Statistic of the Day

[Lizard]

Proper, actual Finals

Interestingly, South Africa has never lost a match after the semi-finals of a RWC, being the only team with with a 100% record in Bronze and Actual Finals.

South Africa: 2 wins from 2 finals (100%)
New Zealand: 3 wins from 4 (75%)
Australia: 2 wins from 4 (50%)
England: 1 win from 3 (33%)
France: 0 wins from 3 (0%)

[cashead]

This is the first time that post-RWC, all three SANZAR teams will be guaranteed to appoint a new coach.

Steve Hansen had already flagged he would be stepping down at the end of the Rugby World Cup to take up a contract in Japan.
Michael Cheika resigned after Australia's limp defeat to England in the quarterfinals, and likely quit before he was dismissed.
Rassie Erasmus has now stated he will step aside at the end of the tournament.

[Lizard]

Most RWC Final losses

France 3 (from 3)
England 3 (4)
Australia 2 (4)
New Zealand 1 (4)
South Africa 0 (3)

[Beasties]

Christ we can't even finish top of that league.

[cashead]

Some ducks were broken last night.

1. South Africa have become the first and, so far, only team to have won the Rugby World Cup despite losing earlier in the tournament. England, of course, were the first (and second) team to make the finals despite a previous loss in the tournament (1991, where they lost to the ABs in pool play, and 2007, where the final was a rematch of an earlier game in pool play where South Africa ripped them apart).

2. Makazole Mapimpi became the first Springbok to score a try in a World Cup final, followed shortly by Cheslin Kolbe. They are yet to concede one.

3. The Springboks seem to now win a tournament every 12 years - 1995, 2007 and now 2019.

4. Rassie Erasmus has more or less equalled Rod Macqueen's record for the amount of time (or lack thereof) between appointment as head coach and a World Cup win.

5. The Springboks are the first team to win the Rugby Champs or the Tri Nations and win the Rugby World Cup in the same year.

6. The 20-point margin is the second-equal highest winning score in a World Cup final. The record is still held by Australia in 1999, when they beat France by 23 points. 1987 also had a 20-point margin (albeit when tries were 4 points).

7. This is just the third time where the winning team scored 30+points. Australia and the All Blacks did it in 1999 and 2015 respectively.

[Ross. S]

3. The Springboks seem to now win a tournament every 12 years - 1995, 2007 and now 2019.

Since the advent of professionalism SA have won the world cup immediatly prior to hosting the Lions

[cashead]

3. The Springboks seem to now win a tournament every 12 years - 1995, 2007 and now 2019.

Since the advent of professionalism SA have won the world cup immediatly prior to hosting the Lions

True. Good spot.

[Lizard]

World Cup holder performance
I feel like I’ve done this one before, but it’s time for an update any way. Here are the performance stats for every World Cup winner from after their RWC victory up to and including the final of the RWC where they lost the title:

All Blacks, 21 June 1987 – 2 November 1991: Played 30, won 26, 3 losses, 1 draw. 88.3% success rate.
All the losses and the draw were v Australia.

Wallabies, 3 November 1991 – 24 June 1995: Played 28, won 22, lost 6. 78.6% success.
Losses to NZ, SA, France & England. 1995 was the last SH tournament played in Winter rather than Spring.

South Africa, 25 June 1995 – 6 November 1999: Played 54, won 38, lost 16. 70.4% success.
The birth of the pro era saw a leap in the number of tests played. SA became the first RWC holders to play (and lose to) the Lions.

Australia, 7 November 1999 – 22 November 2003: Played 45, won 29, lost 15, drew 1. 65.6% success.
Aussie became the first defending champions to play in (and to lose) a RWC final. They were also the first champions to record a 0% win rate against another team, going 0 – 5 v England.

England, 23 November 2003 – 20 Oct 2007: Played 47, won 21, lost 26. 44.7% success.
Worst. Champs. Ever. Failed to beat NZ, Ireland or Argentina at all. Had losing records v France, SA and Aust. The only so-called Tier 1 team they played that did win at least once was Italy.

South Africa, 21 Oct 2007 – 23 Oct 2011: Played 49, won 31, lost 18. 63.3% success.
Had losing records against only NZ and Aust, but went 50:50 v France, Ireland, and Scotland. Win rate declined year by year.

