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Opening weekend stats put spotlight on the try-less England attack
England have been cock-a-hoop since Saturday’s reputation-restoring Rugby World Cup win over Argentina – but some stats from that 14-man, 27-10 victory in Marseille still leave much to be desired about the calibre of their attack and their ruck speed.
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George Ford scored all 27 points for Steve Borthwick’s side, who has lost Tom Curry to a third-minute red card, adding six penalty kicks to his 10-minute first-half drop goal hat-trick to settle the opening weekend fixture in England’s favour without them needing to score a single try.
England’s inability to get over the line was a hot topic during the Summer Nations Series build-up.
Having finished the Guinness Six Nations series with just a single try in each of the games against France and Ireland, they scored just one try per game versus Wales (twice) and Ireland before scoring three tries against Fiji.
That left them with a total of eight tries in six matches, on average a try every 60 minutes. They did manage, though, to break their duck regarding a lack of tries scored by their backs.
Before Jonny May’s ninth-minute effort against the Fijians, England had to go back to their late February Six Nations win in Wales for a try scored by a back, Ollie Lawrence’s 75th-minute effort.
England’s issues with scoring tries persisted in Marseille, but that shortcoming was largely forgotten amid the hoopla of the manner of their heroic win – being a man down for 77 minutes of a fixture they came into as underdogs.
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However, statistics provided on all 16 teams following the opening weekend fixtures have now laid bare how blunt the England attack continued to be. Here are some of the negative stats:
- Only Romania made fewer carries (73);
- Joint fewest metres made with Scotland (230);
- Fewest linebreaks with just one;
- Only Romania made fewer offloads (two – both from Alex Mitchell);
- Only Georgia had a lower collision dominance in their attacking carries (19 per cent), just 10 of their 52 carries in contact;
- England were 11th for gainline success (44 per cent);
- Third-slowest average ruck speed of any team (4.75 seconds) and the most rucks longer than five seconds (33 per cent);
- Had the fewest phases inside the opposition 22 (6).
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though, as there were other round one statistics where England fared much better:
- Joint-highest positive outcomes from their possessions with Wales (83 per cent), second-fewest turnovers lost (7);
- Scored the joint-most points from outside the 22 (without entering it at all) with France (15);
- Fifth-best red-zone efficiency with 2.40 points per entry
- Won the second-most scrums overall (eight) but only Argentina and Scotland with a worse success (80 per cent).
Click here to see the opening weekend statistical review on all 16 teams who were in action
Comments on RugbyPass
Like many here I am encouraged by this post. Our forwards are where the real rewards and improvements must come from. With a 50/50 pack against any opposition, our backs could ensure more than 50% of the games will be won. We need Valetini at 6 and Cale at 8 to make the most or a good tight 5, McWright will add to the effectiveness of the pack BUT must get a very good tight 5 out there first.
97 Go to commentsThe key point I think that is missing is that if Joseph wants to guarantee a Lions spot, he really has to play wing in his first year. He is easily going to nail down whatever he wants to do, but with just half a season, how much of a factor he proves to be in the Lions series could be dictated by this initial choice of playing position.
8 Go to commentsthe game was 2 weeks before the challenge cup final. I really don’t believe they needed to rest that many players.
1 Go to commentsI really feel like neither of the Vunipolas is given the respect they deserve. I would have liked to see both of them get a few more caps than they have gotten in the past couple of years, but unfortunately the fact that they both peaked young has meant that for a number of years they have been perceived as disappointments. When they are both retired, in the cold light of day they will be recognised as two of the best players of their generation of any nation.
2 Go to commentsthis generation of saracens players could produce some really incredible coaches. When Farrell retires he could walk into any premiership team as a defence, attack, or kicking coach. Itoje could make it as a defence or a lineout coach, and Jamie George as a lineout or scrum coach. The problem the Vunipolas are going to have is that its not clear what their coaching speciality would be. Neither are great in the set piece, and while they were good in attack and defence, they were never tactical masterminds. Perhaps contact skills would be their ideal brief? Mako perhaps could work in strength & conditioning, but Billy has a bit of a reputation for not taking that side of the game seriously.
