Statistic of the Day

[morepork]

I'm cut to the quick.

As I said, it's no big deal.

[canta_brian]

I'm cut to the quick.

As I said, it's no big deal.

Don't be afraid to reach out. We're here for and we don't want you to become another statistic of this brutal board.

[scuzzaman]

The All Blacks have scored 49 tries this year, so the next one makes 50 – and that will be the 13th time this century. It is ten years since any other team has reached 50 tries.

I posted this because I find it kinda shocking.

13/17 years scoring 50 tries, and no other country has done the same for 10 years?!?! Not one of the other "Tier 1" nations? Maybe the All Blacks should be in the "Premier League"? Lol, that was a joke. Are jokes allowed?

(OK, so it wasn't a very good joke. Mea culpa.)

Does our man Lizard have a line on tries scored per calendar year for the Tier 1 nations since, say, 2000? I could drool over some of that ...

[morepork]

Scuzza....you've been in Germany too long mate.

Watch it or Liz will start invoicing you for services to stats soon.

[Lizard]

Who do you regard as Tier 1? You're lucky I have some time to kill in the Koru lounge!

Argentina
2000: 8 tries
2001: 23
2002: 50
2003: 92
2004: 53
2005: 37
2006: 24
2007: 42
2008: 23
2009: 21
2010: 21
2011: 32
2012: 51
2013: 42
2014: 42
2015: 50
2016: 43
2017: 20

[Lizard]

Australia
2000: 31
2001: 28
2002: 24
2003: 64
2004: 40
2005: 52
2006: 40
2007: 52
2008: 33
2009: 29
2010: 49
2011: 44
2012: 15
2013: 36
2014: 35
2015: 46
2016: 39
2017: 34

WTF happened in 2012?

[Lizard]

England
2000: 24 tries
2001: 70*
2002: 37
2003: 68
2004: 36
2005: 24
2006: 22
2007: 33
2008: 18
2009: 21
2010: 16
2011: 37
2012: 23
2013: 23
2014: 28
2015: 41
2016: 46
2017: 24

*20 of which came from a single match v Romania (134 - 0)

[scuzzaman]

Who do you regard as Tier 1? You're lucky I have some time to kill in the Koru lounge!

Southern Hemisphere plus 6 Nations minus Scotland and Italy.

(Scotland on a recent up-trend, yet to fully convince of their staying power.)

England, eh? Ever wonder what an All Blacks vs Romania test match would look like? Would that even BE a test match? Seems unlikely to happen. Maybe in a future RWC ...

[scuzzaman]

P.S. Did the All Blacks manage to lose a scrum feed on the weekend?

I didn't see any but I got a bit distracted screaming at the telly. That would also be a statistical oddity: the only team in the RC to have kept a scrum feed clean sheet, with over 50 scrums without a loss on own feed.

[Lizard]

Who do you regard as Tier 1? You're lucky I have some time to kill in the Koru lounge!

Southern Hemisphere plus 6 Nations minus Scotland and Italy.

(Scotland on a recent up-trend, yet to fully convince of their staying power.)

England, eh? Ever wonder what an All Blacks vs Romania test match would look like? Would that even BE a test match? Seems unlikely to happen. Maybe in a future RWC ...

I went to NZ v Romania at RWC2007. Score was 85-8. We also won 14-6 in Bucharest in 1981

[scuzzaman]

I went to NZ v Romania at RWC2007. Score was 85-8. We also won 14-6 in Bucharest in 1981

Huh - I have no memory of that game.

[Lizard]

NZ have held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003. Our record in dead-rubbers since then is 9 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses from 13 matches.

Losses: 2004*, 2010**, 2011*

Wins: 2005*, 2006, 2008**, 2x 2009**, 2010**, 2013, 2014, 2016

Draws: 2012

There were no dead matches in 2007 or 2015, when Aust won the first of a 2-test series. Every other year the All Blacks have had the Cup in the bag before hitting the turf for the last game - or even the second to last games in 2009 and 2010, thanks to the ridiculous 4-match format.

*2 match series
**4 match series

[Lizard]

Warren Gatland has, rightly, thrown his toys out of the Lion’s cot after some silly comments by certain players saying that different coaching could have resulted in a 3-0 series win. The Lions have never won even 2 in a row against New Zealand, whether in the same tour or across two.

Here’s a list of teams with 3 or more consecutive wins over the All Blacks. An asterisk indicates achieving this in a single season. Streaks are all of 3 wins unless indicated. The list includes all opposition with at least 3 wins total over New Zealand.

