Two Cents Rugby: The strengths and weaknesses of Tier One international teams in 2022

Two Cents Rugby 17 Dec 2022 10:20 PM

With the Test season having concluded, Two Cents Rugby has had a look through the numbers of the Tier One teams to see where they are doing well/poorly.

Ireland

The top team in the world lead all kinds of statistical categories with their relentless quick recycle game. It’s no surprise they top the list with most passes per game with 184 – the average for other teams is in the 130s. Not only that they also top carries with 124, clean breaks and territory. They do have the second oldest squad on average this year, but it’s perhaps a case of experience counting with Johnny Sexton bringing the average up while still bringing his A-game.

Japan

Japan played the fewest Tests this year so it’s easier for one or two big games to affect their stats, but clearly Jamie Joseph has Japan playing a high tempo, entertaining game. They’re the lightest pack at Tier One level, averaging 888kg, almost 30kg below the average. That mobile pack combined with a quick passing game though has given them the highest average for metres run at 477. In one game against France they managed 600+ metres. However, where they have struggled is on defence. The Brave Blossoms had the most missed tackles and lowest tackle rate of all Tier One teams this year.

Scotland

Scotland are one of the teams who don’t really lag behind in any one area, which in itself is a positive. They also manage to top a couple of areas. 24 defenders beaten per game, perhaps not a surprising one with wingers Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe leading the way mean the Scottish attack packs a punch. Also, defensively they boast the top tackling rate at 91%. They did however have a few run metres clocked up against them, only France and Italy had more.

Argentina

Argentina have struggled a bit to get their hands on the ball in 2022. No southern hemisphere team has had less ball. It’s perhaps no shock that with 323 metres per game they’ve had the least run metres of the southern teams and only had more metres carried than a lacklustre Wales side who managed 315. What we did see from Argentina though was some phenomenal goal-kicking. Largely down to winger Emiliano Boffelli, Los Pumas topped that chart on 87% with the Tier One average lower at 80%.

Wales

Not pretty reading for Wales and Warren Gatland will be looking to improve things as he takes over for 2023. Wales averaged the fewest tries with only 1.9, although they did play higher ranked opposition than Italy. Apart from tries, they were ranked lowest for average run metres and lowest average clean breaks. The attack definitely needs work. A positive, if you can call it that, is they’ve averaged the most tackles per game with over 150 made at a really impressive 90%. That being said, it could just be Wales have spent a lot of their time on defence.

Australia

The Wallabies have been talking about discipline all year, and with around 14 penalties conceded and a yellow card per game, you can see why. They’ve also had the worst lineout at 84%, just behind the All Blacks and Japan. They do have the highest rate for winning turnovers for all the southern hemisphere teams which is a plus. It’s interesting to see Dave Rennie stick with a relatively low kicking game – 21 kicks from hand each game is the lowest of all the sides and similar to their 2021 rate.

Italy

The youngest average squad at 25 years old hopefully means good things for Italian rugby going forward. The closest would be the French squad which is a bit older, averaging 26. Italy also like scoring tries via the backs more than any other team with the forwards only getting about one in five this year. The main work-on for Italy though will be defence. When it breaks down, it tends to really fall to pieces. They concede the most clean breaks per game at 6.4. You can bump that to almost 8 if you’re looking at games against other Tier One sides.

France

Like Ireland, some pretty impressive numbers from the French. It’s interesting to see how happy they are to play without the ball. Easily the most boot to ball this year with 31 per game – teams like South Africa and Ireland were only at 25. They had the most average turnovers won with over 7 and the best lineout at 92% which shows they’re really an all-round side. Les Bleus are very stingy on defence as well as they concede the least clean breaks per game at 2.7. All that playing without the ball does mean teams rack up metres against France, more than any other team in fact, but perhaps it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t lead to tries.

New Zealand

The stereotype of the All Blacks being a try-scoring side rings true, averaging the most of all teams with 4.2 per game. No other side managed to achieve an average over four. Of their tries they also scored more from kicks than any other side, Jordie and Beauden Barrett being particularly fond of dinks through. That being said the set-piece does need work with the lineout percentage being 85%, which is the same as Japan and only ahead of Australia.

England

With the departure of Eddie Jones, it will be interesting to see if we see a switch in England’s playstyle. They’ve not been a big try-scoring team in 2022, but have kicked more penalties than any other side so the scoreboard is ticking over. Like the All Blacks though they’ve had issues at set-piece time, although for England it has been the scrum rather than the lineout. Whether some of the veteran props continue to get minutes or whether the young guns like Bevan Rodd are given more game time will be one of the first issues to consider.

South Africa

Certainly not kicking as much as last year, South Africa still love a maul. More than eight mauls a game is better than the next best from Ireland with seven. The stereotype of having the biggest pack also rings true with an average 933kg, which is only marginally ahead of the next heaviest which was the All Blacks. The Boks also average the most possession, but least passes, emphasising the direct running approach. Despite introducing a few young debutants in 2022 and reducing the time of some veterans, the highest average aged side was South Africa at 29.

Argentina