Thread: The Rugby Championship 2016...

"World champions New Zealand win 57-15 (leading 12-9 at half-time)..."

Rugby: The final stats from All Blacks history-making Rugby Championship

By Sam Hewat

7:44 AM Monday Oct 10, 2016


Beauden Barrett is the only first-five to score more than one try in this year's Rugby Championship. Photo / Photosport

For the All Blacks, it doesn't get much better than this.

Six from six in the Rugby Championship, scoring a maximum 30 from 30 points.

That's right. For the first time in history, a team recorded a bonus point win in every match.

Now, the All Blacks are just one game away from clinching the record for most wins by a tier one nation.

With such dominance, the stats are understandably incredible. Picking just a handful almost seems unfair.

Still, we've done our best to give you the head-turners and the eye-poppers.

38 to five
Take your pick at what's more breathtaking.

The fact the All Blacks scored 38 tries in six matches, six more than all the other three teams combined, or the fact they conceded just five tries throughout the whole Rugby Championship.

Either way, in 480 minutes of rugby, giving up five tries amounts to a try every 96 minutes.

Seven per cent
70 tries were scored in the Rugby Championship this year.

That means just seven per cent of the total tries scored were against the All Blacks.

Compare that with 23 per cent against Australia, 31 per cent against South Africa and 39 per cent against Argentina.

Tries not penalties
The All Blacks aren't in the business of taking easy points.

They'd rather go for the jugular instead of getting three more on the board.

This shows in the fact the All Blacks have only slotted six penalty goals this Rugby Championship.

In comparison, Australia hit 12, Argentina 18 and South Africa 19.

Quick Play
Phase play is key for some nations - not the All Blacks.

25 of their 38 tries came from just three phases or less.

Beautiful Beaudy
It makes sense that fly-halves would occupy the top of the points scoring table, as is the case with this year's competition.

Beauden Barrett sits at the top with 81 points, with Argentine Nicolas Sanchez and Wallaby Bernard Foley in second position with 53 a piece. South Africa's Morne Steyn is fourth with 42 points.

But what's more amazing, is the fact that three of those four haven't scored more than a single try.

In fact, Foley is the only player to score one.

Barrett, on the other hand, has four to his name.

44-14
That's the average scoreline for the All Blacks.

No other team has a positive margin.

Argentina: 22-36
Australia: 20-25
South Africa: 20-30

30 missed tackles a game
The All Blacks average just 12 missed tackles a game. Well under their competitors with Argentina, South Africa and Australia averaging 20, 23, and 25 respectively.

Conversely, the All Blacks forced a whopping 30 missed tackles a game.

**All statistics courtesy of Opta**

- NZ Herald

Rugby: Just how bad are the other Rugby Championship teams?

By Sam Hewat

2:19 PM Tuesday Oct 11, 2016

Much has been made of the All Blacks prolonged dominance.

Today, the updated world rankings were released with the All Blacks reaching a record high 96.57 points.

That's never been done since the rankings began in 2003. But, then again, no team has ever won every single Rugby Championship or Tri Nations match with a bonus point.

We know the All Blacks are good. Almost unfairly good. But are the other teams really that bad?

The Springboks are in ruins, Australia doesn't know where it wants rugby to fit in into its already lavish sporting environment, and Argentina, while improving, still has a way to go.

We've taken a look at the All Blacks numbers, but here are some of the stats that show why other teams are struggling.

Australia

They finished second in this year's Rugby Championship, with three wins from six. But looking at the stats, you really wouldn't know.

Where's the middle?

The Wallabies come out firing, and they finish strong.

Their margin in the first and last 20 minutes is 50-42, and 30-26 respectively.

Those margins are 24-45 and 15-34 respectively.

One might deduce, that the starters have plenty of energy early but run out quickly before halftime. Then, when the substitutes come on at 60 minutes, the energy lifts and the points come back.

Missed tackles

Wallabies' names dominate five of the top six slots for missed tackles in the Rugby Championship.

