The November Tests - I

From Cardiff and Edinburgh

Wales played South Africa on a slippery day in Cardiff. Scotland played Australia on a wet evening in Edinburgh. In Part 1 we look at some statistics, as we shall do for each week this month. In Part 2 we shall discuss laws and refereeing, including a controversial clock and controversial markings.

Penalties conceded:

In this section we record the times a team was penalised. In (i), for example, Wales were penalised 8 times. Scotland were the least penalised of the four teams - only once in the second half.

In all there were 68 penalties, 44 at the tackle, suggesting that it may be a problem area!

Wales vs South Africa

Wales: 8
South Africa: 17

Reasons for penalties:

Wales:
Tackle/ruck: 6 (Undetermined, Charvis 2 Cockbain, Adam Jones, Mefin Davis)
Obstruction: 1 (Thomas)
Scrum: 1 (Adam Jones)

South Africa:
Tackle/ruck: 8 (Willemse, Burger 3, Smit 3, Dlulane)
Off-side: 6 (Barry, Paulse, Andrews, Joubert, Van Niekerk, Du Preez)
Discipline: 3 (Du Preez - deliberate knock on, Shimange - collapsing maul, Smith - collapsing maul)

Scotland vs Australia

Scotland: 5
Australia: 9

Reasons for the penalties:

Scotland:
Tackle/ruck: 3 (Macfadyen 2, Henderson)
Discipline: 2 (Kellock - air tackle, Henderson - obstruction)

Australia:
Tackle/Ruck: 5 (Lyons, Smith 2, Harrison 2)
Off-side: 1 (Rogers)
Discipline: 2 (Rathbone - obstruction, Waugh - collapsing maul)

Cards:

There was only one - a yellow card for Schalk Burger for critical infringement.

Line-outs:

This represents the number of times a team threw into a line-out. In the case of Wales it was 17 times. Also recorded are the number of skew throws, the number lost and the number thrown in quickly.

(i) Wales vs South Africa

Wales: 17 (1 skew, 4 lost)
South Africa: 14 (1 lost, 1 quick)

(ii) Scotland vs Australia
Scotland: 26 (1 skew, 1 quick, 3 lost)
Australia: 22 (2 quick, 2 lost, 1 penalty)

Scrums:

This represents the number of times a team threw into a scrum. In the case of Wales it was 14 times. Also recorded are the number of resets, wheels, penalties, free kicks)

(i) Wales vs South Africa

Wales: 14 (5 reset, 1 wheeled, 1 lost, 1 free kick)
South Africa: 9 (3 reset, 1 wheeled, I penalty)

(ii) Scotland vs Australia

Scotland: 11 (2 reset, 2 free kicks)
Australia: 14 (4 reset)

Free Kicks:

This represents the number of times a team had a free kick to take. In the case of Wales it was 4 times.

(i) Wales vs South Africa

Wales: 4 (2 marks, 1 scrum, 1 extra 10m)
South Africa: 0

(ii) Scotland vs Australia
Scotland: 2 (mark, scrum)
Australia: 1 (scrum)

Tries:

This is the number of tries each team scored.

(i) Wales vs South Africa

Wales: 2
South Africa: 4

(ii) Scotland vs Australia

Scotland: 2
Australia: 4

Penalty goals:

This is the number of penalty goals each team scored:

(i) Wales vs South Africa

Wales: 5
South Africa: 3

(ii) Scotland vs Australia

Scotland: 0
Australia: 1

Conversions:

This is the number of conversions each team scored.

This represents the number of times a team threw into a line-out. In the case of Wales it was 17 times. Also recorded are the number of skew throws, the number lost and the number thrown in quickly.

(i) Wales vs South Africa

Wales: 2
South Africa: 3

(ii)Scotland vs Australia

Scotland: 2
Australia: 4