Complete Centre Stats for the 2012 Tests

The stats are in sequence*** Pass/Run***Metres***Clean Breaks***Defenders Beaten***Tackles Made/Missed

Jean              44/57            282                6    15          62/5               

Frans            34/49           107                1    11         28/6                 

Taute               5/20              60                 0     3          19/3             

deJongh          1/4                12                0     2            7/1           

Olivier               2/9                15                0     2            11/0           

So Jean made 6 of the 7 clean breaks in the year. His tackling percentage 93% was way higher than Fransie at 82% or Taute at 86%. And his metres per carry at 4.95 were also way higher than Fransie at 2.18 or Taute/de Jongh at 3.0.

Jean was accused of crash balling and not offloading. But he passed the ball 44% of the time it wasn't kicked. Frans passed it 41% and Taute passed it 25%.

In every sense, in a bad year for our centre play, Jean de Villiers was the one bright light. It's a pity fans can't see how he held our whole year together.

Those stats are flawed in that they do not take into account the number of tests played.

How many tests did Frans play gaining 107m versus every test of the year played by Jean.

Jean played every test and only made 6 clean breaks.

To think, Jean has played many of those tests at 12, where opportunities with ball in hand are more frequent than at 13 for a player like Taute

Moffie, I sometimes wonder why you waste yr time talking about rugby when u clearly know very little about the subject but somehow u have taken it to a new level. As clueless as u are about rugby, the one position u seem to know the least about is centre & yet here u are talking not only about rugby but specifically about centres of all things!

Take some friendly advice....... read more and write less until u learn something of the game!

Perhaps you could illustrate some of the points you want to make with your Kung fu kittens, Old Fruit. Or better yet, critique what I say above with specifics.....not vague insults. Go on then.....give us your interpretation Kitten Man.

 Frans Steyn was also playing outside the woefully out of form - Morne Steyn, combined with Frans having cankles at the time.

Jean got to combine with Goosen like in the Jburg test against Australia. 

A fit frans outside Goosen and Lambie will lead the stats next year. 

Lets get precise - the players concerned played the following number of ests  at Center:-

Steyn        -          6 (12)

De Villiers  -         5 (12)    - 7 (13)

Taute         -         3 (13)

De Jongh   -         2 (13)

Olivier        -         1 (12)

Saffex is in some ways correct insofar as comparisons are concerned and it need to be clarified the differences between De Villiers playing at 13 and when he played at 12.   The number of tests played should alos be borne in mind and the better method should be to totals indicated diivided by the number of games played.

On that basis the averages are as followis:-

De Villiers    -     3,67/4.75      23.5      0.5        1.25      5.16         5.15/ 0.5

Steyn           -     5.67/8.16      17.84    0.16    1.84        4.67         4.67/ 1

Taute           -     1.67/6.67      20          0         1.0       0.67           6.33/1

The other players played too few games to make any realisticc average assessments.    

If the above averages are compared there really is not much that separate the three players concerned - other than to state emphatically that the figures per game in fact indicates three very average players at center making very little positive impacts insofar as especially attacking play is concerned.    

There was one thing that the tackle stats per game played by Taute indicates that he actually have a higher number of tackles per game made then either De Villiers or Steyn 

If  De Villiers was a light - it was not very bright - but really a dim reflection of how centers should in fact should perform.

Speculation Sharkbok. I don't have your crystal ball.....all I know is Jean's stats were way better than any other centre this year. And that accords with what I saw in the games.

Nope Saffex is not right....the number of clean breaks, and the number of metres made, don't depend primarily on tests played......they depend on runs made. That's the independent variable you are after.

So Jean at 4.95 metres per run....is way superior to Fransie at 2.18 metres per run. Likewise Jean at 6 clean breaks in 57 runs, dominates Fransie with 1 clean break in 49 runs.

If you have the number of runs made and the number of tackles attempted....you don't need tests to normalize the numbers.

Mozart

Stats  are really only comparable if the bases on which they are used are determined in such a manner that they  indicate an equal and comparable number - ie the number of tests played must be comparable.   That is why I broke it down to the average figures per test played.

It really is not nice to say - but our center play was really desperately poor

 Sorry Clevermike, but your approach doesn't make sense. The statistics clearly show that JDV made much more of his opportunities than did the others which is surely the best indication of one players superiority over another. The only thing dividing by # of tests does is to accurately show the average number of pass/run opportunities PER TEST that each player received. Note Fransies opportunity rate is much higher than Jeans

To accurately find out what the player does with those pass/run opportunities you would take the approach Moz does above and look at the average yards per run and number of breaks per run. Its not even close. Fransie's problem is he's overweight - he has lost the quickness and step he displayed earlier in his career.

I think Sharkboks point about Fransie playing outside Morne vs JDV playing outside Goosen does have some merit but does not explain away the disparity in the numbers.

What the stats tell you is that Jean was the only player to play all tests and did a pretty ordinary job. The other centres only had a handful of tests and therefore impossible to make a clear judgement. Jean had a whole year of tests to impress and failed

Look at it this way....we always had two centres on the park. So if we add up al the other centres on one side we find:

Jean made 6 clean breaks,  the other centres together made one. Jean gained 282 metres, all the other centres togather gained 192.......it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he was far and away our most productive centre.

Wrong those other centres were never settled, Jean was - big difference. Jean had 12 tests to impress was average to poor in at least 8 of those. Just not good enough and he has to go. He is past it. There is no way in hell he merits being retained given his age and performances for the year

Oh for heaven sake, what a feeble excuse. Each of the other centres played one position....Jean played both centre positions. Who was less settled?  Frans played a whole bunch of tests at 12....on the trot apart from one day off for his wedding.

We can't accept excuses for guys like Fransie, who have been fixtures in the Bok team.....not if we want a high performance culture.

Jean is a seasoned vet, who was poor to average. Frans was far better at 12 evidenced by his player ratings in those tests