16 Sep

Game Stats: All Blacks v Springboks, Dunedin
by Tracey Nelson
16 Sep 2012

The usual analysis of the All Blacks’ game, being the First 3 to the Breakdown, ball carries, tackle stats, penalties conceded, turnovers, the lineouts, and scrums. Some notes on these stats follow throughout the article.

Numbers in brackets are the first half/second half breakdown for each TOTAL. An asterisk denotes a player that came on as a substitute. This week:

Team:	Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore, Owen Franks, Luke Romano, Sam Whitelock, Richie McCaw, Liam Messam, Kieran Read, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, Julian Savea, Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Cory Jane, Israel Dagg
Reserves:	Keven Mealamu, Charlie Faumuina, Brodie Retallick, Victor Vito, Aaron Smith, Beauden Barrett, Tamati Ellison

Subs: Aaron Smith for Weepu at 41 min, Mealamu for Hore and Retallick for Romano at 49 min, and Faumuina for Franks at 69 min.

Points Scored	NZ	SA
Tries	2	1
Conversions	1	0
Penalties	3 from 5	2 from 8
TOTAL	21	11

Penalties/Free Kicks Conceded	Pen	FKs
NZ	11	0
SA	14	2
TOTAL	25	2

NZ Penalty Offences
Tackled player	C Smith, Savea, Dagg	3
Tackler not rolling	Romano, Read	2
Tackling player in air	Jane	1
Ruck hands	Woodcock	1
Lineout	Woodcock, Romano	2
Scrum	Woodcock	1
Obstruction	C Smith	1
TOTAL		11

SA Penalty Offences
Tackled player	4
Tackler not rolling	2
Ruck off feet	2
Ruck hands	3
Offside from knock on	1
Scrum	1
Foul play + YC	1
TOTAL	14

Turnovers Conceded by NZ
Knock-ons	Savea, Cruden, Messam	3
Spilled pass	Weepu	1
Forward pass	Dagg	1
Tackle	Read, Messam	2
Ruck spill		2
Lineout		2
Miss touch from penalty	Cruden	1
Maul	Messam	1
TOTAL		13

Turnovers Conceded by SA
Knock-ons	5
Pass into touch	1
Spilled ball	2
Ruck spill	1
Lineout	5
Scrum	2
TOTAL	20

First Three to the Breakdown stats are looking for those players who are getting to the tackle/breakdown quickly and are also being useful by either cleaning out opposition players or setting up ruck ball. Anyone arriving and just leaning pointlessly on the side of a ruck isn’t included in these numbers.

First 3 to Breakdown	Total	Per half
McCaw	28	14+14
Woodcock	27	14+13
Whitelock	27	14+13
Hore	20	17+3
O Franks	19	12+7
Romano	16	14+2
Messam	16	9+7
Nonu	16	8+8
Read	14	9+5
Mealamu*	10
Retallick*	9
Savea	7	2+5
Faumuina*	6
Jane	5	4+1
Dagg	3	1+2
C Smith	2	1+1
Weepu	1

Forward ball carries and metres gained	No of carries	Metres
McCaw	8	41
Messam	7	22
Read	5	30
Hore	4	15
Mealamu*3	5
Romano	3	8
O Franks	2	4
Whitelock	2	10
Woodcock	1	3
Retallick*	1	5

Completed Tackles means that player actually brought the ball carrier to ground (ie. as the Laws of the Game actually described the tackler), not assists in the tackle situation which are tallied separately.

Completed Tackles and Assists	Tackles	Assists
McCaw	12 (5+7)	2 (2+0)
Read	10 (8+2)	0
O Franks	8 (5+3)	1 (0+1)
Whitelock	8 (3+5)	1 (1+0)
Nonu	7 (2+5)	0
Woodcock	6 (3+3)	2 (0+2)
Messam	6 (3+3)	1 (1+0)
Cruden	5 (2+3)	3 (1+2)
Retallick*	4	0
Romano	4 (2+2)	4 (1+3)
A Smith*	3	0
Hore	3 (2+1)	0
Jane	3 (0+3)	0
Faumuina*	2	1
Mealamu*	1	0
C Smith	1 (1+0)	0
Savea	1 (1+0)	0
TOTAL	84	16

Missed tackles also includes slipped tackles where the ball runner gets away. Most importantly, I do NOT included slipped tackles in the Tackles Made stats, it gets noted as a missed tackle. Either you’ve made the tackle or you’ve missed it.