Durban decider - Part 0ne

All the match stats

Whoever won the last Tri-Nations match in Durban on Saturday would win the Tri-Nations. South Africa were in the strange position where they could end first, second or last. However you looked at it, the match was going to be a cauldron of emotion, demanding extraordinary composure of all concerned - players and match officials.

In the end South Africa won and ended first with Australia second and New Zealand last.

It was, as many had forecast, a close-run Tri-Nations. Each side won two matches and lost two matches. Bonus points decided the winner.

We shall give some statistics of the match and the whole Tri-Nations and then in Part Two discuss a few incidents, one of which, which led to Breyton Paulse's yellow card, provoked comment and queries from readers.
 
1. Penalties conceded

These represent the number of times each team was penalised. South Africa were penalised 14 times.

South Africa: 13
Australia: 11

Reasons for the penalties:

South Africa
Tackle/ruck: 7 (Barry, Conradie, Du Randt, Burger 2, Joubert, Paulse)
Scrum: 2 (Andrews, Du Randt)
Off-side: 1 (Paulse)
Discipline: 4 (Air tackles - Venter, Montgomery, late tackle - Joubert, collapsed maul - Andrews)

Australia
Tackle/ruck: 8 (Waugh 2, Smith 3, Baxter, Lyons** 2)
Scrum: 1 (Young*)
Off-side: 1 (Cannon)
Discipline: 1 (Collapsed maul - Sharpe)
*  penalty goal

2. Line-outs

This is the number of times a team threw into a line-out. Australia threw in 17 times.

South Africa: 10 (1 lost)
Australia: 17 (2 lost, 3 free kicks)

3. Scrums

This the number of times a team put the ball into a scrum, Australia 17 times.

South Africa: 6 (2 reset, 1 penalty)
Australia: 17 (5 reset, 2 penalties)

4. Free-kicks

This is the number of times a team received a free kick, Australia once.

South Africa: 4 (3 line-outs, 1 mark)
Australia: 1 (1 mark)

5. Drop-outs

South Africa dropped out twice times, Australia twice.

6. Full Tri-Nations

Penalties conceded

	vs Aus 1	vs NZ 1	vs SA 1	vs Aus 2	vs NZ 2	vs SA 2
Australia		11	8		9	11
New Zealand	5		5	13		11
South Africa	10	13		14	13

Interestingly the team most penalised ended top, the team least penalised ended bottom!

Sanctionary punishments - cards and citings

There were two yellow cards this week, both for Springboks. Percy Montgomery got one for a tackle in the air, Breyton Paulse one for one of those critical infringements. We shall discuss the Paulse case in Part Two.

	vs Aus 1	vs NZ 1	vs SA 1	vs Aus 2	vs NZ 2	vs SA 2
Australia		Y,C
New Zealand	Y			Y
South Africa				2Y

Y = Yellow card
C = Citing with suspension

Tries scored

	vs Aus 1	vs NZ 1	vs SA 1	vs Aus 2	vs NZ 2	vs SA 2
Australia		1	3		1	3
New Zealand	1		1	0		2
South Africa	3	3		2	5

The team which scored most tries won. The team which scored fewest tries came last. That seems fair. 

Reason for penalties

	Australia	New Zealand	South Africa
Tackle	5+5+4+8=22	1+1+5+6=14	7+3+10+7=27
Scrum	2+2+1 +1= 6	2+0+0+2=4	0+0+0+2=2
Off-side	0+0+2+1=3	2+0+0+2=4	0+0+0+1=1
Discipline	4+1+2+1=8	0+1+1+2=4	2+3+1+4=10

Line-out throws

	Australia	New Zealand	South Africa
Throws	10+21+8+17=56	27+21+15+12=75	12+8+9+10=39
Lost	2+0+2+2=6	4+2+5+2=13	2+7+0+1=10
Quick	0+0+0+0=0	2+0+0+2=4	0+0+0+0=0
Free kick/penalty	2+3+1+3=9	1+0+0+0=1	0+0+0+0=0
Skew	0+2+0+0=2	0+0+0+0=1	0+1+0 +0=1

Scrums

	Australia	New Zealand	South Africa
Put-in	13+5+7+17=42	10+10+9+9=38	9+12+18+6=45
Reset	5+1+5+5=16	7+3+2+6=18	3+10+7+2=22
Free Kick	2+0+1+0=3	0+0+0+3=3	1+0+0+0=1
Penalty	3+0+0+2=5	1+0+1+0=2	0+2+2+1=5
Lost	0+0+0+0=0	0+0+0+0=0	1+1+0+0=2

Kicks at goal

	Australia	New Zealand	South Africa
Penalties goaled	0+2+6+0=8	3+6+6+4=19	0+3+3+3=9
Penalties missed	0+0+0+1=1	2+1+2+1=6	0+1+3+2=6
Conversions goaled	1+2+0+2=5	1+0+0+2=3	3+1+3+2=9
Conversions missed	0+2+1+1=4	0+1+0+0=1	0+2+2+0=4

7. Players penalised

The most obviously penalisable players are the "fetchers". Schalk Burger of South Africa ends up the most penalised player of the Tri-Nations - and one of the best players.

Penalties by player are

9 Schalk Burger

6 De Wet Barry, George Smith, Bill Young

5 Eddie Andrews, Phil Waugh, Tana Umaga, Kees Meeuws

4 Breyton Paulse, Bakkies Botha, Marius Joubert, Marty Holah, Justin Marshall, Al Baxter

3 Os du Randt, AJ Venter, Gerrie Britz, Victor Matfield, Xavier Rush, David Lyons, Paul Cannon, Nathan Sharpe

2 Carl Hayman, Mils Muliaina, Jono Gibbes, Ali Williams, Justin Harrison, Clyde Rathbone, Matt Giteau, Stirling Mortlock

1 Bolla Conradie, Percy Montgomery, Fourie du Preez, Joe van Niekerk, Jaco van der Westhuyzen,  Joe Rokocoko, Greg Somerville, Chris Jack, Carlos Spencer, Keven Mealamu, George Gregan