{"209":{"title":"Six Nations","uri":"six-nations","id":"108","oid":"209","order":0,"hasData":1},"210":{"title":"Rugby World Cup","uri":"rugby-world-cup","id":"111","oid":"210","order":1,"hasData":1},"3":{"title":"International","uri":"internationals","id":"107","oid":"3","order":3,"hasData":1},"201":{"title":"Gallagher Premiership","uri":"premiership","id":"101","oid":"201","order":4,"hasData":1},"204":{"title":"United Rugby Championship","uri":"united-rugby-championship","id":"138","oid":"204","order":5,"hasData":1},"203":{"title":"TOP 14","uri":"top-14","id":"102","oid":"203","order":6,"hasData":1},"217":{"title":"U20 Six Nations","uri":"u20-six-nations","id":"217","oid":"217","order":7,"hasData":1},"211":{"title":"Pro D2","uri":"pro-d2","id":"119","oid":"211","order":8,"hasData":1},"208":{"title":"Bunnings NPC","uri":"bunnings-npc","id":"105","oid":"208","order":9,"hasData":1},"242":{"title":"Investec Champions Cup","uri":"european-champions-cup","id":"110","oid":"242","order":10,"hasData":1},"243":{"title":"Challenge Cup","uri":"challenge-cup","id":"118","oid":"243","order":11,"hasData":1},"340":{"title":"PWR","uri":"premiership-womens-rugby","id":"127","oid":"340","order":12,"hasData":1},"205":{"title":"Super Rugby Pacific","uri":"super-rugby","id":"104","oid":"205","order":13,"hasData":1},"207":{"title":"Currie Cup","uri":"currie-cup","id":"106","oid":"207","order":14,"hasData":1},"248":{"title":"Women's Six Nations","uri":"womens-six-nations","id":"125","oid":"248","order":16,"hasData":1},"274":{"title":"Women's Internationals","uri":"womens-internationals","id":"274","oid":"274","order":17,"hasData":1},"249":{"title":"Women's Rugby World Cup","uri":"womens-rugby-world-cup","id":"126","oid":"249","order":18,"hasData":1},"365":{"title":"Autumn Nations Series","uri":"autumn-nations-series","id":"124","oid":"365","order":19,"hasData":1},"2000":{"title":"Nations Championship","uri":"nations-championship","id":"2000","oid":"2000","order":20,"hasData":1},"1":{"title":"Rugby Hybrid Friendlies","uri":"rugby-hybrid-friendlies","id":"1","oid":"1","order":21,"hasData":1},"269":{"title":"Rugby Europe Championship","uri":"rugby-europe-championship","id":"269","oid":"269","order":22,"hasData":1},"221":{"title":"British & Irish Lions 2025","uri":"british-irish-lions","id":"113","oid":"221","order":23,"hasData":1},"214":{"title":"The Rugby Championship","uri":"the-rugby-championship","id":"109","oid":"214","order":24,"hasData":1},"141":{"title":"Super Rugby Pacific","uri":"super-rugby-pacific","id":"141","oid":"141","order":25,"hasData":1},"216":{"title":"World Rugby Junior World Championship","uri":"world-rugby-u20-championship","id":"216","oid":"216","order":25,"hasData":1},"219":{"title":"Pacific Nations Cup","uri":"pacific-nations-cup","id":"219","oid":"219","order":26,"hasData":1},"120":{"title":"Pacific Four Series","uri":"pacific-four-series","id":"120","oid":"120","order":27,"hasData":1},"862":{"title":"WXV 1","uri":"wxv-1","id":"862","oid":"862","order":29,"hasData":1},"863":{"title":"WXV 2","uri":"wxv-2","id":"863","oid":"863","order":30,"hasData":1},"864":{"title":"WXV 3","uri":"wxv-3","id":"864","oid":"864","order":31,"hasData":1},"151":{"title":"Major League Rugby","uri":"major-league-rugby","id":"131","oid":"151","order":32,"hasData":1},"116":{"title":"Premiership Cup","uri":"premiership-cup","id":"116","oid":"116","order":34,"hasData":1}}

RWC, Day 8, Statistics

The days started with two thrillers when Fiji beat Canada, which was perhaps a surprise, and Tonga beat Samoa, which was a surprise. After all Canada had done well in defeat against Wales and Samoa had done well in defeat against South Africa. The match between Namibia and France was a mismatch, made more so when Namibia were reduced to 14 men.