New Zealand, 24 Oct 2011 – 2 November 2019: (2011-15 / 2015-19 splits in brackets) Played 107 (54/53), won 93 (49/44), lost 10 (3/7), drew 4 (2/2). 88.78% (92.6%/84.9%) success. Marginally beats out 1987 All Blacks as best champs ever over all. Easily the best in the pro era. Even the weaker 2015-19 side has the 3rd best record after their 2015 and 1987 brethren. Winning record against every team played, except for the drawn Lions series. Losses to SA, Aus, Eng, Ire as well. Declined steadily from 100% in 2013 to only 77.3% this year.

[Lizard]

I saw a mention in another thread that the Eng v NZ match proposed for November might “introduce Itoje to the concept of defeat.” Itoje is on 11 caps (1 as sub*) for 11 wins but the record (for current players of all nations) is actually Itoje’s team mate Elliot Daly on 12 (5 as sub). Anglo-Australian Jack Clifford is chasing hard on 10 (but with only 2 starts).

Other current** English team members yet to taste defeat are the Fijian Nathan Hughes (7 caps), Kyle Sinckler (7), the Kiwi Ben Te’o (7) and Henry Slade (5).

The list for NZ*** is Anton Lienert-Brown (9), Matt Todd (8), Lima Sopoaga (6), Nathan Harris (4) Elliot Dixon (3), Fijii-born Seta Tamanivalu (3), Reiko Ioane (2), Damian McKenzie (2), James Parsons (2), Liam Coltman (1), Kane Hames (1)


The record for most matches without a loss over a completed test career is 17, by Charles Piutau (10 starts). Corey Flynn is second place. Famously being trusted in a Black shirt only to close out games already beyond doubt, he has 15 caps without a loss of which 13 were off the bench and his two starts being against Tonga and Italy.

The shock 2016 win by Ireland over the All Blacks is the only failure to win experienced (so far) by:
Waisake Naholo (12)
Ardie Savea (12)
Patrick Tuipulotu (12)
Liam Squire (8)
Scott Barrett (4)
George Moala (4)
Ofa Tu’ungafasi (4)

The record for most matches with only one defeat is held by Wyatt Crockett (58, including 1 draw). Next on that list is TKB way back on 25.

*Sorry, as “finisher”
**Capped in 2017
***Capped in 2016

Thought it might be interesting to update/expand on the above. Here the all-time most tests without a loss or a draw for each of the Big Ten, as well as current (capped in 2019) players who have won every test they have appeared in so far:

New Zealand: Charles Piutau 17 from 17. Weber and Hemopo are both on 5, Jacobson 2 and Ennor and J. Ioane 1 each.
Ireland: Dan Leavy 11, 2016-2018*. Addison 4, Haley 1.
South Africa: Hannes Brewis 10**, 1949-1952. van Staden 3, Gqoboka & Elstadt 2, Ntubeni 1.
England: Jack Clifford 10, 2016-17*. Matt Kvesic is on 4 from 4, Marchant 3, McConnochie & Robson 2 each.
Argentina: Pablo Gambarini 8, 2006-2008. No current 100% winners.
France: Jean-Louis Jordana 7, 1996-1997. Cros 2, Barassi & Mauvaka 1.
Wales: Seb Davies 7, 2017-18*. No current 100% winners.
Australia: John Ryan 6, 1975-76. Rob Valetini is the only current 100% winner Wallaby on a 1 match winning streak.
Italy: Gianfranco Zanchi 5, 1953-57, & Fernando Pignotti 5, 1968 - 69. None current.
Scotland: Rory Hughes 4, 2015-2017*. G. Stewart 3, Kerr 1.

*Not clear if this will be his final tally.
**Including all 4 tests in 1949 v NZ. No other player in this post has played NZ even once!

[cashead]

Itoje and Daly had both already lost a test. Or does the first test of the 2017 Lions Tour not count?

[Lizard]

Itoje and Daly had both already lost a test. Or does the first test of the 2017 Lions Tour not count?

The what tour? Never heard of it.