Bernard Foley is No. 1 with 16, Dane Haylett-Petty No. 2 with 15, Stephen Moore No. 3 with 13, Dean Mumm and South Africa's Francois de Klerk No. 4 with 12, and Michael Hooper No. 5 with 11.

Not ideal at all. However, take a look at the names.

Foley - first-five. Haylett-Petty - fullback. Michael Hooper - flanker.

These are some of the most crucial positions on the park, arguably the most called upon to make key tackles.

Contrast that with the All Blacks, where Ben Smith missed just two tackles, Beauden Barrett four and Jerome Kaino three.

Metres leaking in litres

The Wallabies give up the most metres per game - 523m on average.

The All Blacks give up just 279m.

Moore trouble with the lineout

The Australian captain has not had a good time with his throwing.

He's given away 11 lineouts this year. The next worst is Agustin Creevy with only five.

This considering Moore generally walks off the park at the 60 minute mark.

South Africa

South Africa finished the Rugby Championship in third with just two wins. They failed to capitalise on early pressure in a number of matches.

The engine that couldn't

Like the Wallabies, the Springboks come out firing. They have outscored their opponents four tries to one in the first 20 minutes.

However, in the last 20 minutes, they implode - outscored nine tries to three.

40 points to 19 in the first 20 minutes, 67 points to 37 in the last 20.

Carryless

The Springboks average just 83 carries a game. That's 40 carries less than the All Blacks.

They also average just 274m per game. 344m less than the All Blacks.

Missed tackles

Forcing missed tackles is the name of the game. The All Blacks do it better than anyone forcing 30 missed tackles a game.

The Springboks, on the other hand, force just 14 missed tackles.

Argentina

Argentina finished the Rugby Championship with just one win - a valiant effort against South Africa at home.

However, for all their flair and passion, they still fall short of scoring points.

The odd one out

This is bizarre. Have a look at how the Pumas rank in some areas:

- Highest goal kicking percentage (82%)
- Highest carries per game (130)
- Second highest metres per game (472m)
- Second highest clean breaks per game (11)
- Second highest defenders beaten per game (22.3)
- Highest offloads per game (19.2)
- Highest average time in possession (17.12 mins)

So why can't they win? We'll try to make sense of it.

Tackling

When the Pumas don't have the ball, which isn't that common according to the stats, they don't seem to stop the opposition.

They only average 80 tackles a game - 30 less than the All Blacks.

However, their tackling percentage is the lowest at 80 per cent.

Phase play

The Pumas gave up 27 tries in the Rugby Championship this year.

19 of those tries came from three phases or less.

Compare that with all the above information, and you can conclude when teams get the ball against Argentina, they score and score quickly.

They don't let the Pumas make a number of tackles, they don't give them time to set.

That may account for why it appears the Pumas are in control in the stats, but not on the scoreboard.

Sir Richard of McAwesome has spoken...

Richie McCaw 'annoyed' with arrogant Kiwi rugby fans

1:43 PM Monday Oct 17, 2016


Richie McCaw has said he's annoyed at Kiwi rugby fans who think games involving the All Blacks should be closer. Photo / Photosport

There has been hand-wringing in some quarters that the All Blacks are now too good - and that really annoys Richie McCaw.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph ahead of his film, Chasing Great, hitting Australian theatres this week, McCaw thinks Kiwi fans just need to enjoy it while it lasts.

"People say "ohh, the All Blacks are really dominant" but look, that can change quick if you let your guard down," he said.

"From a rugby point of view, it annoys me when Kiwis say "oh it's not like it used to be, when games were close". Well, they used to moan when it was close that we hadn't played well.

"If you let the standard drop a wee bit ... the scoreboards might see certain things but there isn't much between the top teams in the world.

"It doesn't take that much ... if something is off, confidence is down ... for things to turn around really quickly."

Despite this, however, McCaw doesn't think there is any reason why the All Blacks won't keep winning everything.