We give some Rugby World Cup stats accumulatively.

We shall also discuss some incidents, probably in conjunction with other matches played over this weekend..

Sanctionary Cards

Carl Hayman of New Zealand became the first recipient of a yellow card. He was not the only one.

Tonga were the ones with a disciplinary problem. Two players were yellow-carded and Kale T Pole was red-carded after his third act of foul play in the second half. Tonga ended the match with 13 players but playing with great determination.

Namibia also suffered a red card and had to play for 60 minutes with 14 men.

Both T Pole and Nieuwenhuis had been warned about their conduct but obviously were more concerned about their personal activities than what the referee had to say or the needs of their team-mates. They seemed on some suicide mission.

Recipients of red cards so far

Hale T Pole (Tonga) – foul play
Jacques Nieuwenhuis (Namibia) – dangerous tackle

Recipients of yellow cards so far

Carl Hayman (New Zealand) – punching
Salvatore Perugini (Italy) – air tackle
Vahafolau Esikia (USA) – tackle infringement
Lawrence Dallaglio (England) – tackle infringement
Paul Emerick (USA) – dangerous tackle
Jo?o Uva (Portugal) – tackle infringement
Vilimoni Delasau (Fiji) – dangerous tackle
Alexandru Manta (Romania) – maul infringement
Drew Mitchell (Australia) – dangerous tackle
Nathan Sharpe (Australia) – tackle infringement
David Wallace (Ireland) – deliberate knock-on
Epeli Taione (Tonga) – tackle infringement
Toma Toke (Tonga) – dangerous tackle

Citing with suspension

Phil Vickery (England) – trip, suspended for two weeks
Paul Emerick (USA) – dangerous tackle, suspended for five weeks
Schalk Burger (South Africa) – dangerous tackle, suspended for four weeks
Alfie Vaeluaga (Samoa) – dangerous tackle, suspended for one week.
Juan Severino Somoza (Portugal) – head-butting, four weeks

Canada vs Fiji

Penalties conceded

In this section we record the times a team was penalised.

Total number of penalties: 20

Canada: 11
Fiji: 10

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

* = points conceded

Canada:

Tackle/ruck: 6 (James 2, Pyke 2, Thiel, Riordan)
Off-side: 2 (Biddle 2)
Discipline: 3 (Cudmore – dissent; Riordan – obstruction; Williams – man without ball; )

Fiji:

Tackle/ruck: 3 (Qera, Neivua, Koyamaibole)
Off-side: 2 (Neivua*, Bai*)
Discipline: 5 (Delasau – high tackle; Koyamaibole – obstruction; Dewes – collapsing maul; Rawaqa – collapsing maul; Talei – man without ball)

Canada missed two kicks at goal, Fiji one.

Tackles/Penalties

This gives the number of penalties at ruck/tackle as a fraction of the total number of penalties: 9/21

Canada vs Fiji:

Getting possession – line-outs, scrums, free-kicks, drop-outs, turn-overs

In this section the figures represent the number of times you get to play with the ball.

Canada vs Fiji

Canada:

Line-outs: 16 (4 lost, 1 quick, 1 free kick)
Scrums: 8
Free-kicks: 2 (line-outs)
Drop-outs: 2

Fiji:

Line-outs: 16 (4 lost, 1 skew)
Scrums: 8 (2 reset, 1 penalty, 1 free kick)
Free-kicks: 3 (marks)
Drop-outs: 1

Stoppages (total of line-outs, scrums with resets, free kicks, penalties, drop-outs):

Canada vs Fiji: 79

Tries

This is the number of tries each team scored.