[Lizard]

Is it just me or is Julian Savea not given just dues. The Bus has 40 tries in 44 matches putting him 5th on the NZ list behind Howlett, Cullen, Rokocoko and J. Wilson and ahead of Lomu, yet all those players seemed to be much more highly regarded in their day than Julian is now.

For context, there are only 14 men in history with 40 or more tries. Here’s how many tests it took them to get to 40:

D. Ohata: 35
J. Savea: 44
J. Rokocoko: 46
C. Cullen: 48
D. Howlett: 49
J. Wilson: 55
D. Campese: 56
H. Onozawa: 56
S. Williams: 57
B. Habana: 73
R. Underwood: 75
C. Latham: 77
G. North: 88
G. Thomas: 99
B. O’Driscoll: 107

Updated.

[morepork]

Itoje and Daly had both already lost a test. Or does the first test of the 2017 Lions Tour not count?

The what tour? Never heard of it.

That’s the spirit

[Lizard]

Owen "Starting" Franks has equaled Salvatore Perugini's record of 83 test caps without ever scoring a try.

Perugini started 53 of his tests, compared to Franks 73, so I would put the NZer ahead on tie-breaker.

Another way to break the tie is to consider that Franks has dodged being at the sharp end of 318 tries scored by his team while was in the playing squad. (He must have worked bloody hard against Japan in 2011 when his team mates got over the line 13 times including Mealamu and Hore). Perugini only had to avoid 147 tries (also working hard to avoid any of the 13 against Portugal in 2006 including scores by both locks and the replacement hooker).

3rd place is J Slipper of Australia who is on 79 tryless caps. There a bunch of active players in the 60s.

Update:

Franks has of course retained his impressive record right through to the end of his 108 match career. Test teams he has been in have scored 437 tries (14 by other props, 37 by all front-rowers, 40 by S Savea)

James Slipper blotted his copy book by unsportingly scoring against Uruguay in Oita at RWC2019.

The most-capped, never-scored active players are Marler (68 caps), BS Davies (66), G Begadze (65)

[Lizard]

Most caps for zero tries in a particular position:

All-time:
Fullback: 33, Billy Bancroft (Wales, 1890-1901)
Wing: 17, LM Notoglia (Italy*, 2004-6)
Centre: 29 J Cannon (Can,2001-5)**
Flyhalf: 38***, Y Tamura^ (Jpn, 2013-19) (Record for a full career is 35, EP Elwood, Ire, 1993-99)
Scrumhalf: 63***, G Begadze (Geo, 2011-19) (Record for a full career is 60, LE Pissarra, Port, 1996-2007)
Prop: 108, T Franks (NZ, 2009-19)
Hooker: 51, H Bennett (Wales, 2003-12)
Lock: 72, LC Charteris (Wales, 2004-17)
Flank: 44, TA Wood (Eng, 2011-17)
No. 8: 33, DK Denton (Sco, 2011-18)

Current (capped in 2019):
Fullback: 12, WJE Hooley (USA)
Wing: 16, G Aptsiauri (Geo)
Centre: 18, T Castelo (Italy)
Flyhalf: 38, Y Tamura^^ (Jpn)
Scrumhalf: 63***, G Begadze (Geo)
Prop: 68, JWG Marler (Eng)
Hooker: 29, EVT Taione (Tonga)
Lock: 64, BS Davies (Wales)
Flank: 23, R Wilson (Sco)^^
No. 8: 26 R Wilson (Sco)^^


*Because of course it's an Italian.
**Tie broken by most starts
***Career ongoing
^Tamura has, however, scored tries coming on as a replacement for other positions. I do not know if he was shuffled into flyhalf on those occasions. If so, then the all time record is Elwood's, and the current is Cami Lopez on 26.
^^This is a pretty special achievement

[Lizard]

Let's look at some figures for NH (6N + Lions) v SH (RC).
This year, NH sides have won 50% of matches v SH, with the tie-breaker this weekend.

That is easily the best return in the pro era. The last 50% win rate was in 1993. The last one over 50% was in 1982.

In 2015, the rate was 0.00%.

For 1996 to 2014, the annual rate varied between 13.0% to 42.5%

So, yes, 2016 has seen an unusually high success rate by the NH, but it is not yet clear if it is a longer term trend.

