Some interesting stats

 

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/springboks/news/151102

Link is not working D. Maybe check that there is not a digit missing or something? 

 Stats tell an interesting Bok storyby Brenden Nel 02 November 2015, 15:08

Statistics point the way to an interesting analysis of South Africa’s road in this year’s Rugby World Cup, pointing out the parts that failed them as well.

With the tournament now over, the soul-searching has begun in earnest to see where it all went wrong, and how to improve it before the Green and Gold take the field again for a new season and a deeper look at the way the Boks conducted themselves over the course of their seven matches makes some interesting reading.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect – and this tells a story in itself – is the fact that Handre Pollard topped the penalty log and Dan Carter the conversions for the tournament at 23 apiece. The Boks low-risk approach and pressurizing the scoreboard was apparent as they played within their own set boundaries to take as many points on offer, while the All Blacks ability to suffocate an opposition, play off their mistakes and take the opportunities where it counts certainly played a massive part in them winning the World Cup back-to-back.

New Zealand certainly dominated all aspects of this World Cup, scoring 39 tries in their tournament – some 11 ahead of fellow finalists Australia and 13 ahead of the fourth-placed Boks. However, the Boks scored one try in their quarterfinal and none in their semifinal, showing up their inability to finish off the chances they created.

Interestingly New Zealand only kicked 11 penalties in the entire tournament, compared to the 25 by South Africa, with the All Blacks ninth on the overall list.

The stats get more interesting when the key areas of the game are discussed.

The Boks carried the ball a lot – second only to Argentina and more than the All Blacks. Their power approach was accentuated by the fact they crossed the gainline more times (391 to 378), yet they scored less.

This points again to the lack of finishing that has plagued the team for the entire year now, not only the tournament and shows how the world champions are able to unlock space for their runners on the outside.

This is further underlined when you look at the Clean breaks statistic for the tournament. Much has been said about the Boks attack in the entire competition but it may be surprising to know they had more clean breaks than Australia (55 to 50), even though the Wallabies are seen as a much more attacking side.

Interestingly this underlines the lack of finishing again, as it does with Argentina, who are second in this list with 78 with the All Blacks topping the clean breaks with 80 once again. The Boks also made more metres upfield in the competition than Australia, even though the latter base their pay on building phases and breaking down opposition with this mantra.

SCHALK THE TOP CARRIER

Schalk Burger topped the carries and carries over the gainline stat for the tournament, while interestingly coming third for the amount of offloads in the World Cup, just four behind offload king Sonny Bill Williams.

The Boks featured well in the clean breaks department with both Bryan Habana and Jesse Kriel in the top list with 10 apiece, but from there the finishing has to be questioned, as many a time the support simply wasn’t on their shoulder or the ball was spilled when the Boks got through. Predictably, World breakout player of the year Nehe Milner-Skudder was top of the clean break poll with 15.

The lineout may be a big part of the Bok game plan, and while the duo of Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager both did an exceptional amount of work around the park, they simply didn’t dominate the setpiece as the Boks normally do.

While the Boks won the most lineout balls in the competition, they were only seventh on the lineouts stolen list, showing just how far they have regressed since Victor Matfield stopped dominating the lineouts. The All Blacks, second on the most lineout balls won, topped the steals, with Kieran Reid and Brodie Retallick both stealing the most ball during the tournament.

The one area that the Boks did manage to get their moneys worth, is the breakdown. They matched New Zealand with turnovers made in the tournament, showing the worth of Scottish breakdown consultant Richie Gray. And while David Pocock was predictably the player of the tournament in terms of turning ball over, Francois Louw wasn’t far behind him with 13 turnovers in the competition.

That may be good and well, but an honest self-assessment will ask what was done after those turnovers, and here a stark lack of finishing often comes into focus when compared to other sides in the competition.

The other stat that the Boks can be proud of is their tackling. They made more tackles than any other side and their tackle completion rate was exceptional under defence coach John McFarland.

Defence is often an attitude thing, and here they can stand proud. Both Louw and Lood de Jager top the tackles made department and the Boks commitment in this regard says even more when player three and four are Eben Etzebeth and Schalk Burger respectively.

But then again, if you are tackling so much, it means you don’t have the ball or are defending too much. The more ball in hand, the less you tackle.

And that is again a telling sign of the lack of attack during the tournament.

 At the end of a sad and long story remains the fact that we don't know how to score tries.The same fact applies to our franchises, like it or not.

 All the stats are puffed up by pool play. We never looked like scoring against Wales and the ABs, and only did when Vermeulen worked his bit of magic agaianst Wales. Our centres simply don't know how to create a movement.....the one tractors and the other can only cut onto the ball in space...but there was no space.

 Mozart
Did you in fact watch the WC matches involving the Springboks.  If you did that did you missed entirely what was going on?  The ball far too frequently went to our stand-in flyhalf (Burger) and to other forwards - why the backline players had to live off scraps.
Please also note that backline players can only perform when they get devent balls - which they never did.  What do you expect from centers who had to operate in traffic all the time?
Blaming the centers for the try-scoring deficiency is ridiculous while ignoring the circumstances under which the centers had to operate.