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The devil is in the details: From missed tackles to turnovers, we dissect the Official Six Nations Match Data to find out who got it right and who got it wrong in Round Four!
One stat helped Italy make history this weekend: Outmuscled and out-hustled, France gave away eleven penalties in Rome - more than any other team over the weekend - paving the way for Mirco Bergamasco to convert five of his seven penalty chances.
The result means only England and Wales are left in contention for the title but both those teams were left with plenty to think about on Monday morning.
Wales were guilty of missing a bucketload of tackles and at the rate they are kicking possession away, they might have to give their current gameplan a rethink or risk falling foul of France's counter-attacking ability on Saturday (assuming the French have stopped sulking and started speaking to each other again).
England mixed the great with the awful, making the most line-breaks, the most offloads and missing the least amount of tackles. But Martin Johnson's men made more errors than anyone else - 18 in all - leading to more wasted possession than they would care to remember.
In stark contrast, Scotland made just five errors. Andy Robinson's team struggled to get their hands on the ball and were forced to make 128 tackles to England's 91, with the hosts not missing any at Twickenham.
Ireland were also guilty of shooting themselves in the foot when they had plenty of ball to work with, making 17 errors, many of them from some average kicking.
Wales have done more kicking than any other team in the tournament so far, but with Ronan O'Gara back in the green number ten jersey, Ireland actually out-kicked their hosts.
Italy skipper Sergio Parisse was full of praise for Azzurri coach Nick Mallett, and the numbers certainly point to a disciplined squad. Italy have given away the fewest penalties in their four matches. Their ratio of penalties conceded to those awarded - 32:57 - is miles ahead of any other team.
England and France are just about breaking even but Wales (46:31) and Ireland (42:27) are consistently on the wrong side of the penalty count.
It certainly gives one food for thought, especially considering that Italy have by far the worst conversion rate from the kicking tee...
Most tackles made: Scotland - 128
Most tackles missed: Wales - 12
Most passes completed: England - 217
Most line breaks: England - 6
Most possession kicked: Ireland - 42
Most turnovers won: Italy/ Ireland - 5
Most offloads in tackle: England - 18
Most errors made: England - 18
Most penalties conceded: France - 11
Least tackles missed: England - 0
Least errors made: Scotland - 5
Least penalties conceded: Italy/ Ireland/England -8
Overall after four rounds:
Most tackles made: Wales - 483
Most tackles missed: Scotland - 38
Most passes completed: England - 755
Most line breaks: England - 26
Most points scored (team): England - 126
Most points scored (player): Toby Flood - 47
Most tries scored (team): England - 12
Most tries scored (player): Chris Ashton - 6
Most possession kicked: Wales - 114
Most turnovers won: Ireland - 18
Most penalties conceded: Wales - 46
Most offloads in tackle: England/France - 47
Most errors made: Ireland - 26
Least tackles missed: England - 11
Least errors made: Wales - 38
Least penalties conceded: Italy - 32
Italy 22- 21 France
A glance at the possession stats reveal that France had more than enough possession to take Italy to the cleaners. Given the quality of the players in the Bleus' backline, the question remains as to why the French attack is so sterile.
It certainly isn't a problem in the set-piece where the XV de France won two scrums against the head.
Italy won five turnovers to France's two, suggesting that Parisse and co. were getting to the rucks faster than their visitors.
Minutes in possession:
Italy: 18mins, 54 sec
France: 28 mins, 57 sec
Minutes in opponents half (total):
Italy: 45 mins, 38 sec
France: 45 mins, 2 sec
Ruck and drive v Ruck and pass:
Italy: 13 - 64
France: 9 - 64
Ball won in open play - in opposition 22 - in set pieces - in turnovers:
Italy: 79 - 7 - 18 - 5
France: 74 - 14 - 21 - 2
Possession kicked - Kicks to touch - Percentage kicks
Italy: 20 - 3 - 37 %
France: 18 - 1 - 37%
Tackles made - tackles missed - tackle completion
Italy: 101 - 8 - 92%
France: 97 - 4 - 96%
Total errors made - errors from kicks:
Italy: 9 - 1
France: 11 - 0
Wales 19-13 Ireland
There was lots and lots of kicking in Cardiff. Between them the protagonists at the Millennium Stadium put almost half their possession down to the boot.