2 Go to commentsA very good player.We are finally getting some balance in our team. Plummer..Heem ..Lam a solid..experienced combo who take the sensible options consistently. Clarke was a grt impact of the bench option until Lam moved to 13 to replace an injured Reiko. Cotter is doing a grt job building his team. .
1 Go to commentsSaturday was last straw. Terrible record in Premiership since Jan 23. Capitulation against Bath at home. There are 3 conclusions. Players aren't good enough. Coaching team aren't good enough or combination of both.
2 Go to commentsAs you say in your article Brett, the point was Hamish and his vanity - plain and simple. The crazy bit is that sua’ali’i has to be probably twice the player of mark N, no easy feat, just for RA to get their money's worth!?! And as you say, tahs aren't short of wingers, props on the other hand id like to see $1.6m spent on. I still shake my head at the absolute carry on in the media and comments section around the boon of getting sua’ali’i and the revenue it'd generate. It was all such hogwash imo and short sighted, real sugar hit stuff. And wasnt Waugh (and others) on the board at the time this money was spent? You say silver bullet, I'd say sugar hit but without the flavour.
8 Go to commentsNZR should play hard all a bit with some of these players and make them sign up to the next world cup. If they won’t, offer it to someone who will. Because what happens is the NH (especially France) swoop on a bunch of nz players coming off contract, weakening their depth, and nz scrambles less than 2 years out trying to get replacements up to speed.
1 Go to commentsNo thanks. Savea almost always leaves easy points out there and goes for the corner, no matter how many times it’s not working. He claimed he took “the learnings” from this when he kept making the same mistake against the Boks a few years ago. Then went out the very next week and did the same thing and SA snatched victory because of it. Years later he still does it, right up to and including the world cup final. Great player, not so great rugby nous.
10 Go to commentsIt certainly wasn't a rhetorical masterpiece coming from big E …. (just as a side remark: Eben is the better player, Siya by far the better talker - maybe that's why they don't seem to like each other very much) …. but could we please move on?
63 Go to commentsMan who wasn't there and hasn't held a conversation with those who were present weighs in on dead rubber debate and is presented as representative of the Irish Rugby Union’s spokesperson on subject he has no apparent knowledge of whatsoever.
63 Go to commentsanybody who bends at the waist when they tackle
4 Go to commentsThe evidence is not strong that this is necessary. Mounga choked on clutch kicks in the WRC final and lost the match by not performing his core goal kicking role to the level required. He also choked in the Semi final against England and was targeted as the weak point in the defence allowing them to score. Not a test great frankly. Why bend the rules for a player that is competent but not brilliant at test level?
11 Go to commentsDear Robbie, Please return to the Crusaders next season. Sincerely, Scott
1 Go to commentsDid the big E call the Irish the ‘White Can’ts’? That would’ve been good
63 Go to commentsDalton Papalii will be lucky to be selected on the Matchday 23. Ardie Savea, Ethan Blackadder, Luke Jacobson, and Peter Lauki are all as good or better openside flankers
10 Go to commentsScott Barrett is a lock and they have a much longer shelf life than a loose forward. Far more likely that Barrett will still demand a starting position based on performance at age 33 at RWC 2027 than Savea, whose explosive athleticism will have declined and he will in all likelihood have been surpassed by Hoskins Sotutu, Wallace Siti, Peter Lauki and Brayden Iose.
10 Go to commentsExtremely frustrating to get yet more speculation over whether or not Eben actually counted 12 players or not, but honestly big respect to McCloskey for keeping it classy and not pointing out Etzebeth’s hypocrisy. The Irish are a popular team outside of Ireland because they do their talking on the pitch, and its honestly a PR masterclass that they’re keeping it that way following Etzebeth’s provocation.
63 Go to commentsGood option for the lineout lost there.
1 Go to comments