THE STATS DON’T LIE... WHY WALES FAILED IN SIX NATIONS
AS the dust begins to settle on Wales’ disappointing Six Nations campaign, you start to get a clearer idea of just where things went wrong via the final tournament stats.
They confirm certain suspicions and reveal other issues, while also providing an insight into individual performances.
The try tally gives an immediate indication of the shortcomings of Wayne Pivac’s team in attack, with the whitewash only being crossed eight times in five matches, a dramatic decline from the 20 during last year’s title triumph. But delve deeper and you start to see where the troubles really lie on that front.
Wales made the second-most carries in the tournament, but are well down the chart on metres made and bottom but one when it comes to defenders beaten, with breaking tackles and crossing the gain-line proving a persistent problem.
The breakdown was another area of concern and the figures are telling there too, with their tally of turnovers won being the second lowest. It’s such an important part of the game these days and it’s no coincidence Grand Slam-winning France are well out in front on that metric.
Issues at the breakdown also contributed to Wales conceding the second-most penalties, while only Italy missed more tackles. So both indiscipline and defence are departments that need plenty of work, while they won the fewest lineout of any team.
The more you look at it, the more you can identify the fundamental flaws that undermined their campaign.
From a tournament perspective, it’s intriguing that France made the least metres, yet won every game. Where they were well out in front was in terms of metres kicked, providing a clear insight into their tactical approach.
Just like South Africa did in winning the World Cup, Les Bleus adopted a hugely effective kicking strategy, earning themselves a territorial foothold which they backed up with a Shaun Edwards-inspired defence, with their tackle completion rate and turnover tally being the best of the bunch. Sometimes it really is better not to have the ball!
On the individual front, there is plenty to unpick from the stats. Second row Adam Beard was the only Welsh player to be on the field for every minute of every match and he also topped their charts in terms of lineouts won and tackles made.
Fellow second row Will Rowlands posted some impressive figures, reflecting what a fine campaign he had. He was top of the tree for turnovers and lineout steals, while second for both carries and tackles. It was some all-round effort from the 30-yearold who would have been even better had he not been harshly benched for the final game against Italy.
Elsewhere, the stats reveal mixed fortunes for some players. Full-back Liam Williams made the most carries and the most metres, but also conceded the most turnovers. It’s a similar story for winger Josh Adams who broke the most tackles, but gave away the most penalties, while both of them picked up yellow cards.
One player who deserves a special mention looking at the stats is hooker Dewi Lake. He was only on the field for 156 minutes, but put in 28 carries for 132 metres, made 28 tackles and won three turnovers..
Finally, what about the tournament’s best performers overall? Well, Gregory Alldritt’s inclusion on a threeman shortlist for Player of the Six Nations is backed up by his stats, with the French No.8 topping the charts for both carries and turnovers, while also figuring high up on offloads.
But what is also notable is the Italians who are leading the way in various categories. The outstanding Monty Ioane beat the most defenders - 21 of them - and produced the most offloads, while coming second only to Stuart Hogg for metres made.
No. 8 Toa Halafihi is joint top for turnovers, lock Federico Ruzza has leapt to the top of the lineout ladder and inspirational skipper Michele Lamaro put in the most tackles. Not for the first time in the past week you have to say Forza Italia!
TEAM STATS
Tries: 24 - Ireland; 17 - France; 10 - Scotland; 8 - England; 8 - Wales; 5 - Italy.
Carries: 694 - Ireland; 617 - Wales; 581 - Scotland; 558 - England; 496 - France; 468 - Italy.
Metres Made: 4569 - Ireland; 4219 - Scotland; 3921 - England; 3784 - Wales; 3022 - Italy; 2956 - France.
Metres Kicked: 5424 - France; 4543 - Italy; 4350 - Wales; 4202 - Scotland; 3737 - England; 3457 - Ireland.
Successful Tackles: 827 - Italy; 766 - Wales; 666 - Scotland; 633 - France; 595 - England; 559 - Ireland.
Tackles Missed: 130 - Italy; 98 - Wales; 90 - England; 83 - Scotland; 69 - France; 66 - Ireland.
Defenders Beaten (Tackles
Broken): 128 - Scotland; 98 -
Ireland; 87 - France; 78 - Italy; 74 - Wales; 71 - England.
Turnovers Won: 33 - France; 26 - Scotland; 25 - Italy; 25 - England; 22 - Wales; 19 - Ireland.
Turnovers Conceded: 81 - Ireland; 58 - Scotland; 55 - France; 53 - Italy; 51 - Wales; 49 - England
Handling Errors: 82 - Ireland; 71 - Scotland; 69 - France; 62 - Wales; 44 - England; 41 - Italy.
Penalties Conceded: 61 - Scotland; 56 - Wales; 51 - England; 50 - Ireland; 47 - France; 46 - Italy.
Lineouts Won: 70 - Ireland; 67 - Scotland; 62 - France; 58 - England; 57 - Italy; 56 - Wales.
