STAT ATTACK: Some revealing numbers from Le Crunch
ANALYSES: South Africa outscored France by four tries to three on their way to a famous 29-28 World Cup quarterfinal win at Stade de France in Paris this past weekend.
However, it begs the question: Did the Springboks play a more attacking game than Le Bleus?
We take a look at some of the most revealing numbers from the quarterfinal!
The Boks spent the lowest amount of time in the opposition 22, despite not having the fewest entries.
Also, they did not have the best red-zone efficiency of the quarterfinal weekend, but, crucially, it was significantly better than France’s.
It is said that ‘red zone efficiency’ is where games are won and lost.
France had more entries, nearly double the time spent and phases played, but efficiency were just not high enough to convert all that pressure into points.
It has to be said that very rarely do you win games with a worse efficiency than your opposition.
Also, significantly, it was the first time the Boks achieved 100 percent success in scrum and line-out.
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If we look at some individual numbers, Franco Mostert made the most tackles of anyone on the pitch (14).
He didn’t miss a single tackle and did it all in the 17 minutes the ball was in play during his time on the pitch.
For France Antoine Dupont made the most carries of any player on the pitch (17), beat four defenders and made one linebreak from them.
He had is hands on the ball 102 times in the game, with the next highest of any player on the pitch was 33 from Faf de Klerk.
Cheslin Kolbe made the joint-highest carries for SA, with just seven, tied with Pieter-Steph du Toit.
However, Kolbe made 126 metres from them, 49 more than the next most in the game, Peato Mauvaka.
Kolbe also beat five defenders, the most of any South African player.
Damian de Allende beat four defenders, so between those two players, they accounted for nine out of 12 of France’s missed tackles (or South African’s defenders beaten).
* Picture credit: @rugbyworldcup
