Stat alert - player summaries from 6Ns: The back row

HEALTH WARNING: IF YOU DON'T LIKE STATS, THEN DO NOT READ ON

A continuation in the series (see earlier threads for a full intro):
Team stats: https://www.606v2.com/t26301-don-t-read-any-further-if-you-don-t-like-stats-6ns-team-summary
Front row stats: https://www.606v2.com/t26376-stat-alert-player-summaries-from-6ns-the-front-row
Second row stats: https://www.606v2.com/t26386-stat-alert-player-summaries-from-6ns-the-boiler-room

Credit: espnscrum.com Methodology: I've had to make some assumptions regarding players playing in more than one position throughout the championship and also regarding the treatment of bench players. For the sake of simplicity, I have put a player where I think they fit best - so, for example, Sean Lamont appeared 3 times in the centre for Scotland and twice on the wing, but he is an out&out winger to me, so he will appear among the other wingers for comparison purposes. For all players, I report total stats in the first row and averages in the second - for the computation of averages, if a player appeared from the bench, I have awarded 0.5 match time, whereas a player starting the match is always awarded 1 match time, regardless of whether they are substituted. I suspect that this will have some minor impact on averages, but hopefully not too much (and it made things a damn sight easier for me!). Most of my comments pertain to totals rather than averages.

Key: T/A = Tries/Try Assists, Pts = Points scored, K/P/R = Kick/Pass/Run, MR = Metres Run with ball, CB = Clean Breaks, DB = Defenders Beaten, OL = Offloads, TO = Turnovers, Tma/Tmi = Tackles made/missed, Lw/Ls =Lineouts won on throw/lineouts stolen on oppo throw, Pen = Penalties conceded, & Y/R = Yellow/Red cards

FLANKERS

Games	Name	T	A	Pts	K	P	R	MR	CB	DB	OL	TO	Tma	Tmi	Lw	Ls	Pen	Y	R
4.5	Barbieri	0	0	0	0	6	22	101	0	3	2	3	28	4	1	0	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	1.3	4.9	22.4	0	0.7	0.4	0.7	6.2	0.9	0.2	0	0.4	0	0
4	Barclay	0	0	0	0	27	40	58	0	3	5	2	41	2	6	0	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	6.75	10	14.5	0	0.75	1.25	0.5	10.25	0.5	1.5	0	0.5	0	0
4.5	Bonnaire	0	0	0	1	10	13	28	0	3	1	1	37	4	6	1	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0.2	2.2	2.9	6.2	0	0.7	0.2	0.2	8.2	0.9	1.3	0.2	0.4	0	0
5	Croft	1	0	5	0	3	18	112	3	4	0	4	36	5	17	3	4	0	0
#	Average	0.2	0	1	0	0.6	3.6	22.4	0.6	0.8	0	0.8	7.2	1	3.4	0.6	0.8	0	0
5	Dusautoir	0	0	0	0	19	39	92	0	2	1	6	77	1	2	0	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	3.8	7.8	18.4	0	0.4	0.2	1.2	15.4	0.2	0.4	0	0.4	0	0
2.5	Favaro	0	0	0	0	2	11	22	0	0	1	0	15	0	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	0.8	4.4	8.8	0	0	0.4	0	6	0	0	0	0.4	0	0
5	Ferris	0	2	0	0	21	33	72	1	2	5	2	63	3	1	1	3	1	0
#	Average	0	0.4	0	0	4.2	6.6	14.4	0.2	0.4	1	0.4	12.6	0.6	0.2	0.2	0.6	0.2	0
0.5	Jennings	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Lydiate	0	0	0	0	12	22	35	0	1	0	1	43	2	2	0	3	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	3	5.5	8.75	0	0.25	0	0.25	10.75	0.5	0.5	0	0.75	0	0
4	O'Brien	0	0	0	0	16	44	96	0	4	3	1	44	1	1	0	7	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	4	11	24	0	1	0.75	0.25	11	0.25	0.25	0	1.75	0	0
2.5	O'Mahony	0	1	0	0	4	13	18	0	1	0	0	16	1	1	0	3	0	0
#	Average	0	0.4	0	0	1.6	5.2	7.2	0	0.4	0	0	6.4	0.4	0.4	0	1.2	0	0
5	Rennie	0	0	0	1	43	44	131	4	5	9	4	71	8	0	0	5	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0.2	8.6	8.8	26.2	0.8	1	1.8	0.8	14.2	1.6	0	0	1	0	0
3.5	RJones	0	0	0	1	9	31	43	0	0	0	3	40	3	6	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0.3	2.6	8.9	12.3	0	0	0	0.9	11.4	0.9	1.7	0	0.3	0	0
5	Robshaw	0	0	0	0	20	43	59	0	1	1	2	64	1	1	1	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	4	8.6	11.8	0	0.2	0.2	0.4	12.8	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4	0	0
1	Shingler	0	0	0	0	3	10	10	1	1	3	1	12	0	3	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	3	10	10	1	1	3	1	12	0	3	0	1	0	0
2	Strokosch	0	0	0	0	7	15	7	0	0	0	1	12	2	1	0	3	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	3.5	7.5	3.5	0	0	0	0.5	6	1	0.5	0	1.5	0	0
1.5	Tipuric	0	0	0	1	8	10	22	1	1	1	0	10	0	2	1	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0.7	5.	6.7	14.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0	6.7	0	1.3	0.7	0.7	0	0
1.5	Vernon	0	1	0	0	4	10	37	1	0	3	0	8	0	1	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0.7	0	0	2.7	6.7	24.7	0.7	0	2	0	5.3	0	0.7	0	0	0	0
0.5	Vosawai	0	0	0	0	0	5	23	0	0	0	1	3	1	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	0	10	46	0	0	0	2	6	2	0	0	2	0	0
3	Warburton	0	0	0	0	2	16	14	0	1	0	0	17	2	4	0	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	0.7	5.3	4.7	0	0.3	0	0	5.7	0.7	1.3	0	0.7	0	0
5	Zanni	0	0	0	0	13	32	94	0	1	4	4	45	1	11	4	5	1	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	2.6	6.4	18.8	0	0.2	0.8	0.8	9	0.2	2.2	0.8	1	0.2	0

