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Interesting (and concerning) statistics from the World Cup

Worrying signs as offloads and ball-in-play time fall at Rugby World Cup - and tackles soar

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/133353901/worrying-signs-as-offloads-and-ballinplay-time-fall-at-rugby-world-cup--and-tackles-soar

ANALYSIS: There are now fewer offloads per game than at any point in RWC history, while the number of phases per possession plummeted in France.

Article summarises statistics provided by Opta and some from Warren Gatland; with headline stats:

This RWC saw fewer offloads per game than any other.
The average number of phases per possession dropped to 1.8, compared to 3 in 2019.
Ball in play time dropped marginally to 34.18 minutes / game - but excluding halftime breaks some games took over 100 minutes total to play out.
Tackles per game have grown to 169, up from 129 in 2019 & 119 in 2015.
Kicks per game (might) have grown, Gatland suggesting 57 per game, the highest since 1995.
25% of all kicks are box kicks.

6 comments

Rokk

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It's interesting that phases per possion and number of kicks both suggest teams are kicking for territory more and not keeping the ball for as long - yet there are still more tackles than before.

Even the fact there's more tackles during less ball in play time is surprising.

TagMeInSkipIGotThis

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Yeah its weird huh; probably need to see turnover stats (and what sort of turnover it is) to see for sure what it is. Also the more kicks was a Warren Gatland stat from the first few rounds of the World Cup, whereas most of the others were from Opta and cover the whole tournament.

TagMeInSkipIGotThis

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There's a lot to unpick; and it would be a lot easier if the full Opta stats were available, but I imagine either you have to pay for that, or be better at googling for it than me :) Its an article written for Kiwis so given all of those statistics would worry us I imagine there's been some cherry picking - but I do think 2 & 4 are a real worry for everyone.

reinforces that there's very little fluency in attack most top level international rugby these days which I reckon is a result of the way possession is rejected due to the strength of and favour shown to defence. Rugby has become almost entirely about territory now, and getting rid of the ball makes you less likely to give up penalties allowing the opposition to piggy back down field.
should be a massive concern for the people at World Rugby who actually care about player health (as opposed to the ones who just care about being sued for lack of care for player health). The tackle is the most risk area for head injuries and I'd argue there are way too many tackles happening and they are getting riskier as players are getting bigger and bigger.*

*and 6-2, 7-1 bench splits plus 100 minute games exacerbate that problem even further with bigger players staying active for longer in a game due to not fatiguing.

Olap

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Union has always been a kicking game. With the 50/22 rule, it was reinforced even. Held up is now a goal line drop out too. But the size of players and quality of defense has really meant that big teams can grind out wins. And the spectacle suffers

The bench needs addressed first. 7-1 splits are a mockery and we start to look like NFL with almost whole packs changing. Drop it to 4 is my advice, bring back the tighthead that can play loosehead.

Trial the removal of number 8. More space, more running.

Reduce spot kicking times. 45s and 60s for a conversion is plenty. The extra time gives players that extra recovery time, and they all take it, meaning bigger players.

Water breaks scheduled. No water at other times

theboy

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I dont get the fuss over kicking. A good kicking contest is brilliant and is what opens things up for the running rugby everyone says they want.

Bad, aimless kicking is obviously bad, but that's different and can be punished by a team that understand why, how and when to kick.

TagMeInSkipIGotThis

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I have a few problems with kicking:

I think the style of high box kick and then disrupt in the air rugby as exemplified by South Africa is extremely dangerous and Beauden Barrett is lucky to not be paralysed as a result of it. But I don't want to outlaw that kick, just the way it is competed for - my preferred option being that only the receiving team is allowed to go in the air, and any contact with them prior to returning to the ground is a penalty.
Teams are often kicking for negative reasons, rather than the positive you suggest. As often it is about getting the ball away from a danger zone, and while Rugby is a territorial game, the balance between territory & possession (or at least where teams want to have possession) has got a bit broken.
Even positive kicking is happening too early in the phase count. But that's not a problem with the kick itself, rather a problem with how the laws are balanced towards defence now being too easy combined with risk of possession turning into penalties against you. I think an easy fix would be to nerf the jackal, and make holding on a free kick. Afterall if the defending team really wanted the ball that much then a just reward is to just give it to them. Not allow a kick 30m down the line to setup a rolling maul.