Canada vs Fiji:

Canada: 1
Fiji: 4

Tries/penalties scored

This gives the ratio of tries scored to penalties scored by each team:

Canada: 1/3
Fiji: 4/1

(ii) Samoa vs Tonga

Total number of penalties: 22

Samoa: 12
Tonga: 10

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

* = points conceded

Samoa:

Tackle/ruck: 8 (Ulia 2, Schwalger* 2, Sititi, Williams*, Tuilagi, Thompson)
Off-side: 2 (Ulia* 2)
Discipline: 2 (Tekori – collapsing maul; Johnston – + 10)

Tonga:

Tackle/ruck: 4 (Latu*, Vaka*, Taufa, Taione)
Discipline: 6 (Maka – collapsing maul; Afeaki – foul play; T Pole – foul play; T Pole – dangerous tackle; T Pole – foul play; Toke – dangerous tackle)

Each side missed a penalty kick at goal.

This gives the number of penalties at ruck/tackle as a fraction of the total number of penalties:

Samoa vs Tonga: 12/22

The number of penalties for disciplinary offences was high.

Getting possession – line-outs, scrums, free-kicks, drop-outs, turn-overs

In this section the figures represent the number of times you get to play with the ball.

Samoa vs Tonga

Samoa:

Line-outs: 24 (2 skew)
Scrums: 5 (4 reset, 2 collapses)
Free-kicks: 1 (mark)
Drop-outs: 1

Tonga:

Line-outs: 16 (4 lost, 1 skew)
Scrums: 9 (2 reset, 4 collapses, 1 free kick, 1 lost)
Free-kicks: 4 (1 scrum, 3 marks)
Drop-outs: 1

Stoppages (total of line-outs, scrums with resets, free kicks, penalties, drop-outs):

Samoa vs Tonga: 90

Tries

This is the number of tries each team scored.

Samoa vs Tonga:

Samoa: 0
Tonga: 1

Tries/penalties scored

This gives the ratio of tries scored to penalties scored by each team:

Samoa: 0/5
Tonga: 1/4

(iii) France vs Namibia

Total number of penalties: 9

France: 4
Namibia: 5

This is the lowest penalty count so far in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

* = points conceded

France:

Tackle/ruck: 2 (Elissalde, Clerc)
Discipline: 2 (Chabal – collapsing maul; Pelous – obstruction)

Namibia:

Tackle/ruck: 2 (Du Toit, Bock)
Scrum: 2 (Du Toit 2)
Discipline: 2 (Nieuwenhuis – high tackle)

Namibia missed a penalty kick at goal. France did not kick a penalty at goal.

Tackles/Penalties

This gives the number of penalties at ruck/tackle as a fraction of the total number of penalties:

France vs Namibia: 4/9

Getting possession – line-outs, scrums, free-kicks, drop-outs, turn-overs

In this section the figures represent the number of times you get to play with the ball.

France vs Namibia

France:

Line-outs: 15 (1 free kick)
Scrums: 13 (4 reset, 1 collapse)
Free-kicks: 1 (line-out)
Drop-outs: 0

Namibia:

Line-outs: 9 (3 lost)
Scrums: 11 (4 reset, 2 collapses, 1 lost, 1 free kick, penalty)
Free-kicks: 2 (1 scrum, 1 mark)
Drop-outs: 0

Stoppages (total of line-outs, scrums with resets, free kicks, penalties, drop-outs):

France vs Namibia: 69

Tries

This is the number of tries each team scored.

France vs Namibia:

France: 13
Namibia: 1

Tries/penalties scored

This gives the ratio of tries scored to penalties scored by each team:

France: 13/0
Namibia: 1/0

Totals per match

Penalties

France vs Argentina: 8+ 9 = 17
New Zealand vs Italy: 3 + 8 = 11
Australia vs Japan: 6 + 6 = 12
England vs USA: 10 + 9 = 19
Wales vs Canada: 6 + 9 = 15
South Africa vs Samoa: 5 + 13 = 18
Scotland vs Portugal: 8 + 14 = 22
Ireland vs Namibia: 5 + 14 = 19
Argentina vs Georgia: 6 + 9 = 15
USA vs Tonga: 8 + 15 = 23
Fiji vs Japan: 12 + 6 = 18
Italy vs Romania: 8 + 15 = 23
England vs South Africa: 9 + 5 = 14
Portugal vs New Zealand: 10 + 5 = 15
Wales vs Australia: 5 + 11 = 16
Ireland vs Georgia: 8 + 5 = 13
Canada vs Fiji: 11 + 10 = 21
Samoa vs Tonga: 12 + 10 = 22
France vs Namibia: 4 + 5 = 9

