Men’s Rugby World Cup 2023 – The numbers game
We take a closer look at the stats behind some of the best individual performances during the Rugby World Cup in France: All manner of records were broken at World Cup 2023, culminating in South Africa becoming the first men’s team to get their hands on a fourth title.
One of the standout features of the nail-biting 12-11 win over New Zealand at Stade de France last Saturday was Pieter-Steph du Toit’s remarkable 28 tackles.
Head coach Jacques Nienaber even joked after the match had ended that the Springboks flanker would go after a plastic bag blowing over the pitch such was his ferocity in chasing things down.
However, former World Rugby men’s 15s player of the year du Toit was far from the only individual to put his body on the defensive line time and time again throughout RWC 2023.
As a team, Wales had to put in 252 tackles in order to beat Fiji in Bordeaux in the opening round, a new men’s Rugby World Cup record, and not surprisingly their players led the tackles-made charts in the early stages.
Captain Jac Morgan and second row Will Rowlands topped the effort on that occasion and continued to tackle themselves to a standstill throughout Wales’ run to the quarter-finals.
However, the overall top tackler from RWC 2023 was Argentina’s irrepressible Marcos Kremer. At times, it felt like Kremer versus the world as he felled opponent after opponent on his way to a men’s Rugby World Cup record 92 tackles. Some effort!
Of course, RWC 2023 was as much about attack as it was defence and the final total of 325 tries scored across the board was only seven behind the all-time record of 332, set in 2003.
New Zealand’s Will Jordan was the best individual finisher at the tournament with eight, despite a false start against France in the opening match, when he picked up a yellow card instead of a try.
Jordan sat out the All Blacks’ next game against Namibia as Bundee Aki made an early charge to become the first centre to become the tournament’s top try-scorer outright.
But braces in big wins over Italy and Uruguay followed by a try against Ireland and then a semi-final hat-trick against Argentina put Jordan clear.
In scoring eight tries, Jordan joined All Blacks greats Jonah Lomu and Julian Savea and Springboks legend Bryan Habana in achieving the feat at a single tournament.
Unfortunately for Jordan, he had very few opportunities in the final to set a new record all of his own.
New Rugby World player of the year Ardie Savea and double Rugby World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi were all smiles for the cameras in Paris on Sunday night, even sharing a warm embrace after they paired up for an interview. #RWC2023 #Springboks #WorldRugbyAwards pic.twitter.com/eV6b37OWCU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 29, 2023
Farrell makes up for lost time
Another player who was up against it at the start but came good was Owen Farrell. The England captain missed the first two games due to suspension yet still pipped France’s metronomic kicker, Thomas Ramos, by a point in the race to finish as the tournament’s top point-scorer.
Ramos scored 74 points for his team and might have become the third Frenchman after Thierry Lacroix in 1995 and Frederic Michalak in 2003 to reach three figures at a men’s Rugby World Cup had Les Bleus gone all the way instead of suffering a quarter-final exit.
While Ramos’ total included a try, all of Farrell’s 75 points – just over a third of England’s total – came from kicks. He becomes only the second Englishman after Jonny Wilkinson in 2003 to finish as the top point-scorer at a tournament.
In terms of runs, no one took it to the opposition more than Ardie Savea, the newly-crowned World Rugby men’s 15s player of the year. Number eight Savea carried the ball 82 times, one more than Ireland’s Bundee Aki, and collected two player of the match awards along the way.
While the injection of talent under the new birthright transfer process did not help the likes of Tonga and Samoa progress as much as they had hoped, there were still some fine individual performances.
Tonga’s full-back Salesi Piutau still used the game’s greatest stage to show off his skills; the former All Black was only equalled by France captain Antoine Dupont in pulling off 10 offloads.
Dupont’s France teammate Damian Penaud was king of the clean breaks with 13, one more than Jordan, while the best breakdown steal exponents were Samoa’s Fritz Lee and Manuel Ardao with seven.
Ardao not only stole the ball but also the headlines when he pulled off four – a tournament match record at a men’s Rugby World Cup – in Los Teros’ Pool A game against Italy.
- Click here for a full statistical review of Rugby World Cup 2023
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments