Statistics - Super 14, Week 4
Tue, 09 Mar 2010
Week 4 of Super 14 and only six matches as the Buills and the Western Force had byes. We give some stats from the week and then some totals so that the activities of each side are obvious. There is the same side with most tries but a new side as the most penalised.
Laws: Try, try, try again
Mon, 08 Mar 2010
You can go for weeks and weeks in the Super 14 with something like two thousand things referees have had to look for each weekend and there is no controversy. Then comes a weekend when controversies flourish. It happened this weekend. They were not every-day controversies, either, but they concerned tries given and not given.
Statistics: Super 14, Week 3
Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Week 3 was a good weekend for the New Zealand sides, for all five of them won. It was a poor weekend for South African and Australians sides who managed just one win each. The stats will tell you what happened match by match and you can then see which side has scored the most (or the least), which team has been penalised most (or least), and other details.
Statistics, Super 14, Week 2
Tue, 02 Mar 2010
Have you ever seen a Super 14 match like the one in Johannesburg? Mind you, have you ever seen any match like it? A team scored 65 and loses! It looks like a misprint. We give some statistics for the Week 2 matches.
Stats: 6N, Round 3
Thu, 11 Mar 2010
We give some statistics from the three closely-contested matches this weekend and then some totals in which you can see which team is most penalised, which kicks most, which scores the most tries and so on.
Laws: Waugh has a point
Tue, 23 Feb 2010
After the match between his Waratahs and the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday, Phil Waugh, captain of the Waratahs and an experienced flank forward, complained about the new application of the law because it ceased to allow a contest at the tackle. He has a point.
Laws: Tackle Watch
Thu, 18 Feb 2010
The tackle is such a big issue at the moment - the burning issue in rugby. But then it has been a burning issue for many years and looks likely to remain so.
Stats: Super 14, Round 1
Wed, 17 Feb 2010
The 2010 Super 14 has kicked off with, as seems usual, more concentration on the application of existing laws. The Big Four are under the spotlight - tackle, scrum, obstruction and offside ahead of kicks.
Some Six Nations statistics, Round 2
Mon, 15 Feb 2010
In Round 2 Wales beat Scotland in a thriller, France's were too good for Ireland and England just managed to spare their blushes against Italy. We give some statistics from the matches. You would be surprised which team passed least.
Some Six Nations statistics, Round 1
Mon, 08 Feb 2010
We give some statistics from the matches in the first round of the Six nations - tight matches rather than matches of creativity and adventure.
Laws: Tackle - the first of the Big Four
Mon, 25 Jan 2010
During the SA Referees course at Newlands, attended by the top 11 referees in South Africa plus the people who assess them and the people who select them, applying laws to the Big Four were discussed - the Tackle, the Scrum, Offside and the Maul & Obstruction.
What refs watch
Mon, 11 Jan 2010
A friend asked on Friday how many things a referee has to watch in a match, and it seemed a good idea to find out.
Law Discussion: 2010 starts
Mon, 04 Jan 2010
It's the new year in the frozen north and the sweltering south. There is much celebrating and in the north there is also some rugby, and so some incidents to discuss. The incidents are from two matches in England's Premiership - Sale Sharks against Harlequins in Manchester and London Wasps against Newcastle Falcons. But first there is a matter of balls.
Law Discussion: From the Premiership
Tue, 29 Dec 2009
Wasn't the crowd at Twickenham wonderful on Sunday? Over 76 000 spectators a record for England's Premiership, getting close to what Stade Français get at Stade de France. And it was a match that ended with great excitement, three tries in the last 12 minutes for a 21-20 result.
Law Discussion: Heineken Cup, Rd Four
Tue, 22 Dec 2009
It's a pity one cannot red-card the weather. It would have helped this past weekend when matches froze. Didn't you admire Edinburgh and Bath in the ran/sleet/snow at Murrayfield, just for the way they tried to play constructive rugby in the freezing muck.
Law Discussion: Dangerous acts
Tue, 22 Dec 2009
Does the dangerous play occur only in open play? Is it dealt with only if the victim in injured? Surely neither of those can be correct, not if we believe that the Laws of the Game apply equally to all, but then watch three incidents in the match between Perpignan and Munster.
Law Discussion: Heineken Cup, Rd Three
Tue, 15 Dec 2009
There was a lot of excitement in Round Three of the Heineken Cup with some splendid rugby when, as the sun shone, there was greater emphasis on running with the ball than kicking it.
Statistics: November 2009, Week 4
Mon, 30 Nov 2009
There was foul weather and there were two great matches - in Cardiff and, above all, in Marseille. We give some statistics from each of the matches.
Statistics: November 2009, Week 4
Mon, 30 Nov 2009
There was foul weather and there were two great matches - in Cardiff and, above all, in Marseille. We give some statistics from each of the matches.
Law Discussion: Scrum figures
Wed, 25 Nov 2009
Before the November Tests started the top refereeing people gathered in London and had a lot to say about the scrums. After the first full week of November, there was much miserable controversy about scrums after New Zealand suffered in Milan. That produced greater refereeing awareness in the second week.