Wallabies (5 streaks in 160 matches): 2000-2001, 1998*, 1991-92, 1978-1980, 1929*
Springboks (3 in 95 matches): 2009*, 1970-76, 1937-1949 (6 in a row) – 95 matches total
France (1 in 57): 1994-95
Wales (0 in 33): never
England (0 in 40): never
Lions (0 in 41): never

If you include matches capped against non-capped NZ sides (including the NZ Cavaliers and NSW v NZ XV/NZ Maori games retrospectively capped by Australia) you can add/modify as follows:

Australia (6 in 200 matches): adding 1949 (including 1 v NZ Maori), modifying 1929-31 (4 matches, including 1 v NZ Maori), adding 1922-23 (5 matches, 2x NSW v NZ XV, 3x v NZ Maori)
SA (3 in 99): no change
France (1 in 58): no change
Tonga (1 in 17 matches): 1960-1973 (all v NZ Maori)
Fiji (0 in 39 matches): never
Wales (0 in 35): no change
England (0 in 41): no change

[Lizard]

I haven't forgotten about finishing the annual try tally series but not today.

Here are the midfield combinations used this year by the All Blacks (listed as 12/13/sub, italicized player came off)

Samoa: SBW/ALB/X
Lions 1: SBW/Crotty/ALB
Lions 2: SBW/ALB/Laumape*
Lions 3: Laumape/ALB/Fekitoa
Aust 1: SBW/Crotty/ALB
Aust 2: SBW/Crotty/ALB**
Arg 1: SBW/ALB/Laumape
SA 1: SBW/Crotty/ALB
Arg 2: SBW/ALB/Laumape
SA 2: Crotty/SBW/X

So most common starting pairs:
5: SBW/Crotty (including once as Crotty/SBW)
4: SBW/ALB
1: Laumape/ALB

SBW has started every game except when suspended, but has been subbed off in 5 of his 9 games. Crotty has always started whenever fit (IIRC). ALB is clearly the preferred back-up, followed by Laumape.



*SBW was red-carded in the 24th minute. Laumape technically came on for Kaino
**Crotty was temporarily replaced by ALB for 27th-39th minute. ALB permanently replaced SBW 62nd minute.

[rowan]

England has won 7 of 40 tests against the All Blacks
Lions have won 7 out of 41. Wow, almost identitical

[rowan]

Birth places by nation at 2015 World Cup:

NZ 68
England 45
South Africa 45
Australia 39
Argentina 36
Fiji 34
Georgia 31
Uruguay 30
Namibia 29
Romania 27
Ireland 26
Tonga 25
Canada 25
USA 23
Italy 22
France 21
Scotland 20
Japan 20
Wales 19
Samoa 18
Zimbabwe 4
Spain 2
Nigeria 1
PNG 1
Russia 1
Saudi Arabia 1
American Samoa 1
Israel 1
Belgium 1
Burkina Faso 1
Cote d’Ivoire 1
DR Congo 1
Algeria 1
Netherlands 1

[Lizard]

NZ v Barbarians
The All Blacks had toured Great Britain & Ireland (or parts thereof) 3 times before first playing the Barbarians. The fixture was part of the schedule for the next 6 tours from 1953-1978. It was dropped for the 3 tours from 1979-1983, and has been played sporadically since 1989.

1954: 19-5, Cardiff. Match 28 of 31 on tour (after tests v Home Nations, before French test)*
1964: 36-3, Cardiff. Match 34 of 36 (last match in Europe, after tests v Home Nations & France, followed by 2 matches in Vancouver)**
1967: 11-6, London. Match 17 of 17 (after tests v Eng, Wal, Fra, Sco)
1973: 11-23, Cardiff. Match 28 of 32 (after tests v Home Nations, before losing to France) ***
1974: 13-13, London. Match 8 of 8 (after test v Ireland)****
1978: 18-16, Cardiff. Match 18 of 18 (after Grand Slam v Home Nations)*****
1989: 21-10, London. Match 14 of 14 (after tests v Wales & Ireland)
1993: 25-12, Cardiff. Match 13 of 13 (after tests v Scotland & England)
2004: 47-19, London. Match 4 of 4 (after tests v Italy, Wales & France)
2009: 18-25, London. Match 6 of 6 (after tests v Scotland & England)******

Overall: Played 10, won 7, lost 2, drawn 1

NZ also played a French Barbarian side on at least their 1981, 1990, 1995 tours.

