Worrying signs as offloads and ball-in-play time fall at Rugby World Cup - and tackles soar
www.stuff.co.nz
ANALYSIS: There are now fewer offloads per game than at any point in RWC history, while the number of phases per possession plummeted in France.

Article summarises statistics provided by Opta and some from Warren Gatland; with headline stats:

  1. This RWC saw fewer offloads per game than any other.
  2. The average number of phases per possession dropped to 1.8, compared to 3 in 2019.
  3. Ball in play time dropped marginally to 34.18 minutes / game - but excluding halftime breaks some games took over 100 minutes total to play out.
  4. Tackles per game have grown to 169, up from 129 in 2019 & 119 in 2015.
  5. Kicks per game (might) have grown, Gatland suggesting 57 per game, the highest since 1995.
  6. 25% of all kicks are box kicks.
  • @TagMeInSkipIGotThisOPEnglish
    1•7 months ago

    Yeah its weird huh; probably need to see turnover stats (and what sort of turnover it is) to see for sure what it is. Also the more kicks was a Warren Gatland stat from the first few rounds of the World Cup, whereas most of the others were from Opta and cover the whole tournament.