Update:
2016 ended up with NH winning 51.9%
2017: 43.5%
2018: 57.7%
2019: 50.0%

Fair to say though that Argentina are dragging our side down here. They are 3 from 19 (15.8%) v 6N, 2016-2019.

For comparison:
NZ are 17 + draw from 22 v 6N/Lions (79.5%)
Boks 14 from 24 (58.3%)
Aus 7 from 21 (33.3%)

Over the same period:
England 16 from 20 v RC teams (80.0%)
Ireland 9 from 15 (64.3%)
Scotland 5 from 8 (62.5%)
Wales 9 from 17 (52.9%)
Lions 50% v NZ
France 3 (all v Arg) from 15 (20.0%)
Italy 1 from 9 (11.1%)

[cashead]

South Africa did well to pull things back after the disaster that was 2016.

Australia's record looks even worse considering their results against England. They just simply aren't up to snuff there.

Wales also enjoyed a pretty solid record against South Africa, although they just couldn't deliver when it mattered. I think they were on a 4-game streak against the Boks until the semifinals, and it would give credence to any theory that their struggles against the SH sides are largely mental. How many goes did it take for them to get a win against the Wallabies as well? They became very adept that the heartbreaking loss in the last minute that would've made pretty much everyone in Wales and any Kiwis watching loudly shout "GODDAMNIT!" I certainly did.

[Lizard]

I think it might be revealing to graph NH teams’ success against the Big 3 against the number of SH (incl. PI) born players in their squads.

[Lizard]

Italy's 6 Nations
Poor old Italy has plumbed new depths of godawfulness this year. Eddie Jones was right that they haven't played rugby. They've just sat back and watched rugby be played around, over and behind them.

For the 7th time in 18 seasons* Italy has lost every single 6N match. For comparison's sake, since the Azzuri joined the competition, there have been only 4 other years where a team has lost every match (Wales in 2003 and Scotland in 2004, '12 & '15). Italy has not won a match since their 3rd match of 2015 when Scotland out-wooded-spooned them. That is their only win in 20 matches (a 5% win rate) since 2013.

Italy's set a new record for worst ever Points Difference with -151, beating the old mark of -145 they set only last year. Italy has now been 100 points or more adrift in 10 different seasons. No other team has ever conceded an average of 20/match in the 6N.** The next worst was Scotland's -93 in 2004.

If Italy drop their first two matches in 2018 (as seems inevitable) they will match their worst losing streak of 14 (2000-2002).

The Italian's should be very grateful that Romania toppled the Lelos over the weekend, reducing the momentum of Georgia's bid for a place at the top table in Europe.

*2001, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017
**Ireland conceded 84 (av. 21/match) in the 5N in 1997 but at least won a match.

Update time:

2018 and 19 were Italy’s 8th and 9th whitewashes in 20 seasons.

Italy has now been whitewashed in 4 consecutive seasons, continuing to outstrip its previous record of 2 (2001-02).
(Scotland has 3 in a row in the 5N, 1952-54. France lost every match from 1910 to 1914 - 19 matches because they didn’t play Scotland in 1914 due to unsavouriness in their 1913 fixture).

Their losing streak in the 6N is now 22 tests.
2018 was their 11th season with a negative PD over 100 (111).

[Lizard]

Anyway, today's stat: Most caps without a win.

This is a tie. Both Youn Kwon Woo of Korea and Guillaume Brebant of Belgium have 13 caps with no wins, although Brebant has played in 1 draw. Brebant was last capped in 2017 and Woo in 2016, so they may still extend the record. There are 4 players tied for 3rd on 12 but none seem likely to be capped again.

Most fruitless caps for each major nation:
France: 12, E. Lesieur (1906-12)
Ireland: 10 JRW Morrow (1882-88); WR Hunter* (1962-66)
Scotland: 9 JH Henderson (1953-54)
Australia: 9 JV Brown (1956-58)
Italy: 8 M Trevisiol (1988-1994)
South Africa: 7 OA Roux** (1969-1974)
Argentina: 7 HM Garcia Simon (1990-92)
England: 6 EW Roberts (1901-1907); EL Rudd*** (1965-66)
Wales: 6 BR Turnbull (1925-30)
New Zealand: 3 shared by 8 players, most recently JE Black (1977-1980)

Remarkably, a number of players have been capped by their national side and the Lions without a win. The most capped are Lions team mates J Wallace (Ire, 1903-04) & T Gibson (Eng, 1903-05) who were both uncapped before the 1903 Lions tour (2 draws, 1 loss) and then earned two caps in losses for their countries.

