For the last 18 months South Africans had to listen to boredom about the ‘boring rugby’ they play, but Super rugby statistics at the half-way stage of the competition suggests it is in fact the Antipodean teams that does most of the playing, WITHOUT the ball.
When I started out with this column the point was to highlight how a team’s attitude can be measured by looking at their defense.
It had (still has) specific bearing on the Lions team trying to establish just what type of ‘attitude’ exists in the camp and how this relates to their on-field results.
Many coaches will tell you that defense and tackling is first and foremost an attitude an individual and team has, and secondly, skills and systems.
You can coach a team and individual the latest skills and techniques in tackling, and implement the best defensive systems, but if that team or individuals in the team does not have the right attitude to go out and show some balls, it is effectively useless.
With the Lions it seems to be a thing that has been coming for a long time, who can forget Tim Lane apparently telling Lions management when asked what assistance he needed to turn the Lions season around while on tour; “Send me 15 guys that can #$%$^*@ tackle!”.
But as I browsed the defensive statistics I noticed something very strange…
A lot has been said of South African teams’ inability, or preference to play ‘without’ the ball and banking on opposition mistakes to score points.
A tell-tale sign of playing without the ball, is of course looking at how many tackles a team has to make in a game when they of course, do not have the ball.
The numbers are fascinating…
Whilst Antipodean teams are far better in their execution of defense (tackle success ratio’s), there is some daylight between the amount of tackles South African Super rugby teams are making on average per game (not having the ball in hand) compared to that of the top Antipodean teams.
This in turn suggests that South African teams, on average, have far more possession of the ball and not only possession, but ball-in-hand (running) possession given the amount of tackles the Antipodean teams make on average per game.
The exception to the rule here is the Stormers, who average there and there about with the Antipodean teams – but with that it is also interesting to note that the Stormers are known to have the best defense in the competition thus far, and actually build their play around defense and defensive structures rather than attacking rugby.
All the South African teams combined makes on average 113 tackles per game. Important to note here is that the Stormers, with an average of 129 tackles per game heavily inflates this figure.
Individual averages are;
Bulls: 101 per game
Cheetahs: 118 per game
Lions: 109 per game
Sharks: 110 per game
Stormers: 129 per game
The top Antipodean teams (Crusaders, Chiefs, Waratahs and Brumbies) in comparison make on average, a combined 134 tackles on average per game.
Individual averages are;
Crusaders: 127 per game
Waratahs: 140 per game
Brumbies: 126 per game
Chiefs: 143 per game
So why do you only see two South Africa teams at the top of the log then you might ask?
Well the answer is simpler than you think, all of the Antipodean teams on average only misses 10% of their tackles, meaning they have an A+ average or complete close to, or over 90% of their tackles successfully, whereas South African teams most successful teams (Stormers and Sharks) average an 86% completion rate and the rest, miss just about 20% of all their tackles (that is one in every 5 tackles where the Antipodean teams miss 1 in every 10)…
So even though this proves that the top Antipodean teams are better defenders than the South Africans, it also proves they have to do a hell of a lot more of it than the Saffa’s which to my mind, puts this myth of South Africans preferring playing ‘without the ball’ to rest.
(Statistics from Verusco)
Hi Morne,
Do you have the stats for last year as well? It would be interesting to compare last year’s S14 stats to this because I believe one of the ANZACs strengths i.e. contesting the ball on the ground has been eliminated with this year’s rule interpretation. Our sides do seem to have the ball in hand more as a result.
And you haven’t forgotten that the complaint of boring rugby stems from the Boks’ approach and not the performance of the SA S14 teams, have you?
Winning ugly is better than losing pretty.
2 – Loosehead, Always..hahaha.
Morne
Antipodean in your title?
Don’t be surprised if no Bull comments in this one…
OK, I see it’s only at the bottom.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaag the Saint, ons kan ook google 🙂
In vernacular British English and Irish English, “The Antipodes” is sometimes used to refer to Australia, and New Zealand, and “Antipodeans” to their inhabitants
With the new interpretation of the tackle rule it is “hold tight onto your bull”.
#7
Hehe, excellent one dweeper!
Who was it that made the term “Antipodean” popular. Saw it first time at KEO, actually had to look it up to be sure what was meant (ja-ja ek is ‘n boertjie).
And of course we are actually antipodeans to the the Eskimo’s, not the Maori’s.