A sole try for Tom Croft, with two assists for Stephen Ferris, backed up by O'Mahony and Vernon. Ross Rennie passed the most by some margin, with colleague John Barclay in second spot. Rennie was joined by Sean O'Brien in terms of number of carries with ball in hand, while yardage honours went to Rennie and Croft. Clean break kudos was shared by Rennie and Croft, while Rennie, Croft and O'Brien ran rings around defenders! Rosco Rennie completed the most offloads, supported at a distance by Ferris and Barclay. Turnover donkey awards to Dusautoir (not that I'd tell him that to his face, ye ken), Croft, Rennie and Zanni. Dusautoir and Rennie redeemed themselves in tackles successfully made, while Zanni missed a truckload and Croft a handful too. Croft and Zanni recovered by securing most clean ball on their own lineouts, and those two were also king pinchers. O'Brien topped the penalties conceded charts, supported by Rennie and Zanni, with Ferris and Zanni on the naughty step for YCs (awarded rightly or wrongly). Pls bear in mind when reading and interpreting these that Sam Warburton only completed 3 effective games so his total stats are comparatively affected - measure him against averages lines to see his real value.


NO.8s

Games	Name	T	A	Pts	K	P	R	MR	CB	DB	OL	TO	Tma	Tmi	Lw	Ls	Pen	Y	R
5	Denton	0	0	0	0	19	67	219	2	9	6	5	30	2	2	1	3	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	3.8	13.4	43.8	0.4	1.8	1.2	1	6	0.4	0.4	0.2	0.6	0	0
3.5	Dowson	0	0	0	0	4	22	58	1	0	0	6	20	1	4	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	1.1	6.3	16.6	0.3	0	0	1.7	5.7	0.3	1.1	0	0.3	0	0
5	Faletau	0	0	0	0	15	58	156	1	10	3	6	52	1	7	1	4	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	3	11.6	31.2	0.2	2	0.6	1.2	10.4	0.2	1.4	0.2	0.8	0	0
4.5	Harinordoquy	0	0	0	0	20	46	106	1	2	3	8	41	3	15	1	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	4.4	10.2	23.6	0.2	0.4	0.7	1.8	9.1	0.7	3.3	0.2	0.2	0	0
5	Heaslip	0	0	0	0	14	33	91	0	2	3	5	39	5	10	1	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	2.8	6.6	18.2	0	0.4	0.6	1	7.8	1	2	0.2	0.2	0	0
4	Morgan	0	1	0	0	15	35	237	2	9	3	1	16	1	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0.25	0	0	3.75	8.75	59.25	0.5	2.25	0.75	0.25	4	0.25	0	0	0.25	0	0
5	Parisse	1	0	5	2	32	51	179	2	4	3	6	42	6	8	2	4	0	0
#	Average	0.2	0	1	0.4	6.4	10.2	35.8	0.4	0.8	0.6	1.2	8.4	1.2	1.6	0.4	0.8	0	0
3.5	Picamoles	0	1	0	1	16	28	115	1	5	7	1	22	0	1	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0.3	0	0.3	4.6	8	32.9	0.3	1.4	2	0.3	6.3	0	0.3	0	0	0	0
0.5	Powell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0

First credit to Sergio Parisse for his try, and back-up shouts to Louis Picamoles and Ben Morgan with an assist each. Imanol Harinordoquy and Parisse made most passes, and David Denton followed by Toby Faletau completed most runs with ball in hand. Denton was the second most effective runner, pipped by Morgan, in terms of metres gained. Denton, Morgan and Parisse share clean break honours, Denton, Faletau and Morgan topped the defenders beaten chart. Denton and Picamoles completed most offloads, while Dowson, Faletau, Hari and Parisse conceded the most turnovers. Faletau and Parisse made the most tackles, Heaslip and Parisse missed the most. Hari and Heaslip ruled the air on their own ball in the lineout, and honours were roughly even for steals. Naughty step for Faletau Parisse for penalties , but no YCs for the 8s


Again, all SNAFU's are mine - pls let me know and I will amend

More tomorrow, if time allows

Thierry Dusautoir's stats for tackles made/missed is frightening. 77/1 - out of this world really.

