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All the stats you need to know ahead of the Rugby Championship
The Rugby Championship returns this weekend, as New Zealand go in search of a sixth title in seven years since the competition expanded to four nations.
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The All Blacks are the dominant force in world rugby and have barely given their southern hemisphere rivals a sniff – Australia’s victory in the truncated 2015 edition the only blot on New Zealand’s copy book since 2012.
It would take a brave person to bet against the All Blacks, who face the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday, coming out on top once more over the coming weeks and, on paper, it is theirs to lose.
At the other end of the table, Argentina will hope the appointment of Mario Ledesma can help them avoid a sixth wooden spoon in the competition. They begin their campaign against the Springboks in Durban.
Here, with the help of Opta, we take a statistical look at the opening round of fixtures.
Australia v New Zealand
The Wallabies may have got the better of the All Blacks in their most recent meeting, but they have not claimed back-to-back victories over New Zealand since 2000-01, when they beat them in three consecutive matches.
New Zealand have lost on just one of their last eight trips to ANZ Stadium and averaged more tries (6.3) than any other tier-one nation during the June Tests.
Rieko Ioane poses the biggest threat to Australia this weekend, with the winger having scored 16 tries in 16 Tests for the All Blacks, including seven in his last four matches.
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Since his debut, Ioane has scored more international tries than any other player and four more than the Wallabies’ Israel Folau, who has the second most of any tier-one player.
Folau has touched down six times in 15 matches against the All Blacks. Only four players have crossed the whitewash more often versus New Zealand – Adam Ashley-Cooper (9), David Campese (8), Bryan Habana (8) and Matt Burke (7).
15 – Michael Hooper has scored 15 tries for the @qantaswallabies, more than any other Australian forward in Test history. Strength. pic.twitter.com/jNWUkiZslk
— OptaJason (@OptaJason) August 10, 2018
South Africa v Argentina
The Springboks have lost just two of their 26 clashes with the Pumas, winning 23 of the other 24, although one of those defeats came in Durban – the venue of Saturday’s clash – in 2015.
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Kings Parks has since been the venue of South Africa’s biggest home defeat in Test rugby, when they lost 57-15 to New Zealand a year later.
But the Springboks will be on a high following their 2-1 series victory over England in June and will be further buoyed by Argentina’s run of six consecutive away defeats in the Rugby Championship.
And don’t expect Argentina to come flying out of the blocks – they were the only tier-one nation not to score a try in the opening 20 minutes of a match during the June Tests.
That said, South Africa conceded more during the same period than any other side in that month.
Willie le Roux could hold the key to the success of the Springboks’ campaign, the full-back having provided 21 try assists for Wasps in the Premiership in 2017-18 – the most recorded in a season by Opta (since 2008-09).
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
28 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
28 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
28 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.
28 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
28 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments