Basic Stats iro the Round Robin games played thus far in the WC

The following from News 24:-

As the Springboks prepare for their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against hosts Japan in Tokyo on Sunday, they do so in the knowledge they are leading the way in terms of attack at the 2019 showpiece so far. 

A quick look at the four pool logs reveals that the Boks scored more tries than any other side throughout the group stages of the competition. 

The Boks crossed the whitewash 27 times over their four matches in the group stages, with New Zealand (22) coming in second and Australia (20) third. 

New Zealand, of course, had their final group game against Italy this past weekend cancelled due to Typhoon Hagibis and would've been expected to score several tries in the match.

The Boks have, unsurprisingly, also scored the most points in the tournament so far with 185 with New Zealand on 157 and Australia and Wales tied on 136. 

In terms of defence, England have conceded the least number of points in the tournament - 20 - although they also played a game fewer with their final fixture against France also falling foul of the Super Typhoon that hit Japan. 

New Zealand have conceded just 22 points, Ireland 27 and the Springboks 36. 

In terms of individual statistics, Japanese flyhalf Yu Tamura is the leading points scorer in the tournament so far with 48 followed by Uruguayan playmaker Felipe Berchesi (30) and South Africa's Elton Jantjies (28). 

Wales' Josh Williams and Japan's Kotaro Matsushima, meanwhile, top the try scoring charts with 5 apiece. 

So here we have a situation where the Springboks will be cut to pieces by our dear member Liza Page,   He will try to prove that the Springboks attacking play is really deficient and they are poor defenders as well.   He would lose sight of the fact that the first Pool match involving SA was against the AB's and that De Allende and Du Toit contributed to the loss, in that game because they caused the missed tackle by Mostert prior to the scoring of the one AB try,   Incidentally in the four games SA conceded 36 points - 23 of those against the AB's in their first game.   In the other three games they gave away a total of 13 points only, 

Compared to some of the other teams the Springbok selection covered all 31 squad members and the individual players got through the Round Robin stage with relatively low playing hours.   With rare exceptions the players play circa  160 minutes in games played thus far,  Only Willemse - who joined the squad late played 80 minutes,    Unlike what happened in 2015 the players were not overplayed in the present series, as there were no unplayable players in the squad  this time around,               

These numbers have anecdotal value only (playing three minnows in a row ain't gonna tell you much about anything, plus three top tier teams have missed a match so how much is England's least points conceded number really worth, for example?).

All that matters now is winning three game s in a row by hook or by crook.

To be expected from Comey.   It is meaningless according to his roy al arse dimness

Dup

Royal arse dimness? At least try to insult me with something that makes sense, ou Mike. But here are some other random combinations of an adjective relating to status, a body part and an indication of being mentally challenged for your future use:

Princely knee retard
Lowborn shoulder dope
Lofty dick fool
Regal big toe halfwit
Renowned bellybutton pea-brain
Illustrious earlobe moron

Feel free to use them at your convenience. You're welcome.

Comey

Why don't you look what happened in 2015 compared to what happened this year.  Try and compare and see what happened and then make a comparison and not just dismiss the item as if it i s total BS?

I'm sorry, I didn't know we were still stuck comparing 2015 to 2019. Is the 2015 team also in the RWC2019 race, or why is this of any significance with regards to our chances of winning the WC this year?

We scored 176 points in the pool stages in 2015, this year we scored 185. We scored 23 tries (and a penalty try, not sure if that is included or excluded) in 2015, this year 27. We didn't face the All Blacks in 2015 in the pools, but we faced Samoa and the USA, both arguably stronger competition than Namibia and Canada.

So what does that tell us in terms of our chances of winning the WC in 2019? Nothing.

We in 2015 lost against Japan  in 2015 and against the AB's in 2019  - is that comparable?  So we leave out Italy in your discussion and rather compare Namibia and Canada,  and compare the  two which may be of interest to you because you refuse to compare apples with apples,   

Anyway any discussion with you on rugby issues is hopeless  since you and co are interested in only promoting Meyer as a coach and going for Erasmus as a flop.  You also refuse to recognize the serious selection flop that allow for no rest for key players and causing problems in the play-off stage of the 2015 tournament - while 8 players were in fact unplayable and should never have been in the squad in the first instance.  .  

So it tells us at least that the players going into the play-offs are not tired and overplayed like they were in 2015.   That is an advantage for the team going into the play-offs in 2019.               

Have we ascertained that player fatigue was a factor in 2015?

Here is Fourie du Preez about the Wales quarter final:

"I think around about 60 minutes I could see a few of their players were lying down," he said. "They were slowing the game down and I told the guys, 'they're out on their feet at the moment, we've got a lot of gas left, so let's keep on pushing them and we'll pull it through'."

I dunno, maybe you've got some other information on this.

Pakie, your spats with Maaik actual highlights some things I missed 4 years ago...Unckle Clever brings out some good perspectives in you...he pushes you to new hights of rugby insight! Obviously unintentional on his part, but your quest to set him straight has resulted in a few insightful gems!.

Well done Pakie and Mike!

Maaik, although I don't like how rude you are to my friend Pakie, your actions do seem to bring out the best of him...well done!

By the time the Springboks got to the quarterfinals in 2015 - most of the players have already played at least 320 minutes game time - this time around only Am had about 220 minutes, while the rest has 160 minutes or less playing time.   That makes a huge difference to what could happen from here on.   

I was really amazed that the Springboks won the quarterfinal in 2015,   Eight minutes out they were trailing Wales by 3 points and not looking all that good in catching up.   But they did and the Springboks went through to the semi where they could not win because of the repetitive game plan used,  With that type of nonsense there was no chance of the Springboks winning anything.  

My own assessment is with proper team selection neutralizing the high pace ball game of the Japanese, the Springboks will beat the Japanese and go through to the semi  where some of the slower players may be on the bench,

I think that the French may surprise the Welsh - they have a much better WC record than the Welsh.         

Mike, we came very close to beating NZ in the 2015 semifinals...probably the best NZ team ever. I was no Meyer fan and I agree that he overplayed his players, but he took a very competitive team to the RWC...and almost won it...no stooge at all.

Thanks Draad, we slog on

I was at the Japan, Wales and NZ games in 2015. 

Japan deserved to win. We underestimated them and their game plan. I honestly don't think anyone bar NZ and maybe OZ would have a plan B or C to counter them.

The Wales game was tight and we just couldn't get a foothold. Fourie du Preez saved that one for us along with the forwards in the last 20 min.

We had the NZ  number for 40 min. NZ stayed out at half time and mixed up the game plan  Ultimatelyin the second 40. You just can't escape poor defence down the blind side or in the midfield.

Even with the players that should not be there this year , if we don't make it to the final this year we only have ourselves to blame.

Yes Maaik, the Frogs might surprise...another "Mutiny on the Bounty" in progress?...last time it happened, they were in the finals and almost won. Weird bunch.