RBS Six Nations, Week 3, Part 1

Stats

There is so much to talk about! Already we have discussed the three incidents at Dublin regarded as controversial. Now we shall subside gently into the sober world of statistics for Round 3 of the RBS Six Nations.

These are stats that may be of interest regarding stoppages and tries. Perhaps we should consider the number of times a referee plays advantage as a statistic as well.  In fact there would be many more stoppages but for the manner in which the top referees manage matches.

We shall also be giving stats for Super 12 and then we shall discuss points of laws from both competitions.

There is so much to talk about!

To go to the earlier discussion on the Dublin incidents, click here.

Cards

There were no sanctionary cards this weekend. The three matches were played with good manners, even the tense affair in Dublin. But the prize for Best Behaviour must go to the France-Wales encounter in Paris. It was a great day for rugby - regardless of which side you supported.

Penalties conceded

In this section we record the times a team was penalised. In (i), for example, Scotland and Italy were each penalised eight times.

* = points conceded

(i) Scotland vs Italy

Total number of penalties: 16

Scotland: 8
Italy: 8

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

Scotland:
Tackle/ruck: 5 (Webster, Taylor* 2, Petrie, Hinshelwood)
Off-side: 1 (Petrie)
Discipline: 2 (Kerr - collapsing maul, Grime - armless tackle)

Italy:
Tackle/ruck: 6 (Bortolami*, Castrogiovanni** 2, Ongaro, Lo Cicero, Troncon*)
Scrum: 1 (Perugini*)
Discipline: (Stoica* - trip)

Italy missed two kicks at goal, Scotland none.

(ii) France vs Wales

Total number of penalties: 14

France: 9
Wales: 5

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

France:
Tackle/ruck: 6 (Marconnet, Thion*, Laharrague 2, Yachvili, Betsen*)
Off-side: 2 (Undetermined, Marconnet)
Discipline: 1 (Bonnaire - not 10m at penalty)

Wales:
Tackle/Ruck: 2 (Ryan Jones*, John Yapp)
Scrum: 3 (Yapp 3)

Wales missed a penalty kick at goal..

(iii) Ireland vs England

Total number of penalties: 14

Ireland: 4
England: 10

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

Ireland
Tackle/ruck: 3 (Easterby*, Horgan, O'Connell)
Off-side: 1 (Corrigan)

England:
Tackle/ruck: 8 (Thompson* 2, Noon 2, Ellis, Stevens, Kay, Grewcock)
Off-side: 1 (Kay*)
Discipline: 1 (Ellis - obstruction)

Tackles/Penalties

This gives the number of penalties at ruck/tackle as a fraction of the total number of penalties:

Scotland vs Italy: 10/16 = 62,5%
France vs Wales: 8/14 = 57%
Ireland vs England: 11/14 = 78,6%

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, Scotland threw into 15 line-outs, Italy into 9 scrums. A line-out lost is recorded and a skew throw-in. At scrums, resets, loss and sanctions are recorded.

(i) Scotland vs Italy

Scotland:
Line-outs: 15 (3 lost)
Scrums: 17 (2 reset, 1 lost)
Free-kicks: 3 (2 marks, 1 + 10)
Drop-outs: 4

Italy:
Line-outs: 20 (3 lost, 2 quick)
Scrums: 9 (2 reset)
Free-kicks: 1 (mark)
Drop-outs: 1

(ii) France vs Wales

France:
Line-outs: 17 (1 lost, 4 skew)
Scrums: 13 (3 reset, 3 penalties)
Free-kicks: 0
Drop-outs: 1

Wales:
Line-outs: 17 (3 lost, 1 penalty, 1 free kick)
Scrums: 13 (8 reset, 1  free kick, 1 wheel)
Free-kicks: 2 (1 scrum, 1 line-out)
Drop-outs: 0

(iii) Ireland vs England

Ireland:
Line-outs: 19 (1 lost, 1 free kick)
Scrums: 9 (3 reset, 2 free kicks)
Free-kicks: 2 (1 scrum, 1 line-out) 
Drop-outs: 0

England:
Line-outs: 18 (1 lost, 1 skew, 1 quick)
Scrums: 9 (1 reset)
Free-kicks: 2 (1 scrum, 1 mark)
Drop-outs: 1

Unplayables:

Scotland vs Italy: 5 (Scotland)
France vs Wales: 2 (1 France, 1 Wales)
Ireland vs England: 1 (England)

Stoppages (total of line-outs, scrums with resets, free kicks, penalties, drop-outs):

Scotland vs Italy: 86
France vs Wales: 77
Ireland vs England: 74

Tries

This is the number of tries each team scored.

(i) Scotland vs Italy:

Scotland: 0
Italy: 1

(ii) France vs Wales

France: 2
Wales: 2

(ii) Ireland vs England

Ireland: 1
England: 1

Some Totals

After three rounds of the 2005 Six RBS Nations:

Penalties conceded:

England: 11 + 13 10 = 34
France: 8 + 11 + 9 = 28
Ireland: 10 + 11 + 4 = 25
Italy: 7 +  4 + 8 = 19
Scotland: 14 + 10 + 8 = 32
Wales: 9 + 10 + 5 = 24

Tries scored:

England: 0 + 2 + 1 = 3
France: 1 + 0 + 2 = 3
Ireland: 3 + 5 + 1 = 9
Italy: 1 +  2 + 1 = 4
Scotland: 0 + 2 + 0 = 2
Wales: 1 + 6 + 2 = 9