Using these and making some assumptions (not necessarily accurate ones), we can look at the involvement of each player or groups of players in the attack.
First, the (not wholly accurate) assumption: the number of attacking interventions by a player is #passes made + #carries (except for scrumhalf where all passes made are assumed from the base and therefore don't count in their attacking interventions). This won't be totally correct, as there will be instances when a player makes a carry and then passes (rather than offloads), but they are rarer and we can't unpick that unless we get better stats or do a MBM.
This gives us 119 attacking interventions by our starting 15 - 76 carries plus 43 (non SH) passes made. That feels consistent with our complaints that we play tighter and seek to carry through, rather than pass around the opposition. If we then look at which players are making these attacking interventions we have:
FR 10%
2R 18%
BR 28%
SH 3%
FH 13%
C 8%
B3 19%
56% of our attacking ball is being touched by our pack, versus just 22% between FH and centres - the tactics here are clear that 9 is passing to our forward pods so much more frequently. The fact our forwards see 2.5x as much ball as our fly half and both centres COMBINED is... erm... interesting.
This compares to NZ's stats using the same methodology:
FR 7%
2R 10%
BR 24%
SH 1%
FH 14%
C 16%
B3 29%
And the forwards (all 8, in total) seeing their 40% of ball which is only 1.36x as much as the 3-person FH+IC+OC combo. 113 carries vs 92 passes. Far more fluid and backs-oriented.
I don't think any of this is really that surprising when we really think about how England plays. But it is a system thing, not a Marcus Smith thing or a George Ford thing. If anything, it is entirely down to the choices made by the 9 - if he's passing mostly to forward pods, we can't be surprised when our centres rarely get to see the ball.
The biggest differences in how NZ used their players in attack versus England were:
- FB and IC both each saw 7% more ball than England's
- Sititi saw 7% more ball than CCS - and you would if he was on your team!
- Earl took 10% more ball than Savea
- Martin took 7% more ball than Vaa'i
