Stat alert - player summaries from 6Ns: The half backs

HEALTH WARNING: IF YOU DON'T LIKE STATS, THEN DO NOT READ ON

A continuation in the series (see earlier threads for a full intro):
Team stats: https://www.606v2.com/t26301-don-t-read-any-further-if-you-don-t-like-stats-6ns-team-summary
Front row stats: https://www.606v2.com/t26376-stat-alert-player-summaries-from-6ns-the-front-row
Second row stats: https://www.606v2.com/t26386-stat-alert-player-summaries-from-6ns-the-boiler-room
Back row stats: https://www.606v2.com/t26392-stat-alert-player-summaries-from-6ns-the-back-row

Credit: espnscrum.com Methodology: I've had to make some assumptions regarding players playing in more than one position throughout the championship and also regarding the treatment of bench players. For the sake of simplicity, I have put a player where I think they fit best - so, for example, Sean Lamont appeared 3 times in the centre for Scotland and twice on the wing, but he is an out&out winger to me, so he will appear among the other wingers for comparison purposes. For all players, I report total stats in the first row and averages in the second - for the computation of averages, if a player appeared from the bench, I have awarded 0.5 match time, whereas a player starting the match is always awarded 1 match time, regardless of whether they are substituted. I suspect that this will have some minor impact on averages, but hopefully not too much (and it made things a damn sight easier for me!). Most of my comments pertain to totals rather than averages.

Key: T/A = Tries/Try Assists, Pts = Points scored, K/P/R = Kick/Pass/Run, MR = Metres Run with ball, CB = Clean Breaks, DB = Defenders Beaten, OL = Offloads, TO = Turnovers, Tma/Tmi = Tackles made/missed, Lw/Ls =Lineouts won on throw/lineouts stolen on oppo throw, Pen = Penalties conceded, & Y/R = Yellow/Red cards

SCRUM-HALF

Games	Name	T	A	Pts	K	P	R	MR	CB	DB	OL	TO	Tma	Tmi	Lw	Ls	Pen	Y	R
4	Blair	0	0	0	16	187	18	81	1	1	1	3	13	2	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	4	46.75	4.5	20.25	0.25	0.25	0.25	0.75	3.25	0.5	0	0	0	0	0
3	Cusiter	0	0	0	15	198	14	44	1	1	4	4	14	2	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	5	66	4.7	14.7	0.3	0.3	1.3	1.3	4.7	0.7	0	0	0	0	0
3	Dickson	0	1	0	19	157	7	30	1	0	0	8	11	3	0	0	6	0	0
#	Average	0	0.3	0	6.3	52.3	2.3	10	0.3	0	0	2.7	3.7	1	0	0	2	0	0
1.5	Dupuy	0	0	3	6	46	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	2	4	30.7	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Gori	0	0	0	22	226	17	35	1	2	5	6	15	5	0	0	3	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	5.5	56.5	4.25	8.75	0.25	0.5	1.25	1.5	3.75	1.25	0	0	0.75	0	0
1	LWilliams	0	0	0	0	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Murray	0	1	0	15	146	20	47	0	2	3	2	21	1	0	0	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0.3	0	5	48.7	6.7	15.7	0	0.7	1	0.7	7	0.3	0	0	0.7	0	0
1	O'Leary	0	0	0	4	28	1	0	0	0	0	3	4	1	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	4	28	1	0	0	0	0	3	4	1	0	0	0	0	0
3.5	Parra	0	2	27	8	148	10	18	0	0	0	2	10	3	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0.6	7.7	2.3	42.3	2.9	5.1	0	0	0	0.6	2.9	0.9	0	0	0	0	0
5	Phillips	0	1	0	13	377	49	122	0	5	5	7	32	1	0	0	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0.2	0	2.6	75.4	9.8	24.4	0	1	1	1.4	6.4	0.2	0	0	0.4	0	0
3.5	Reddan	1	0	5	15	118	10	29	2	3	1	0	11	2	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0.3	0	1.43	4.3	33.7	2.9	8.3	0.6	0.9	0.3	0	3.1	0.6	0	0	0.3	0	0
2.5	Semenzato	0	0	0	6	75	12	39	0	0	2	6	7	3	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	2.4	30	4.8	15.6	0	0	0.8	2.4	2.8	1.2	0	0	0.4	0	0
1	Webb	0	0	0	0	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	0	11	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Yachvili	0	0	16	18	85	5	5	0	0	0	4	6	2	0	0	2	0	0
#	Average	0	0	8	9	42.5	2.5	2.5	0	0	0	2	3	1	0	0	1	0	0
3.5	Youngs	1	0	5	19	123	3	16	0	0	0	4	11	2	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0.3	0	1.4	5.4	35.11	0.9	4.6	0	0	0	1.1	3.1	0.6	0	0	0	0	0