*This was the tour during which Wales most recently beat the All Blacks, denying them a Grand Slam
** The tour on which NZ lost to Newport and drew 0-0 with Scotland, and were thus denied a Grand Slam
*** The tour on which NZ drew with Ireland (still it’s 2nd best result v NZ), and were thus denied a Grand Slam. NZ also lost to Llanelli, NW Counties, Midland Counties (West) & France
****Weird tour this one. It was part of IRFU’s centenary so they played 6 matches in Ireland (4 provinces, Universities and a test), a full-strength but uncapped Wales XV, and the Baabaas. It was the first time NZ had played fewer than 4 tests or 15 matches on tours to GB&I. Given Wales’ proclivity for capping all sorts of Fake Tests, it’s odd they skipped this one; perhaps it was because it was played on a Wednesday? The Baabaas were virtually the 1974 Lions rebadged
***** The tour on which NZ lost to Munster
******The only time the Barbarians have been the only team to beat NZ on a tour

[rowan]

Not remotely as farcical as league's "World" Cup, but this is not a good sign:

The amount of foreign-born players increases yet again for Autumn internationals

The hot topic of debate regarding player eligibility is to be looked at again. In this piece, RUCK takes an in-depth look at the foreign-born players in each of the home nations Autumn Internationals squad for 2017.

All told, the squads will have a grand total of 14 nations represented, including Canada, Fiji, the Philippines and the USA.

The Celtic nations each have players born in England. In total 20 English players will play for other countries in the tournament. The next highest producers, by birth, are New Zealand and South Africa who have nine and five respectively.

This means there has been another gradual increase with 43 players swapping countries, up from 41 earlier this year for the Six nations.

https://www.ruck.co.uk/amount-foreign-b ... nationals/

[Lizard]

Despite a comfortable win, Australia shipped a record high of 30 points to Japan. Their defensive coach shouldn't be too ashamed though, even NZ teams have conceded 30+ in tests against the Brave Blossoms:

Number of times teams from each country have conceded 30+ to Japan in tests:*
Korea: 23
HK: 18
Canada: 9 (Canada 7, BC Bears 2)
Kazakhstan: 5
Russia: 4
Samoa: 4
Taipei: 4
USA: 4
Arabian Gulf: 3
NZ: 3 (NZ Universities 2, Junior All Blacks 1)
Romania: 3
Spain: 3
Sri Lanka: 3
UAE: 3
Argentina: 2
Fiji: 2
Philippines: 2
Tonga: 2
Uruguay: 2
Wales: 2
Australia: 1
Georgia: 1
Singapore: 1
South Africa: 1
Thailand: 1
Zimbabwe: 1

From Japan’s POV, regardless of whether oppo were capped.

[scuzzaman]

Japan also boast a better winning rate against the Springboks than anyone else as well.

Good point.

Given the bok's woes, it may be some time before that win rate drops.

[rowan]

I'm still amazed the SARFU hasn't set up a test match with the Blossoms since then. It's like the Lions never playing Fiji again after losing to them in 77. Are they running scared or what?

[scuzzaman]

Maybe they should be.

Dire performance yesterday from the Boks.

[Lizard]

This weekend, England will be looking for their record-equalling 5th consecutive win against Australia.

5+ wins in a row v Australia
10 matches: New Zealand (2008-10)
9: NZ (1936-47)
7: SA (1953-61), SA (1969-71), NZ (1967-74), NZ (1995-97), NZ (2015-17)
6: Lions (1899-1904), Lions (1950-1966)
5: England (2000-03), NZ (2005-06)

Longest winning streaks by opposition v Aust
NZ: 10 (2008-10)
SA: 7 (1953-61, 1969-71)
Lions: 6 (1899-1904, 1950-1966)
Eng: 5 (2000-03)
France: 4 (1948-67)
Ireland: 4 (1958-1968)
Scotland: 3 (1958-1968 1975-82)
Wales: 3 (1969-1975)
Argentina: 1 (1979, 1983, 1987, 1997, 2014)
Fiji: 1 (1952, 1954)
Tonga: 1 (1973)
Samoa: 1 (2011)

[scuzzaman]

Was kind of funny seeing Jones saying England will be better next week, after grinding out a most unimpressive display against Argentina.

(Of course, one could make much the same observation re NZ v. France.)

But it prompts the question: what exactly does he think Australia will be, if not better than Argentina?

(Sorry, not exactly a stats comment, but stimulated by the above stats.)

[rowan]

England v Australia should be the match of the round this weekend. France v South Africa will also be intriguing, if only because the two are in such poor form it'll be interesting to see who manages not to lose. Italy at home to Argentina could be a good match too, while Spain & Germany will fancy their chances of taking a tier 2 scalp when they host battling Canada and the US, respectively.