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GRAHAM WOODS |
Weblog: Try lines - the rugby union review
Wales were accused of being too lateral against England on Friday
So, what did we actually learn from last weekend?
ENGLAND: clinical. Wales: lateral. Ireland: lucky. Italy: unlucky. Scotland: brave. France: er, French.
There you go, week one of the Six Nations summed up, those bullet points pretty much the consensus of Sunday newspaper verdicts, once you’ve swept away all the bluster, hyperbole and smart-arsed embellishment that fills up 90 per cent of your match report at least.
Of course, not everyone will agree with those views, though I’d be surprised if anyone can dispute the first. I was following the Wales v England game on the BBC’s live text commentary as I sat on a train home, and as soon as the final whistle went one viewer tweeted: “I think clinical is the word that all the pundits will drag out.” A minute later, on came Jeremy Guscott and Jonathan Davies using precisely that term.
But thank goodness the experts are agreed on something, because breaking down the stats is something that’s proving pretty tricky.
It’s always hard to take a strong view on the second round of Six Nations matches, as the first round provides as many questions as it does answers.
Were Italy that good defensively or were Ireland wasterful in attack? We won’t know until they take on England and France respectively at the weekend.
Even forming strong conclusions based on the match stats is proving tough, not least because we appear to have contradictory figures. For example, the official match data at the Six Nations website (www.rbs6nations.com) tells us that against Scotland France made 112 tackles and missed 25.
The match details at scrum.com, however, say they made 105 and missed 20. Fair enough, stats like that will always be a touch subjective, but the line-out stats are at odds too. According to rbs6nations.com France won 11 and lost one on their own throw, scrum.com say ten and two.
Sometimes over-reliance on stats is a blind alley for punters anyway. No-one would backone team to beat another on the basis of who made more tackles or more clean breaks last week. Instead, the figures give an idea of the shape and the flow of the game.
That’s where it helps to have the pundits give their views. We can then use the match stats to see if they back up the experts’ - or, better, our own - interpretation of where the game was won and lost.
The BBC get stick for some of their panellists, but where they scored inthe opening weekend was in collaring England skipper Lewis Moody and Ireland winger Tommy Bowe, both ruled out of their matches through injury, to say their piece.
Anyone involved in the squad is going to have a far better insight than the old-timers who have little more to say than how it was all different in their day.
And talking of Brian Moore … well, no, that’s unfair because I quite like Moore, although I am biased because I used to enjoy watching him in his playing days at Quins.
I remember one time the players standing waiting for a line-out to be taken while Moore, who was supposed to be throwing in, was on the other side of the pitch surrounded by three opposition players, outnumbered but fearless with head down and fists flailing.
When he finally got over to where the action was, the away fans naturally wanted to give him some stick so one shouted: “I can see your bald patch Brian.” Even in the heat of battle Moore just turned round with a friendly grin and said: “Big, isn’t it?”
Moore does at least illuminate the goings-on in the scrum, a tricky area for anyone fortunate enough never to have played in the front row to follow.
And he comes up with some belters too. Like on Friday night when England scored the first try: “If Wales had kicked those two penalties the score now would be 7-6 not 7-0. As it is, it isn’t.”
Or: “It could be on for England here if they take this line-out quickly … oh, hang on, it’s a Welsh throw.”
And best of all, as Stephen Jones lined up a second-half conversion: “ … I was going to say … well, I’ll make this point after the kick because it’s only a point if he misses … and he’s kicked it, so moot point … forget about it.”
I’m sorry, but I can’t forget about it Brian, it’s keeping me awake at night. What were you going to say?
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