Faletau's defenders beaten stat is very pleasing to see, and am really chuffed that Morgan is showing up so well in his first stint at international level.

Morgan looks as if he could be a really useful player at this level. I'm still not convicned about the balance in the England back row, and would like to see a proper 7 in there.

rugbydreamer wrote:Thierry Dusautoir's stats for tackles made/missed is frightening. 77/1 - out of this world really.

Faletau's defenders beaten stat is very pleasing to see, and am really chuffed that Morgan is showing up so well in his first stint at international level.

Agreed, my one big surprise was how little Lydiate featured in the top 2 or 3 - I guess he's one of those players that does everything, perhaps without being the standout at any one aspect of backrow play?

Ozzy3213 wrote:Morgan looks as if he could be a really useful player at this level. I'm still not convicned about the balance in the England back row, and would like to see a proper 7 in there.

Pete, agreed, as I put them together, I did notice that England didn't really seem to have anyone competing in the duties of an out&out 7

As - I think Lydiate raises the problem with stats. They don't show you where or when in a match that what he does happens. The tackles he made on Sat came at key times and crucial areas of the pitch, but there's no way the stats can show that!

rugbydreamer wrote:As - I think Lydiate raises the problem with stats. They don't show you where or when in a match that what he does happens. The tackles he made on Sat came at key times and crucial areas of the pitch, but there's no way the stats can show that!

I'd totally agree, dreamer. But i was surprised that statistically Ferris does more tackling and plays with more ball in hand more frequently, which is what I would be looking for in a blindside

aye, still like looking at the stats though, they usually do throw up most of the stand out performers like Dusautoir and Gray

I think the thing with Lydiate was that whenever he made a tackle or a carry JD would start creaming his pants about it. This just made everyone aware that it was Lydiate, no-one ever did anything for other players who made more carries and tackles than he.

On averages, Lydiate made the most tackles (coming second overall to Faletau) in the Welsh team.

I guess it easy for Ferris to make tackles when the English forwards keep taking the ball off you

Ach, that's only when they bite him so he has to let go of it (allegedly)

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Ach, that's only when they bite him so he has to let go of it (allegedly)

wales606 wrote:On averages, Lydiate made the most tackles (coming second overall to Faletau) in the Welsh team.

I guess it easy for Ferris to make tackles when the English forwards keep taking the ball off you

606, actually based on averages, Shingler made the most tackles, then Ryan Jones, then Lydiate, then Warburton for Wales

Oddly enough, I've always thought of Stroks as the chopper for Scotland, yet his average is lower than Rennie's, our out&out fetcher I may have to recalibrate traditional backrow roles!

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

wales606 wrote:On averages, Lydiate made the most tackles (coming second overall to Faletau) in the Welsh team.

I guess it easy for Ferris to make tackles when the English forwards keep taking the ball off you

606, actually based on averages, Shingler made the most tackles, then Ryan Jones, then Lydiate, then Warburton for Wales

Not according to walesonline stats

wales606 wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

wales606 wrote:On averages, Lydiate made the most tackles (coming second overall to Faletau) in the Welsh team.

I guess it easy for Ferris to make tackles when the English forwards keep taking the ball off you

606, actually based on averages, Shingler made the most tackles, then Ryan Jones, then Lydiate, then Warburton for Wales

Not according to walesonline stats

Ah right, walesonline vs espnscrum.com

Great piece of work AsLongAs.

Agree that stats can't give the full picture (e.g tackling is an important stat for backrow, but to get a true sense of comparative performance you would probably have to overlay respective possession stats as this would, for example, explain why Lydiate comes out below - say - Robshaw who I reckon spent a lot more minute on the defending team) , but it definitely tells us some interesting stuff.

As an Englishman I'm really chuffed that Croft has proven a lot of doubters wrong in this tournament, and this is borne out by his stats. I know it's not the primary function of a flanker, but his lineout is amazing: compare his stats to those of Bonnaire or Ryan Jones, who are also seen very much as lineout specialists in the backrow, and it becomes clear just how good Croft is in this department.

...the starting 6 jersey for the lions is going to be unbelievably competitive next year

Adam wrote:Great piece of work AsLongAs.

Agree that stats can't give the full picture (e.g tackling is an important stat for backrow, but to get a true sense of comparative performance you would probably have to overlay respective possession stats as this would, for example, explain why Lydiate comes out below - say - Robshaw who I reckon spent a lot more minute on the defending team) , but it definitely tells us some interesting stuff.

As an Englishman I'm really chuffed that Croft has proven a lot of doubters wrong in this tournament, and this is borne out by his stats. I know it's not the primary function of a flanker, but his lineout is amazing: compare his stats to those of Bonnaire or Ryan Jones, who are also seen very much as lineout specialists in the backrow, and it becomes clear just how good Croft is in this department.

...the starting 6 jersey for the lions is going to be unbelievably competitive next year

Adam, absolutely, spoiled for choice there - Lydiate, Ferris, O'Brien, Croft, Robshaw, Wood, Brown - all very talented players