiñazu)
Off-side: 3 (Longo, M Contepomi, Shusterman)
Discipline: 2 (Fernández Lobbe - collapsing maul*, obstruction - Borges)

Wales:
Tackle/Ruck: 5 (Duncan Jones** 2, Peel, Charvis*, Rhys Williams)
Scrum: 2 (Duncan Jones 2)
Off-side: 3 (Adam Jones, Charvis 2)
Discipline: 1 (Sweeney - high tackle)

(iv) Australia vs Scotland

Australia: 8
Scotland: 9

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

Australia:
Tackle/ruck: 2 (Sailor*, Samo)
Off-side: 3 (Samo** 2, midfield*)
Scrum: 1 (Baxter)
Discipline: 2 (Smith - obstruction, Harrison - air tackle in line-out*)

Scotland:
Tackle/Ruck: 3 (Macfadyen*, Hinshelwood, Henderson)
Scrum: 1 (Douglas)
Off-side: 2 (midfield*, Smith)
Discipline: 3 (undetermined - crossing, Murray - shoulder charge*, Smith - tackle without the ball)

3. Tries scored

(i) New Zealand vs England

New Zealand: 3
England: 0

(ii) South Africa vs Ireland

South Africa: 4
Ireland: 1

(iii) Argentina vs Wales

Argentina: 6
Wales: 5

(iv) Australia vs Scotland

Australia: 4
Scotland: 0

4. Getting possession - line-outs, scrums, free-kicks, drop-outs

In this section the figures represent the number of times you get to play with the ball. In (i) for example, New Zealand threw into 16 line-outs, England into 11 scrums. A line-out lost is recorded, as is a skew throw-in. At scrums - resets and sanctions are recorded.

(i) New Zealand vs England

New Zealand:
Line-outs: 16 (1 lost)
Scrums: 12 (8 reset, 1 free kick)
Free-kicks: 1 (scrum)
Drop-outs: 0

England:
Line-outs: 15 (2 lost)
Scrums: 11 (6 reset, 1 wheeled, 1 free kick)
Free-kicks: 2 (mark, scrum)
Drop-outs: 0

(ii) South Africa vs Ireland

South Africa
Line-outs: 17 (2 lost, 1 skew)
Scrums: 8 (2 resets, 2 penalties, 1 free kick)
Free-kicks: 1 (scrum)
Drop-outs: 2

Ireland:
Line-outs: 20 (5 lost)
Scrums: 9 (3 resets, 1 penalty)
Free-kicks: 0
Drop-outs: 1

(iii) Argentina vs Wales

Argentina:
Line-outs: 11 (2 lost)
Scrums: 11 (3 reset, 2 penalties, 2 wheels)
Free-kicks: 2 (mark, plus 10)
Drop-outs: 0

Wales:
Line-outs: 13 (1 lost)
Scrums: 16 (4 resets, 1 lost)
Free-kicks: 0
Drop-outs: 2

(iv) Australia vs Scotland

Australia:
Line-outs: 16 (3 lost)
Scrums: 12 (5 resets, 1 free kick)
Free-kicks: 2 (mark, scrum)
Drop-outs: 1

Scotland:
Line-outs: 12 (1 skew, 2 lost, 1 free kick, i quick)
Scrums: 7 (3 reset)
Free-kicks: 1 (line-out numbers)
Drop-outs: 2

5. Penalties per match

New Zealand vs England: 7 + 10 = 17
South Africa vs Ireland: 9 + 9 = 18
Argentina vs Wales: 10 + 11 = 21
Australia vs Scotland: 8 + 9 = 17

6. Stoppages

These are the totals of stoppages per match that is totals of line-outs, scrums (including resets), penalties, free kicks and drop-outs. We have not counted scores as stoppages as they are after all the purpose of the game.

Stoppages per match

New Zealand vs England: 73
South Africa vs Ireland: 81
Argentina vs Wales: 83
Australia vs Scotland: 78