Resets - 2006 vs 2007
On Good Friday a commentator on the match between the Blues and the Cheetahs, lamenting the regularly disintegrating scrums, bet that things were better in 2006, before the change in scrum procedure that is. This led us to compare the two years.
We published the comparison on Friday after adding up the relevant figures.
It may well have been only coincidence but there was further comment along the same lines when the Crusaders played the Force.
The conversation early in the match went as follows:
Murray Mexted: Interesting looking at the stats of scrums so far in the Super 14. I see there are less scrums this year that have collapsed and less scrum penalties than last. Quite extraordinary statistics, aren’t they?
Tony Johnson (getting increasingly forceful): You’ve pushed a wrong button there, Murray. I can’t believe that. I just don’t believe it. I think they’re messing with the stats. I think they’re trying to justify a law change that didn’t need to be made.”
What Mexted said reflected what our stats had suggested – a lower percentage of reset scrums and a lower percentage of penalties.
To find out if Johnson was referring to our statistics because there is a hint that there is dishonest dealing in stats, we asked him if he was referring to our stats. He said he was not. And so we accept that there was just coincidence. In case anybody may be doubtful of what we did, it may be a good idea to lay it out.
First, we do not belong to any “they”. We are not trying to justify any law change, nor have we taken a position on the current procedure. All we have done is record things like resets, free kicks and penalties at scrums.
We have been doing this since 2000. I have been doing it – Paul Dobson. In that time I have watched every minute of every Super rugby match, Tri-Nations match and Six Nations match and many other matches besides – which may suggest a lack of imagination and ambition and so on. When I started, nobody else was recording such things.
At those matches I have recorded statistics, including the scrums. Each time a scrum has been reset, I have recorded it. If a scrum was reset more than once, I have counted each reset. Some scrums have had more resets than scrums awarded!
When the Blues played the Cheetahs, 15 scrums were awarded which produced 11 resets, three free kicks and a penalty. Five scrums got through unscathed – in that they were not reset, free-kicked or penalised.
I am not claiming infallibility at all. But I have tried to concentrate and get things write, including the sums. Last Friday I just added up the scrum resets, free kicks and penalties of the first nine rounds of Super 14 rugby in 2006 and 2007, not really sure of what the totals would produce and then recorded the findings.
As far as I was concerned my findings were based on facts, not belief. There may have been unwitting errors but no attempt at all to manipulate the figures.
So Tony Johnson, whose commentating and attitude to rugby I admire, and I had an amiable conversation about it.
I have recorded below that additional totals after this weekend – a sad one. It follows the injury to the neck of Brendan Cannon in the match between the Crusaders and the Force. That emphasised the danger of collapsed scrums. It is far beyond the damage done to the game as a spectacle. There is the potential for serious damage to the player. It would, at the same time, be wrong to look at the change in the engagement procedure for the injury to Cannon. In fact the smaller [percentage of collapsed scrums may be reducing the danger of damage.
There have been fewer scrums in 2007.
In 2006 there were virtually two words of command in setting a scrum – Crouch’nhold – Engage!
In 2007 there are four distinct words – Crouch Touch Pause Engage!
1. Resets
The reset figures do not include wheeled scrums.
In the first week of Super 14 2006, 62 scrums out of 136 were reset – 45%
In the first week of Super 14 2007, 41 scrums out of 134 were reset – 30%
In the second week of Super 14 2006, 41 scrums were reset out of 129 – 32%
In the second week of Super 14 2007, 37 scrums were reset out of 128 – 29%
In the third week of Super 14 2006, 56 scrums were reset out of 158 – 35%
In the third week of Super 14 2007, 35 scrums were reset out of 146 – 24%
In the fourth week of Super 14 2006, 40 scrums were reset out of 128 – 31%
In the fourth week of Super 14 2007, 32 scrums were reset out of 107 – 30%
In the fifth week of Super 14 2006, 56 scrums were reset out of 131 – 43%
In the fifth week of Super 14 2007, 54 scrums were reset out of 146 – 37%
In the sixth week of Super 14 2006, 45 scrums were reset out of 140 – 32%
In the sixth week of Super 14 2007, 45 scrums were reset out of 127 – 35%
In the seventh week of Super 14 2006, 29 scrums were reset out of 127 – 23%
In the seventh week of Super 14 2007, 49 scrums were reset out of 130 – 38%
In the eighth week of Super 14 2006, 39 scrums were reset out of 133 – 29%
In the eighth week of Super 14 2007, 49 scrums were reset out of 119 – 41%
In the ninth week of Super 14 2006, 37 scrums were reset out of 126 – 29%
In the ninth week of Super 14 2007, 33 scrums were reset out of 107 – 31%
In the tenth week of Super 14 2006, 44 scrums were reset out of 140 – 31%
In the tenth week of Super 14 2007, 45 scrums were reset out of 109 – 41%
Totals:
2006: 453 rests in 1348 scrums = 34%
2007: 390 rests in 1253 scrums = 31%
The number of free kicks at scrums:
2006
Week 1: 11
Week 2: 16
Week 3: 13
Week 4: 4
Week 5: 14
Week 6: 19
Week 7: 7
Week 8: 6
Week 9: 13
Week 10: 9
Total: 112
% scrums: 8,3
2007
Week 1: 2
Week 2: 6
Week 3: 13
Week 4: 13
Week 5: 11
Week 6: 10
Week 7: 8
Week 8: 10
Week 9: 7
Week 10: 13
Total: 93
% scrums: 7,4
The number of penalties at scrums:
2006
Week 1: 9
Week 2: 9
Week 3: 7
Week 4: 5
Week 5: 8
Week 6: 6
Week 7: 7
Week 8: 4
Week 9: 2
Week 10: 6
Total: 63
% scrums: 4,7
2007
Week 1: 6
Week 2: 8
Week 3: 15
Week 4: 10
Week 5: 8
Week 6: 7
Week 7: 14
Week 8: 7
Week 9: 5
Week 10: 3
Total: 83
% scrums: 6,6
