this post was submitted on 28 Nov 2023
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Rugby Union

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Interesting (and concerning) statistics from the World Cup (www.stuff.co.nz)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Article summarises statistics provided by Opta and some from Warren Gatland; with headline stats:

  1. This RWC saw fewer offloads per game than any other.
  2. The average number of phases per possession dropped to 1.8, compared to 3 in 2019.
  3. Ball in play time dropped marginally to 34.18 minutes / game - but excluding halftime breaks some games took over 100 minutes total to play out.
  4. Tackles per game have grown to 169, up from 129 in 2019 & 119 in 2015.
  5. Kicks per game (might) have grown, Gatland suggesting 57 per game, the highest since 1995.
  6. 25% of all kicks are box kicks.
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[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I dont get the fuss over kicking. A good kicking contest is brilliant and is what opens things up for the running rugby everyone says they want.

Bad, aimless kicking is obviously bad, but that's different and can be punished by a team that understand why, how and when to kick.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I have a few problems with kicking:

  1. I think the style of high box kick and then disrupt in the air rugby as exemplified by South Africa is extremely dangerous and Beauden Barrett is lucky to not be paralysed as a result of it. But I don't want to outlaw that kick, just the way it is competed for - my preferred option being that only the receiving team is allowed to go in the air, and any contact with them prior to returning to the ground is a penalty.
  2. Teams are often kicking for negative reasons, rather than the positive you suggest. As often it is about getting the ball away from a danger zone, and while Rugby is a territorial game, the balance between territory & possession (or at least where teams want to have possession) has got a bit broken.
  3. Even positive kicking is happening too early in the phase count. But that's not a problem with the kick itself, rather a problem with how the laws are balanced towards defence now being too easy combined with risk of possession turning into penalties against you. I think an easy fix would be to nerf the jackal, and make holding on a free kick. Afterall if the defending team really wanted the ball that much then a just reward is to just give it to them. Not allow a kick 30m down the line to setup a rolling maul.