*played in 3 draws
**played in 3 draws. The most SA caps without a win or a draw is 3, shared by 14 players some who had 1 or 2 draws. 2 Springboks have 4 caps for 2 wins & 2 draws.
***2 draws

Update:

I seem to have somehow overlooked Tomas Pardo Vidal, the actual record holder with 14 test caps for 0 wins. He played 12 times for Spain 1976-88 and twice for South America in 1984. I did not know that Spain was in South America until now.

Aleksandr Lomakin has accrued 13 caps for Ukraine (2005-12) for no wins.

Kieron Fonotia has joined those on 12 fruitless caps so if Samoa have a poor start to the year he might get to the record.

In the national lists, I should have included:
RB Walkington for Ireland - 10 caps, 9 losses, 1 draw (1875-82)
KJ Donald, for Australia - 9 caps, 8L , 1D (1957-59)

[Lizard]

Most RWC Caps by Country:

England: 22, Jason Leonard (1991-2003)
New Zealand: 22, Richie McCaw (2003-15)
South Africa: 20, Schalk Burger (2003-15)*
Australia: 20, George Gregan (1995-07)
France: 18, Raphael Ibanez (1999-07)
Wales: 18, Gethin Jenkins (2003-15)*
Argentina: 18, Mario Ledesma (1999-2011)
Samoa: 18, Brian Lima (1991-2007)
Ireland: 17, Paul O’Connell (2003-15), Brian O’Driscoll (1999-2011)
Georgia: 15, Merab Kvirikashvili (2003-15)**
Scotland: 15, Chris Paterson (1999-2011)
Italy: 14, Martin Castrogiovanni (2003-15), Alessandro Troncon (1995-2007)
Canada: 14, Jamie Cudmore (2003-15), Rod Snow (1995-2007)
Romania: 14, Romeo Gontineac (1995-2007)
Fiji: 14, Nicky Little (1999-2011)
Japan: 12, Hirotoki Onozawa (2003-11)
Namibia: 11, five guys with Boer names
Tonga: 11, Vunga Lilo (2007-15)*, Soane Tonga'uiha (2007-2015)*
USA: 11, Mile MacDonald (2003-11), Chris Wyles (2007-15)
Uruguay: 7, eight guys with Spanish names
Zimbabwe: 6, Michael Martin (1987-91)
Portugal: 4, ten guys with Portuguese names
Russia: 4, nine guys with Russian names
Spain: 3, nine guys with Spanish names
Ivory Coast: 3, thirteen guys with, presumably, Ivorian names.

*Not officially retired as far as I know, but not capped since at least 2016
**Capped in 2017

Update:
Wales: 21, Alun Wyn Jones (2007-19)
Georgia: 15, Mamuka Gorgodze (2007-19)*
Italy: 15, Sergio Parisse (2003-19)
Canada: 15, DTH van der Merwe (2007-19)
Namibia: 14, EA Jantjies (2007-19)
Japan: 14, L Thompson (2007-19)
Tonga: 12, SM Kalamafoni & SV Piutau (both 2011-19)
USA: 11, BH Scully (2011-19)*
Russia: 8, three players (all 2011-19)
Uruguay: 8, four players (all 2015-19)

*Tied with existing record holder

[Lizard]

Most test losses by nation
Inspired by an online quiz where you had to name the 10 All Blacks with 15 or more losses (I got 8/10 - poor effort), here are the players with the most test losses for select nations.* Italicised names are those that are not also their nation's most-capped player.