Beyond their complaints about a certain call made by the officials, Ireland will be harbouring plenty of regrets. The men in green had the lion's share of possession both in open play and from set-pieces, territory and turnovers - but didn't cash in.
Minutes in possession:
Wales: 19 mins, 20 sec
Ireland: 32 mins, 17 sec
Minutes in opponents half (total):
Wales: 26 mins, 29 sec
Ireland: 34 mins, 12 sec
Ruck and drive v Ruck and pass:
Wales: 42- 37
Ireland: 39 -57
Ball won in open play - in opposition 22 - in set pieces - in turnovers:
Wales: 81 - 12 - 26 - 2
Ireland: 101 - 35 - 28 - 5
Possession kicked - Kicks to touch - Percentage kicks
Wales: 36 - 7 - 45%
Ireland: 42- 10 - 49%
Tackles made - tackles missed - tackle completion
Wales: 111 - 12 - 90%
Ireland: 93 - 4 - 95%
Total errors made - errors from kicks:
Wales: 10 - 4
Ireland: 17 - 9
England 22-16 Scotland
As an illustration of the lopsided possession at Twickenham, England made 217 passes compared to Scotland's 123!
Scotland chose to kick half of the possession they got - and they didn't get much. In the end, it was England's error count that led to a close finish.
Minutes in possession:
England: 44 mins, 33 sec
Scotland: 19 mins, 09 sec
Minutes in opponents half (total):
England: 54 mins, 19 sec
Scotland: 39mins, 20 sec
Ruck and drive v Ruck and pass:
England: 17- 73
Scotland: 18 - 47
Ball won in open play - in opposition 22 - in set pieces - in turnovers:
England: 100 - 20 - 25 -3
Scotland: 65 - 21 - 23 - 4
Possession kicked - Kicks to touch - Percentage kicks
England: 21 - 5 - 33%
Scotland: 28 - 9 - 50%
Tackles made - tackles missed - tackle completion
England: 91 - 0 - 100%
Scotland: 128 - 6 - 95%
Total errors made - errors from kicks:
England: 18 - 1
Scotland: 5 - 0
Comments
carpelone says...
On one hand, I agree with BoDiddly.
On the other hand, watching New Zealand's scrum being bullied by the Italians was so boring.....I loved that, mate.
Set apiece has its own beauty and Kiwis have to live with that.
If you do not like rugby union, go to the cinema.
Posted 16:54 17th March 2011
artherfish says...
ha ha and here here Lawynd ive had it up to here with Bodiddly's one dimensional aproach. The same low standard of southern hemisphere comentry time and agian were so good, you,re so cr****p.Blaa blaa. I hope this poor brand of statment dose not go on to mar the quality of all the future discusion during the world cup it will amke it very boring to hear......... and quite right about pride before a full lets hope a NH team puts one over big time on an Sh Squad. How about Itally stuff the Aussies..... One can dream.. Just the hujmble pie that would need to be eaten by some of the SH pundits would feed africa for a year.
Posted 16:18 17th March 2011
lawynd says...
BoringDiddly, you've rehashed the same pathetic statement on half a dozen articles or so now...it will make it all of the more amusing should one of the antipodean powerhouses fall victim to northern hemisphere opposition at the world cup. We get it you know, you chaps have very limited attention spans, so you have to watch a game more akin to league than union and don't like it when teams actually utilise the set-pieces that are part of the laws of the game. I suppose it might explain why very few of you seem to bother to go to games, too - all that sitting around must be very boring.
Posted 08:46 17th March 2011
bradstock23 says...
I hear what you're saying Bo, but I suspect the rules and the advantage given to the defending team at the break down had more to do with the last world cup and the wya it was played...
Posted 07:21 17th March 2011
BoDiddly says...
One thing that stands out above all else relative to last weekends matches is that once again the standards of rugby in this years tournament are pretty dire. Looking back to recent years, it seems little has changed. Plenty of excitement, passion, great crowds, lots of noise but poor, poor rugby. Let's hope this awful brand of rugby doesn't contaminate this years world cup like it did the last one.
Posted 20:54 16th March 2011