Statistics: Tri-Nations, Week 5

It was all turnaround in Auckland when New Zealand, well beaten the week before, ran out winners against Australia this week.

Sanctions

There was none though George Smith may have been fortunate not to collect one for a high tackle on Conrad Smith – benefit of the doubt decision.

Cards

Victor Matfield (South Africa) – high tackle
Brad Thorn (New Zealand) – high tackle

Citing with suspension

Brad Thorn (Australia) – an act contrary to good sportsmanship, suspended for a week.
Bismarck du Plessis (South Africa) –  contact with the eyes or eye area, suspended for three weeks

Penalties conceded

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

* = points conceded

New Zealand vs Australia

Total number of penalties: 12

New Zealand: 5
Australia: 7

The reasons for the penalties were as follows:

New Zealand:

Tackle: 2 (So’oialo*, Williams)
Off-side: 1 (So’oialo)
Scrim: 1 (Woodcock)
Discipline: 1 (Kaino- man without ball)

Australia:

Tackle: 3 (Smith***)
Off-side: 1 (Vickerman*)
Scrum: 1 (Baxter)
Discipline: 2 (Palu – air tackle; Smith* – high tackle)

Neither side missed a penalty kick at goal.

Free kicks conceded:

New Zealand: 8 (7 tackles, 1 line-out)
Australia: 8 (5 tackles, 1 scrum, 1 line-out)

Of the free kicks, three were turned into scrums.

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.

New Zealand:

Line-outs: 10 (2 free kicks)
Scrums: 8 (6 resets, 9 collapses, 1 penalty, 1 free kick)
Drop-outs: 2

Australia:

Line-outs: 24 (8 lost, 1 skew, 1 quick, 1 free kick)
Scrums: 3 (1 reset, 3 collapses, 1 penalty)
Drop-outs: 2

Yet again there were many collapsed scrums.

In the first Tri-Nations match, between New Zealand and South Africa, the scrums were 23, 2 resets, 3 collapses.
In the second Tri-Nations match, between New Zealand and South Africa, the scrums were 13, 1 resets, 3 collapses.
In the third Tri-Nations match, between Australia and South Africa,  the scrums were 23, 10 reset, 16 collapses.
In the fourth Tri-Nations match, between Australia and New Zealand,  the scrums were 16, 6 reset, 13 collapses.
In the fifth Tri-Nations match, between New Zealand and Australia, the scrums were 11, 7 resets, 12 collapses.

In matches involving only New Zealand and Australia, there were 36 scrums, 3 resets and 6 collapses.
In matches involving Australia, there were 50 scrums, 23 resets and 41 collapses.

This is ridiculous.

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

New Zealand vs Australia: 81

Stoppages in the Tri-Nations matches:

New Zealand vs South Africa (i): 81
New Zealand vs South Africa (ii): 71
Australia vs South Africa (i): 82
Australia vs New Zealand (i): 65
New Zealand vs Australia: 81

Tries

This is the number of tries each team scored.

New Zealand vs Australia: 5

New Zealand: 4
Australia: 1

Tries/penalties scored

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

New Zealand: 4/5
Australia: 1/1

The ratio of tries scored to penalties goaled is 5/6

In the first Test of the Tri-Nations the ratio was 2/5
In the second Test of the Tri-Nations the ratio was 3/11
In the third Test of the Tri-Nations the ratio was 2/4
In the fourth Test of the Tri-Nations the ratio was 7/1
In the fifth Test of the Tri-Nations the ratio was 5/6