The official website for the 2019 Rugby World Cup has provided match statistics for all games played in the group and knockout stages (link). The data are for the games and the teams involved. I have used these data to create median profiles for New Zealand, England, South Africa and Wales.
Throughout the tournament I have been interested in the mobility of teams and have used two ratios to monitor this: passes:kicks and lineouts:scrums. At the moment, my medians for passes:kicks and lineouts:scrums are 4.55 and 1.79 respectively. My data for the four semi finalists are:
It will be interesting to observe how the four teams negotiate their tournament performances in the semi finals and how they deal with mobility in their games.
Discipline will play an important part in both games. So far in the tournament the teams’ profiles for penalties and free kicks conceded are:
The teams’ pass:kick ratios are:
The teams’ lineout:scrum ratios are:
These data indicate how close the teams are in their profiles. In the New Zealand v England game it will be interesting to see how New Zealand mobilise the game and how England manage the set piece game as a platform for attack. The South Africa v Wales game seems to me to be about how each team deals with passing and kicking. To date, they have emerged with the same two ratios in the tournament.
It will be fascinating to observe the processes all four teams go through to be true to themselves and produce game-winning outcomes. The games will be officiated by Nigel Owens and Jerome Garces.
Photo Credit
England v New Zealand Lineout (RWC2019)