WALES PLAYER STATS Minutes Played: 400 - Adam
Beard; 389 - Dan Biggar; 329 - Will Rowlands; 322 - Owen Watkin; 305 - Josh Adams; 290 - Liam Williams; 261 - Nick Tompkins; 255 - Louis Rees-Zammit; 240 - Taulupe Faletau; 240 - Alex Cuthbert; 239 - Ryan Elias. Carries: 47 - Liam Williams; 42 - Will Rowlands; 36 - Taulupe Faletau; 35 - Alex Cuthbert; 34 - Owen Watkin; 30 - Ryan Elias; 30 - Taine Basham. Metres Made: 383 - Liam Williams; 319 - Alex Cuthbert; 261 - Josh Adams; 230 - Owen Watkin; 222 -
Louis Rees-Zammit; 217 - Will Rowlands; 213 - Taulupe Faletau.
Tackles Made: 52 - Adam Beard; 49 - Will Rowlands; 46 - Taine Basham; 46 - Ryan Elias; 44 - Dan Biggar; 39 - Nick Tompkins; 39 - Taulupe Faletau; 36 - Wyn Jones; 35 - Ross Moriarty; 34 - Tomas Francis.
Missed Tackles: 9 - Taine Basham; 9 - Nick Tompkins; 7 - Tomas Francis; 7 - Louis Rees-Zammit; 7 - Dan Biggar; 6 - Josh Adams.
Defenders Beaten (Tackles
Broken): 14 - Josh Adams; 10 - Louis Rees-Zammit; 10 - Alex Cuthbert; 9 - Owen Watkin; 5 - Tomos Williams. Lineouts Won: 17 - Adam Beard; 14 - Ross Moriarty; 10 - Will Rowlands; 8 - Seb Davies.
Penalties Conceded: 7 - Josh Adams; 5 - Taine Basham; 5 - Adam Beard; 4 - Wyn Jones; 4 - Ross Moriarty; 4 - Alex Cuthbert; 4 - Will Rowlands.
Turnovers Won: 4 - Will Rowlands; 3 - Josh Navidi; 3 - Dewi Lake; 2 - Dillon Lewis.
Turnovers Conceded: 6 - Liam Williams; 5 - Dewi Lake; 4 - Josh Adams; 4 - Ross Moriarty; 3 - Alex Cuthbert. Handling Errors: 10 - Dan Biggar; 6 - Tomos Williams; 4 - Kieran Hardy; 4 - Liam Williams; 4 - Louis Rees-Zammit; 4 - Josh Adams; 4 - Johnny McNicholl.
TOURNAMENT’S TOP PERFORMERS Total points: 71 - Marcus Smith (England); 54 - Melvyn Jaminet (France); 35 - Johnny Sexton (Ireland); 34 - Dan Biggar (Wales); 33 - Finn Russell (Scotland).
Tries: 3 - Gabin Villiere (France); 3 - Damian Penaud (France); 3 - James Lowe (Ireland).
Try Assists: 4 - Romain Ntamack (France); 4 - Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland); 3 - Finn Russell (Scotland).
Penalty Goals: 17 - Marcus Smith (England); 12 - Melvyn Jaminet (France); 7 - Finn Russell (Scotland); 7 - Dan
Biggar (Wales).
Passes Made: 390 - Jamison GibsonPark (Ireland); 287 - Ali Price (Scotland); 235 - Antoine Dupont (France); 206 - Tomos Williams (Wales).
Carries: 65 - Gregory Alldritt (France); 56 - Stuart Hogg (Scotland); 55 - Garry Ringrose (Ireland); 51 - Monty Ioane (Italy); 47 - Liam Williams (Wales); 47 - Hugo Keenan (Ireland); 46 - Freddie Steward (England); 45 - Tadhg Beirne (Ireland).
Metres Made: 653 - Stuart Hogg (Scotland); 498 - Monty Ioane (Italy); 491 - Freddie Steward (England); 439 -
James Lowe (Ireland) ; 408 - Marcus Smith (England); 392 - Darcy Graham (Scotland); 389 - Garry Ringrose (Ireland); 388 - Hugo Keenan (Ireland); 382 - Liam Williams (Wales).
Successful Tackles: 86 - Michele Lamaro (Italy); 70 - Hamish Watson (Scotland); 64 - Anthony Jelonch (France); 62 - Niccolo Cannone (Italy); 58 - Josh van der Flier (Ireland); 58 - Francois Cros (France).
Turnovers Won: 6 - Gregory Alldritt (France); 6 - Toa Halafihi (Italy); 6 - Alex Dombrandt (England); 6 - Maro Itoje (England); 5 - Tadhg Beirne (Ireland); 5 - Rory Darge (Scotland); 5 - Danilo Fischetti (Italy); 5 - Jonathan Danty (France).
Offloads : 9 - Monty Ioane (Italy); 8 - Cyril Baille (France); 8 - Antoine Dupont (France); 7 - Mack Hansen (Ireland); 7 - Gregory Alldritt (France); 6 - Stuart Hogg (Scotland).
Lineouts Won: 28 - Federico Ruzza (Italy); 24 - Cameron Woki (France); 23 - Maro Itoje (England); 22 - Tadhg Beirne (Ireland); 17 - Adam Beard (Wales).