Tries

France vs Argentina: 0 + 1 = 1
New Zealand vs Italy: 11 + 2 = 13
Australia vs Japan: 13 + 0 = 13
England vs USA: 3 + 1 = 4
Wales vs Canada: 5 + 3 = 8
South Africa vs Samoa: 8 + 1 = 9
Scotland vs Portugal: 8 + 1 = 9
Ireland vs Namibia: 5 + 2 = 7
Argentina vs Georgia: 4 + 0 = 4
USA vs Tonga: 2 + 3 = 5
Fiji vs Japan: 4 + 3 = 7
Italy vs Romania: 2 + 2 = 4
England vs South Africa: 0 + 3 = 3
Portugal vs New Zealand: 1 + 16 = 17
Wales vs Australia: 1 + 4 = 5
Ireland vs Georgia: 2 + 1 = 3
Canada vs Fiji: 1 + 4 = 5
Samoa vs Tonga: 0 + 1 = 1
France vs Namibia: 13 + 1 = 14

Stoppages

France vs Argentina: 71
New Zealand vs Italy: 58
Australia vs Japan: 60
England vs USA: 81
Wales vs Canada: 80
South Africa vs Samoa: 82
Scotland vs Portugal: 83
Ireland vs Namibia: 87
Argentina vs Georgia: 77
USA vs Tonga: 83
Fiji vs Japan: 71
Italy vs Romania: 87
England vs South Africa: 91
Portugal vs New Zealand: 72
Wales vs Australia: 79
Ireland vs Georgia: 89
Canada vs Fiji: 71
Samoa vs Tonga: 90
France vs Namibia: 69

Penalties conceded per team

Argentina: 9 + 6 = 15
Australia: 6 + 11 = 17
Canada: 9 + 11 = 20
England: 10 + 9 = 19
Fiji: 12 + 10 = 22
France: 8 + 4 = 12
Georgia: 9 + 5 = 14
Ireland: 5 + 8 = 14
Italy: 8 + 8 = 16
Japan: 6 + 6 = 12
Namibia: 14 + 5 = 19
New Zealand: 3 + 5 = 8
Portugal: 14 + 10 = 24
Romania: 15
Samoa: 13 + 12 = 25
Scotland: 8
South Africa: 5 + 5 = 10
Tonga: 13 + 10 = 23
USA: 9 + 9 = 18
Wales: 6 + 5 = 11

Tries per team

Argentina: 1 + 4 = 5
Australia: 13 + 4 = 17
Canada: 3 + 1 = 4
England: 3 + 0 = 3
Fiji: 4 + 4 = 8
France: 0 + 13 = 13
Georgia: 0 + 1 = 1
Ireland: 5 + 2 = 7
Italy: 2 + 2 = 4
Japan: 0 + 3 = 3
Namibia: 2 + 1 = 3
New Zealand: 11 + 16 = 27
Portugal: 1 + 1 = 2
Romania: 2
Samoa: 1 + 0 = 1
Scotland: 7
South Africa: 8 + 3 = 11
Tonga: 3 + 1 = 4
USA: 1
Wales: 5 + 1 = 6

ADVERTISEMENT

Join free

KOKO Show | 13 October 2026 | WALLABIES BROUGHT CRASHING BACK TO EARTH! All Blacks Deliver Bledisloe Reality Check!

What Rugby Fans Don't See: Ben O'Keeffe on Life Under Pressure | ARP Extra

What Did the All Blacks’ Big Win Prove? | Episode 35 | Aotearoa Rugby Pod

Canada v England | WXV Global Series

MLR Weekly: New England Owner Errik Anderson re expansion/future, MLR News, College Rugby Corner

Spain v South Africa | WXV Global Series 2026 | Match Highlights

Chile v Hong Kong China | U20 Challenger 2026 | Match Highlights

Belgium v Portugal | U20 Challenger 2026 | Match Highlights

Write A Comment