November 13 - Part I

Four Tests' stats

In Part I we shall again give the stats. In Part II we shall discuss aspects of law and refereeing. And, yes, we shall talk about Ireland's try! And yes, we shall discuss the yellow card for Schalk Burger. And yes, we shall discuss the knock back by Lote Tuqiri.

The matches we are going to talk about are Italy vs New Zealand, Ireland vs South Africa, England vs Canada and France vs Australia.

Cards

There was only one yellow card - again Schalk Burger for the second week in a row. He was not the most frequently guilty of tackle offences.

Penalties conceded

In this section we record the times a team was penalised. In (i), for example, Italy were penalised 11 times, New Zealand eight times.

(i) Italy vs New Zealand

Total number of penalties: 19

Italy: 11
New Zealand: 8

New Zealand were penalised only once in the second half and that in the 39th minute. This is in keeping with most of their matches in recent years, as they could lay claim to being the most disciplined of international sides.

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

Italy:
Tackle/ruck: 4 (Bergamasco, Griffen, Persico, Pozzebon)
Scrum: 3 (Perugini 2, Lo Cicero)
Off-side: 2 (Griffen, Bergamasco)
Discipline: 2 (Lo Cicero - dissent, Bergamasco - deliberate knock-on)

New Zealand:
Tackle/Ruck: 2 (Umaga, Somerville)
Scrum: 1 (Hayman)
Off-side: 3 (McCaw, Collins 2)
Discipline: 2 (Kelleher - deliberate knock-on, Tuiali'i* - collapsing maul)

There was only one penalty kick at goal in the match.

(ii) Ireland vs South Africa

Total number of penalties: 26

Ireland: 13
South Africa: 13

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

Ireland:
Tackle/Ruck: 4 (Foley, Byrne, Dempsey, O'Kelly*)
Scrum: 2 (Corrigan, Horan)
Off-side: 3 (O'Connell*, Horgan*, Stringer*)
Discipline: 4 (O'Connor, Foley 2 - air tackle, collapsing maul, Hickie - high)

South Africa:
Tackle/Ruck: 8 (Burger* - 2, Barry, Van Niekerk 3, Smit 2)
Off-side: 1 (Van Niekerk*)
Discipline: 1 (Burger - high, Unclear* - either Smit - man without ball or Joubert - high)

Each side missed a penalty kick at goal.

(iii) England vs Canada

Total number of penalties: 14

England: 8
Canada: 6

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

England:
Tackle/Ruck: 4 (Hazell 2, Sheridan, Moody)
Scrum: 1 (Rowntree)
Off-side: 2 (Gomarsall 2)
Discipline: 1 (Corry - obstruction)

Canada:
Tackle/Ruck: 5 (Richmond, O'Leary, Cooke, Strubin, Di Girolamo)
Scrum: 1 (Abrams)

Neither side kicked a penalty kick at goal.

(iv) France vs Australia

Total number of penalties: 23

France: 11
Australia: 12

Each side missed a penalty kick at goal.

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

France:
Tackle/Ruck: 7 (Harinordoquy, Pelous* 2, Betsen*, Thion*, Magne, Marconnet)
Off-side: 2 (Magne, Bonaire)
Discipline: 2 (Magne - high, Pelous - air tackle)

Australia:
Tackle/Ruck: 5 (Rathbone, Young, Tuqiri, Smith*, Latham)
Off-side: 1 (Smith)
Scrum: 2 (Baxter* 2)
Discipline: 4 (Tuqiri 2 - knocking ball dead, obstruction, Larkham* - retaliation, Smith* - armless tackle)

Each side missed a penalty kick at goal.

Getting possession - line-outs, scrums, free-kicks, drop-outs, turn-overs

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 12 line-outs, Italy into 15 scrums. A line-out lost is recorded and a skew throw-in. At scrums resets and sanctions are recorded.

(i) Italy vs New Zealand

Italy:
Line-outs: 16 (1 lost)
Scrums: 15 (2 reset, 1 wheel, 1 free kick, 1 lost)
Free-kicks: 2 (scrum)

New Zealand:
Line-outs: 12 (3 lost)
Scrums: 14 (4 reset, 2 wheeled, 3 free kicks, 1 penalty)
Free-kicks: 2  (scrum)

(ii) Ireland vs South Africa

Ireland:
Line-outs: 21 (4 lost)
Scrums: 10 (7 reset, 2 free kicks, 1 penalty)
Free-kicks: 2 (scrums)

South Africa:
Line-outs: 18 (1 lost, 1 skew, 1 free kick)
Scrums: 11 (3 reset, 1 free kick, 2 penalties)
Free-kicks: 2 (1 scrum, 1 line-out)

(iii) England vs Canada

England:
Line-outs: 12 (2 lost, 1 skew, 1 free kick)
Scrums: 10 (3 reset, 1 free kick)
Free-kicks: 1 (line-out)

Canada:
Line-outs: 13 (1 lost)
Scrums: 9 (5 reset, 1 lost 2 free kicks, 1 penalty)
Free-kicks: 3 (scrums)

(iv) France vs Australia

France:
Line-outs: 13 (2 lost, 1 skew)
Scrums: 8 (2 reset)
Free-kicks: 0

Australia:
Line-outs: 10 (2 lost, 1 quick, 1 penalty)
Scrums: 9 (8 reset, 1 penalty, 1 free kick)
Free-kicks: 1 (scrum)

Stoppages (total of line-outs, scrums, free kicks, penalties:

Italy vs New Zealand: 80
Ireland vs South Africa: 90
England vs Canada: 62
France vs Australia: 64

Tries

This is the number of tries each team scored. South Africa and Canada are the only teams not to score tries.

(i) Italy vs New Zealand

Italy: 1
New Zealand: 9

(ii) Ireland vs South Africa

Ireland: 1
South Africa: 0

(iii) England vs Canada

England: 12
Canada: 0

(iv) France vs Australia

France: 2
Australia: 1

In matches not recorded above:

Scotland vs Japan

Scotland: 15
Japan: 1

Wales vs Romania

Wales: 10
Romania: 1

Namibia vs Morocco

Namibia: 5
Morocco: 3

Luxembourg vs Denmark

Luxembourg: 1
Denmark: 0

Serbia-Herzogovina vs Moldova

Serbia-Herzogovina: 6
Bulgaria: 1

Moldova vs Germany

Moldova: 2
Germany: 3