Stat of the Week
It’s a Wonderful Life! That’s certainly true if you’re an England fan: they haven’t conceded a try in 135 minutes, four minutes longer than the runtime of the Christmas classic film. They join Canada and France as three teams who have conceded just a single try this World Cup. But, the three have taken a different approach to achieve this level of stinginess.
England - The Red Roses' attack has a heavy influence on their defensive stoutness for the very simple reason that teams don’t want to kick to the likes of Ellie Kildunne, Jess Breach, or Abby Dow. With good reason. Teams have kicked just 20 times against England, the lowest in the tournament. Teams facing England have beaten 30 defenders which is the fourth lowest total in the tournament. Basically, keep ball in hand and you won’t get very far or kick and give the best players in World rugby space. It’s not much of a choice.
Canada - The Canadians take a different approach. They try to avoid defending all together. They have made 324 carries, the second highest in the tournament behind only South Africa (347). They have faced just 165 carries, the lowest in the tournament. Added to that, they have a 92.2% tackle success rate, ahead of the tournament average of 88.1% and just three of their missed tackles have led to clean breaks. Wales found this in their second round defeat. Of the eleven leading ball carriers in the game, just two were Welsh (Georgia Evans and Carys Cox). Play Canada and don’t expect to see much ball.
France - The French take a bit from column A and a bit from column B. They have been forced into making 354 tackles, sixth most in the tournament and 109 higher than Canada. However, where the French succeed is in smothering attacking momentum. Attacks like to use offloads because they inject speed into the play and draw in defenders. France have allowed just seven, the lowest, and just three have achieved the goal of drawing in defenders and speeding up the attack, also the lowest. If you play against France you will have time on the ball, it’s just that you can’t actually do much with it when you have it.
Boks Office
Think South Africa, think scrums. The South African women led by Babalwa Latsha and Sanelisiwe Charlie have been the standout scrummagers of this tournament. The 17 scrums they had in their second round match-up against Italy was the highest of the tournament and they have won seven penalties from scrums in total, also the highest. But it’s not just a case of winning penalties from their scrums, it’s where they’ve won them. They have won four scrum penalties between halfway and the opposition 22, more than anyone else, allowing them to either kick to touch inside the 22 or tap and immediately put them under pressure.
They’ve also won five scrums in the opposition 22, also the most, from which they can look to push their opponents over the line. The South African scrum is quickly becoming the single best attacking weapon in the whole tournament and it’s a key reason why they’ve already booked their place in the knockouts. Pretty impressive for a team whose last World Cup victory was back in 2014.
Duck, Duck, Goose Step
Australia have put themselves in prime position to escape Pool A alongside England. But, are there reasons to be nervous in their approach? Piper Duck has made 49 successful tackles, most in the tournament, and she is joined by Kaitlan Leaney (4th most), Emily Chancellor (5th most), and Michaela Leonard (6th most). Australia have spent just 44.3% of their time in their opposition’s territory, the fourth lowest of the tournament ahead of only Brazil, Italy, and Fiji - none of whom have won a match. They have spent just 34.4 minutes in possession, the 11th lowest amount of the 16 teams. You need the ball to score, so surely this is looking pretty bad for the Wallaroos?
Remember last week we talked about Samoa’s 22-entries. The same can be said about Australia. They have made 20 22-entries this tournament, that’s the seventh most. But they have been extraordinarily effective once they’ve got there. Their points per entry is 5.2pts, that’s the highest of the tournament. They have conceded 1.8pts per entry, the sixth highest. Just three times have Australia entered their opposition 22 and been turned over. That is the second best in the tournament behind only Brazil who have had two turnovers in their three entries. Forget about the other 78m, Australia are totally dominant where it matters. The only concern is that this approach puts a huge amount of physical demand on players like Duck - she hasn’t missed a minute and will need to front up to stop the Red Roses in the third round.
