Six Nations stats

Who missed the most tackles? Who made the most line breaks? We dissect the Official Match Data from the weekend's Six Nations action.

Who missed the most tackles? Who made the most line breaks? We take a closer look at the Official Match Data from the opening weekend of Six Nations action.

It's easy to draw conclusions from scorelines but some of the stats emerging from the clashes in Cardiff, Rome and Paris paint an interesting picture.

Most notable is France's apparent poor defence. Les Bleus missed a whopping 25 tackles! They only completed 82 per cent of the tackles they should have, making them the worst defensive team on display. Scotland's three tries came as punishment.

By contrast, Wales and Ireland had a 97 per cent successful tackle rate, missing just three each. England weren't far behind it terms of percentages, but made 32 more tackles than their hosts!

Scotland were the team most willing to run the ball, completing 203 passes. That's 34 more than their hosts and ten more than Ireland, who were next on the list. Unsurprisingly, Italy were the least eager to send the ball through the hands, completing just 124 passes.

While the French might have been shakey on defence, they made the most line breaks and the most offloads in the tackle (12). The Welsh were equally good at offloading.

But Marc Lièvremont won't be as happy as the scoreline in Paris would suggest since his team made the most errors, 17. Ireland were next with 14.

Wales made the fewest errors – just seven – but kicked away the most possession, putting ball to boot 25 times (47 per cent).

Italy's set piece was near-faultless. The Azzurri won 17/19 of their line-outs and didn't lose a scrum. The blue-clad pack also did the most mauling (10), double England's number. Wales' successful maul count was…zero.

No surprise that referee Romain Poite isn't very popular in the Emerald Isle this week, Ireland were on the wrong end of a 13-5 penalty count in Rome. Italy conceded no penalties in the second half.

Things were much more even in Paris with a 9-7 pernalty count in France's favour, while England and Wales conceded nine each.

England made the best of good field position, winning the ball 30 times in the opposition 22. Wales managed it just once.

Overall for the weekend, the ratio of tries scored to penalties goaled was 12/12.

Most tackles made: England (126)
Most tackles missed: France (25)
Most passes completed: Scotland (203)
Most line breaks: France (5)
Most points scored: France 34
Most tries scored: France 4
Most kicks: Wales 25 (47 per cent)
Most turnovers won: Ireland (4)
Most penalties conceded: Ireland (13)
Most scrum penalties conceded: Ireland/Scotland (4)
Most offloads in tackle: France, Wales (12)
Most ruck clearances: Italy (91 %)
Most line-outs lost: Scotland (4)
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Wales 19 – 26 England

82 per cent of penalties given away came at the ruck. Wales came unstuck by being unable to win possession whilst in England territory.

Minutes in possession:
Wales: 27mins, 11 sec
England: 27mins, 17 sec

Minutes in opponents half (total):
Wales: 49mins, 49 sec
England: 42mins, 42 sec

Ruck and drive v Ruck and pass:
Wales: 23-78
England: 22-57

Ball won in open play – in set pieces – in turnovers:
Wales: 101 – 20 – 4
England: 84 – 23 – 3

Possession kicked – Kicks to touch – Percentage kicks
Wales: 25 – 5 – 47 %
England: 21 – 5 – 33 %

Tackles made – tackles missed
Wales: 93 – 3
England: 126 – 5

Total errors made – errors from kicks:
Wales: 7 – 3
England: 11 – 1
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Italy 11-13 Ireland

Italy were made to pay for their poor place-kicking. While Ireland's kickers hit 100 per cent of their attempts at goal, the Azzurri missed a penalty, two drop goals and a conversion.

Minutes in possession:
Italy: 26mins, 35secs
Ireland: 28mins, 16 sec

Minutes in opponents half (total):
Italy: 43mins, 10 secs
Ireland: 46mins, 10 sec

Ruck and drive v Ruck and pass:
Italy: 7-73
Ireland: 13-86

Ball won in open play – in set pieces – in turnovers:
Italy: 90 – 32 – 1
Ireland: 102 – 17 – 4

Possession kicked – Kicks to touch – Percentage kicks
Italy: 19 – 3 – 32%
Ireland: 21 – 7 – 40%

Tackles made – tackles missed
Italy: 112 – 7
Ireland: 94 -3

Total errors made – errors from kicks:
Italy: 8 – 2
Ireland: 14 – 1

Line breaks
Italy: 1
Ireland: 2
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France 34-21 Scotland

Unbelievably, just two of the fourteen penalties conceded by both teams came at the breakdown, the result being the most free-flowing game of the weekend.

Minutes in possession:
France: 29mins, 26sec
Scotland: 25mins, 40sec

Minutes in opponents half (total):
France: 48mins, 26 secs
Scotland: 35mins, 52 sec

Ruck and drive v Ruck and pass:
France: 28/54
Scotland: 16/77

Ball won in open play – in set pieces – in turnovers:
France: 86 – 22 – 1
Scotland: 95 -19 -2

Possession kicked – Kicks to touch – Percentage kicks
France: 19 – 6 – 32 %
Scotland: 22 – 9 – 43 %

Tackles made – tackles missed
France: 112 -25
Scotland: 108 -14

Total errors made – errors from kicks:
France: 17- 0
Scotland: 12 – 2

Line breaks
France: 5
Scotland: 3