Italy: Sergio Parisse 93**
Wales: Gethin Jenkins 65
Scotland: Chris Paterson 65
Portugal: Vasco Uva 57***
Australia: Stephen Moore 52
Ireland: Ronan O'Gara 52
Russia: Victor Gresev 49
Argentina: Juan Manual Leguizamon 49
Canada: Aaron Carpenter 48
Japan: Yukio Motoki 47
USA: Mike MacDonald 46
South Africa: Victor Matfield 46
Spain: Jaime Nava de Olano 44
Romania: Romeo Gontineac 41
Uruguay: Rodrigo Sanchez 41
France: Fabien Pelous 38
Georgia: Merab Kvirikashvili 37
Fiji: Nicky Little 34
Samoa: Census Johnstone/Brian Lima 31
England: Joe Worsley 30
Namibia: Eugene Jantjies 29
Tonga: Nili Latu 28
Germany: Kehoma Brenner 26
Czechia: Pavel Syrovy 22
Brazil: Bruxinho Piero de Moraes 21
New Zealand: Justin Marshall/Andrew Mehrtens 19

In most cases where the "biggest loser" is not the most capped, there's only one or two caps/losses in it. Stephen Moore however has played 16 fewer tests than Gregan but lost 8 more times - a stark illustration of the Wallabies recent dip in fortune. Worsley's 30 losses from 78 caps is also impressive set aside Leonard's 26 from 114 (Toby Flood has 28 from 60!).


*Losses for Lions/PI not counted
**Sergio has some stiff competition. The top 11 for all countries are all Italian
***Vasco appears to have retired last year so may soon be overtaken by his brother Gonçalo who is currently on 55

Bit of an update:

Parisse has become the first, and so far only, player to notch up 100 test losses, reaching 106 so far. Zanni (85) and Ghiraldini (84) are contenders to join him.

Alun Wyn Jones joins Jenkins on 65 losses for Wales, but has only 4 additional losses for the Lions while Jenkins has 5.

Creevey streaks ahead to 63 for Argentina.

Yuri Kushnarev takes the Russian record to 57.

Uva minor got to 56, 1 short of his brother's Portuguese record but was not selected this year.

Steven Moore took the Aussie record to 54, with Genia only 2 behind.

Nava de Olano inches his mark to 46, but it seems I overlooked F Puertos Soto who reached this mark in 1999.

DG Magno has taken Uruguay's record to 45.

Picamole has eased the French mark to 42.

Vlaicu joins Gontineac on 41 for Romania.

Kvirikashvili is now on 40 for Georgia, joined by Kacharava.

Jantjies has moved his Namibian mark to 34.

David Lemi joins Johnston and Lima on 31 for Samoa.

Larenas Hitschfeld brings Chile into the list on 27.

Bruxinho Piero de Moraes takes Brazil on to 26.

[morepork]

You'd have to think someone should be able to get some change out of Italy, but from Mallet onwards, they have just got worse. There are some talented players there but it all turns to fish paste risotto when they are put together.

[Lizard]

Yep. It’s pretty damning for the theory that regular matches against top sides will lead to lesser teams getting more competitive, especially when compared to how Japan has gone about it (could be a flash in the pan, though).

Scotland was about on par for a while but have pulled their socks up, while Italy have just flatlined since getting into the 6N.

[Lizard]

Wales v Barbarians RFC
A few stats about Wales v Baabaas matches:

Played: 10
Wales wins: 4
Baabaas wins: 6
Matches capped by Wales: 4 (1990, 1996, 2011, 2012)

I still have no idea why Wales gives caps for these festival matches at all, or why these ones but not others. Fiji and Brazil capped their Baabaas matches this year, as have Canada, Czechia, Georgia, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.

Fiji has taken the Welsh approach of capping some but not all of their Baabaas games.

Canada has capped all two of its games.

All others have only had one match so no pattern is established.

National/Multi-national teams that have played the Baabaas but never awarded caps are;
Argentina (3 matches)
Aust (14)
Belgium (1)
B&I Lions (2)
East Africa (1)
England (18)
Germany (1)
Ireland (6)
Italy (1)
NZ (11)
Rhodesia (1) (Rhodesia played under the auspices of the South African union so was never regarded as a national union in its own right and did not award caps. Rhodesia competed in the Currie Cup and its players were eligible for the Springboks.)
Russia (1)
Samoa (1)
Scotland (11)
SA (8)
Tonga (1)