Winning - The Stats that Matter
Let the statistics shape your season and your plans for every game.
Let's be practical first. Most of you won't have multi-angled video playback or even the time to pursue such analysis.
So what you need is the four most relevant stats that are going to help you score more and concede less points. And they need to be easy to collect and easy to understand. Here is the first set of stats.
Attack - how and where do you score tries?
Analyse your team's statistics on scoring tries. Do you score your tries from lineouts, scrums, turnover ball, counter attack, kick and chase? Then ask yourself:
- Which player scored them?
- Where on the try line were they scored (wide out, under the posts)?
- Where did the move start from?
For instance, on their 2005 tour of New Zealand, the Lions scored only three tries, but all from set pieces. By comparison, a few months later in the Tri Nations, South Africa scored three of their seven tries against New Zealand from counter attacks and interceptions, many from their own half.
Strategy
Once you have identified a clear picture of the source of your tries, you can build on your strengths and/or confront your weaknesses.
If lineouts lead to most of your tries, then a kicking game can be employed to manoeuvre your team into try scoring positions. If you are finding it hard to score in a game because your lineout is not functioning, then change the strategy to work towards your next major source of tries.
The player scoring the tries adds another element to the strategy equation.
Neil Back, a flanker and World Cup winner for England, is known as a forager rather than an open field runner. He also scored a bagful of tries for his club and country. The majority came from the catch and drive at the lineout, where he controlled the maul from the back with his hands on the ball. His expertise in this area increased his, and more importantly, his team's tally of tries.
The simple message: get the ball to the try scorers in try scoring situations. This means making sure they are not in a different place on the pitch, such as involved in a ruck or maul. So don't let your try scoring winger or full back or whoever take the ball into contact.
Defence - how and where you concede tries?
These questions can completely change the attitude you have towards your defensive duties. Ask yourself:
- From where on the field do most opposition tries start? Your 22m area, the halfway line?
- Do they tend to start from set pieces (scrums, lineouts, kick offs) or turnovers?
- How many phases of play are normally required to score against you?
- Where is your defensive line usually broken (from rolling mauls, near rucks, through the centre, wide out, from kicks over the top)?
- Where on the try line do you concede (wide out, under the posts)?
Strategy
Defence is half the game, but rarely practised for half the time. It's also not just about the tackle area, but getting bodies into the right places at the right time. This means training players to move to the correct places on the field.
Interestingly, we spend a lot of time doing this in attack, having players stay deep before running on to the ball or wingers standing wider than usual. However, we don't often think about the running lines for defenders. Yes, they should close down space, but then what?
Think about where your players stand at set pieces, second phase and beyond. Your analysis should quickly identify where you should concentrate your defence (such as closer to the breakdown/set piece or wider out).
I was asked recently how to solve a problem of tries scored from ones own kick offs. It turned out that there was only one chaser, with other players moving up behind at their own pace. A quick strategy to solve this was to have a "chasing captain", normally the pack leader, who at the time designated two other runners to close down the kick off receiver, with other players following.
This stratgey takes into account tired players, those not focused or not capable. It's also a quick fix if you don't have 20 minutes or so to practise kick off chases.