"There's not, really. People say at some point it has to come to an end but that's just a perception I think," McCaw said.

"As long as you keep each week readying yourself to put the performance out there, you can keep going."

What will interest Aussie fans most about Chasing Great, is the role rare Wallabies success played in securing both the 2011 and 2015 World Cup.

After Australia's win over the All Blacks in Sydney in August last year, McCaw speaks about how he deliberately stayed on the field "to take the medicine ... and help sharpen the axe for next week".

"I hate losing. I hate it even more losing to the Wallabies," an agitated McCaw says.

Australia used the victory to give themselves belief they could win the World Cup but the Kiwis used it to remind themselves they could lose another.

McCaw admitted it was a timely defeat for the All Blacks, at the safe distance of a few weeks before the World Cup and not inside it.

​"What it did, it firmly planted us back with feet on the ground. If anybody was getting a bit carried away or subconsciously thinking we had it all under control, it shook us and brought proper reality back​," McCaw said. ​

"I know going into the World Cup final, having that memory of only a few weeks earlier, we spoke about if we don't get it right, we could come second here. There is a lot of respect between New Zealand and Australia.

"I remember in 2011 it was similar too, we lost a week before the tournament in Brisbane. Going into the semi-final (against the Wallabies) of that World Cup, that defeat wasn't too far out of the mind either. We had to get it right or we would be finishing up."

He's not wrong either.

HT. Going about as expected.

The AB's are going to lose a game one of these days though (if not this one) and it's going to be because of goal kicking. Can't keep leaving points on the field like that.

And there it is, a new WR.

Strange game in a way. They made it look hard (although Aust played well in patches) but still an easy win on the scoreboard.

There's going to be some massive whining about that disallowed try!

It was a bad call in my opinion but I doubt it would have effected the final outcome any.

^It should never have been disallowed, but the Aussie was stupid to stick his arm out.Typical Oz behaviour though.....

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

And there it is, a new WR.

Strange game in a way. They made it look hard (although Aust played well in patches) but still an easy win on the scoreboard.

Fuck off you condescending twat, we were never in it for a second.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

There's going to be some massive whining about that disallowed try!

for good reason.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

It was a bad call in my opinion

Yes, it was, fooking dreadful.

but I doubt it would have effected the final outcome any.

Correct.

^^"Patches" mofo... it was a tight first half and the Wallabies had weight of possession and territory.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

^^"Patches" mofo...

patches?

Like the patch before the ref blew the whistle to start the bleeding game ?

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

it was a tight first half and the Wallabies had weight of possession and territory.

Yeah, but.... but what was the damn score at half time ?

Jaysus, talking about possession and territory is what I do when coaching a kids team that just cannot finish. possession means fuck all if you cannot score.

As I said, condescending fooker.

^Willy, they had 65% possession. They must have done something right....

I thought the Aussies played better tonight but are still streets behind.

I tuned in as Foley missed that easy penalty. The next 20 was a slaughter......

I hope me watching jinxed the Convicts.....

Originally Posted by Bobcock

I hope me watching jinxed the Convicts.

You sad as fuck Taff...........Guess your even sadder now being back in Blighty.

Never mind you can climb on the back of the Pom cricket side to make amends.

When you next back in Thailand mate??????

Originally Posted by Loy Toy

I hope me watching jinxed the Convicts.....

Dont know that they needed your help to be honest.

I was thinking that if the AB's played that shit (for them) but still manage to dominate other teams then what does it say about the quality of the other teams? But then I thought that maybe the AB's playing shit is just still too good for other teams. And then it all got a bit confusing. And then I thought 'oh, grapes!' so went to the refrigerator to get some.

Well, I hope that now the CKBs have the 18 streak record secured, they can now fall away and play like normal teams again.

The Blacks have 6 players that are another planet.

As a Rugby fan I am in awe of their talent and awareness with ball in hand.

Great stuff, great Rugby and superb talent.

^^Ain't going to happen.