You have Lies, you have Damned lies, THEN come Statistics …
#4 Saint
😆
The problem the ANZAC have had is that the style of the game suited the Boks or SA and England style.
’10 man’ boot and run where as the anzac run and if necessary booted. The old boring laws meant that in this style your kickers were king.
SA have been good with finding kickers. Stransky, if we remeber how RSA used the tactic of kicking the ball over the dead ball line to get the opposition to get to kick back to the boks at a 22 restart. Honiball, steyn, and nasty.
These were all hoof and run kickers and no finesse. Honiball of all was slightly different.
Nations tend to stick with their brand.
The lack of ball in hand is not a direct reflection of the team but rather the style and strength of style. Whilst it was a good tactic the Boks were using it is not a glamouros one. Unfortunately we dont have government money to keep us afloat so we try to change to bring bums on seats.
I watched a boks game last year on TV and thanked the heavens I did not pay to watch it. I calculated that with all the penalty kicks, after elvs were done with, and scrum resets 30 minutes of the game was gone just watching nothing. This was AB’s vs Boks!!
All the Boks were playing for was penalty kicks…in this game there was something like 18 penalty kicks…AFL, League and for crying out aloud…GRIDIRON was more attractive to watch.
@11 wallabie – At the end what matters most is winning…
If we apply the tactics to achieve this you can’t fault us…
Direct your moaning towards the IRB whom are laying down the rules.
We just manufacture the perfect solution to their rules…
Hallooooo…..
Pienkste,
Vra ek ook.
Vuurpoepertjie…
Waar’t jy nou weer gehardloop?
Hello Blouste and Fires,
Fires I read in the paper that there is Gale Force Winds in Wellington. NOT good news for our game against the Canes. Read that Pienaar is concerned about it. Just hope he just stays focused on the game never mind the weather that will probably now play role with the kicking at post.
We sure had had bad luck on this tour this year. Don’t need the weather to play foul now too.
Pienkste,
Nee jong, pas terug gekom na ek vis gaan vreet het, en sien die laaste comment was net na 17:00 gewees…..wat’s vout met die mense, of is die dames nou weer moeilik vanaand?
Hiya Puma.
In my mind the Hurricanes are currently the better of the two teams.
The travelling might be a factor though…
Sharks struggling with injuries though and might already have on foot on the plane.
11 – Walla, Stop moaning…..hehe. Agree with Blouste. It is called winning ugly but it is all about winning that matters 😉
Vuurtjie…
Beats me… mag so wees ,of ons is net nie genooi nie 😆
Puma…
Seems you were’nt invited either… 😆
Puma,
Luckily we have Lambie at FB, he does not do the kick and chase, kick and chace will be a dire mistake.
Weather sure sux, heard it will clear up a bit by Thursday, hope the reports are true.
We’ll have to play close quarter rugby, and be clinical about it. Do the hard yards in the first 60min. and the game should open up.
GO SHARKS !!!
18 – Blouste, We have been struggling without the injuries 🙄 Also struggling with the bad refs. So really don’t need this bad weather now. Gale Force Winds are going to be there until after the weekend. That is the forecast. Probably with rain. Rubbish, rubbish conditions to play in.
Puma
How’s your superbru coming along?
Tough weekend to call hey?!
So guys,the question remains…
Who will this weather be better suited to…?
Daniels probably out, Muller out… Will the Sharks pack be up to it?
22 – Fires, In those conditions will have to play real old Bulls Rugby. 10 man rugby wins games in that kinda conditions. Just reading the papers now and they say it will still be like that for the weekend. We are unlucky really it that happens. As it is we now have more injuries. Wantes the same front row to start but don’t think that will happen now. See Jannie is injured. Now that he had a good game last week..hahaha. Damn.
Pleased that Lambie is going to start again. Those kinda conditions will test him for sure. He was really great under the high ball on Saturday. Will have to play at that level again this week.
Canes 4th saffa team in a row. They lost to 3 in a row they will be coming at us with everything.
Lambie looked good on his debut…
A long way to go still…
sorry typos up there. Just ignore.
27 – Blouste, Yes he was superb under the high ball. Good hands too. Of course still needs plenty games at this level. He has the talen though so just keep playing him. That way he will get even better.
Just look at Hougaard and Van den Heever. Two youngsters and playing like pros already. Cause they getting plenty game time.
Dont see myself on the Rugby-Talk 6Nations superbru… 👿
Gonna check quickly…
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