So how might one interpret these stats? Well, first up, plaudits to Eoin Reddan and Ben Youngs for two well taken tries, and shouts out to Lee Dickson, Conor Murray, Morgan Parra (2) and Mike Phillips for their hands in tries (assists). Parra's and Dmitri Yachvilli's kicking duties, not unsurprisingly, see them top the points column. In terms of what our scrum halves did with possession, we can see that Dickson and Gori kicked the most, although that unfortunately tells us little about the type of kick (box, clearing, etc.), nor says much about how good it was. Equally, Phillips and Gori easily passed the most by some margin, but we can say nothing as to what effect. More pertinently Murray and Phillips believed that they posed the most threat from the base of the set piece or breakdown and ran the most, while Phillips was joined by Blair for metres gained. Reddan topped the clean break charts, with honourable mentions to Blair, Chris Cusiter, Dickson and Gori, while Phillips and Reddan beat most defenders, and Phillips and Gori were the offload kings. Unfortunately Dickson and Phillips conceded most possession in terms of turnovers, and in terms of penalties, our greatest sinners were Dickson (double) and Gori. No YCs for our little scrumhalf angels, with Phillips and Murray putting in the most tackles, reflecting perhaps their physicality, with Dickson, Gori, Parra and Semenzato guilty of missing the most tackles.


FLY-HALF

Games	Name	T	A	Pts	K	P	R	MR	CB	DB	OL	TO	Tma	Tmi	Lw	Ls	Pen	Y	R
3.5	Beauxis	0	0	15	31	43	12	51	0	1	2	6	11	4	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	4.3	8.9	12.3	3.4	14.6	0	0.3	0.6	1.7	3.1	1.1	0	0	0.3	0	0
4.5	Burton	0	1	19	44	76	16	38	0	2	2	9	14	5	0	0	3	0	0
#	Average	0	0.2	4.2	9.8	16.9	3.6	8.4	0	0.4	0.4	2	3.1	1.1	0	0	0.7	0	0
5	Farrell	0	0	61	42	65	12	23	1	0	0	5	34	3	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	12.2	8.4	13	2.4	4.6	0.2	0	0	1	6.8	0.6	0	0	0.2	0	0
0.5	Flood	0	0	0	2	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	4	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Hodgson	2	0	12	13	39	13	50	1	0	1	0	20	1	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	1	0	6	6.5	19.5	6.5	25	0.5	0	0.5	0	10	0.5	0	0	0	0	0
1.5	Hook	0	1	0	6	12	13	58	0	0	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0.7	0	4	8	8.7	38.7	0	0	0.7	0.7	3.3	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	Jackson	0	0	0	2	13	2	6	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	2	13	2	6	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
4.5	Laidlaw	1	1	33	22	145	21	23	1	1	2	2	22	7	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0.2	0.2	7.3	4.9	32.2	4.7	5.1	0.2	0.2	0.4	0.4	4.9	1.6	0	0	0	0	0
2.5	O'Gara	0	0	0	10	14	3	17	0	0	0	1	8	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	0	4	5.6	1.2	6.8	0	0	0	0.4	3.2	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	Parks	0	0	6	9	36	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0	6	9	36	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0
5	Priestland	0	1	3	71	156	32	131	1	1	3	7	26	10	1	0	1	1	0
#	Average	0	0.2	0.6	14.2	31.2	6.4	26.2	0.2	0.2	0.6	1.4	5.2	2	0.2	0	0.2	0.2	0
5	Sexton	0	1	56	35	79	10	60	2	0	0	4	31	2	0	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0.2	11.2	7	15.8	2	12	0.4	0	0	0.8	6.2	0.4	0	0	0.2	0	0
4	Trinh-Duc	0	2	0	23	56	29	101	1	3	1	4	20	1	1	0	1	0	0
#	Average	0	0.5	0	5.75	14	7.25	25.25	0.25	0.75	0.25	1	5	0.25	0.25	0	0.25	0	0
0.5	Weir	0	0	2	1	13	5	9	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
#	Average	0	0	4	2	26	10	18	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0

Charge-down king Charlie Hodgson tops the flyhalf try-scoring chart, with wee Greig Laidlaw in second spot. Assists were awarded to Francois Trinh-Duc, Burton, James Hook, Laidlaw, Rhys Priestland and Jonny Sexton. Owen Farrell, in his 6Ns debut season, topped the points scored list, with Sexton a close second. Priestland kicked the ball from hand on 71 occasions, nearly double the next nearest of Burton on 44, but Priestland and Trinh-Duc also ran with the ball in hand most too, perhaps simply reflecting the possession that the Welsh and French tended to enjoy. Unsurprisingly, those two also ran the furthest. Jonny Sexton was the clearn break king, with mentions in dispatches for Farrell, Hodgson, Laidlaw, Priestland and Trinh-Duc. Trinh-Duc and Burton ebat the most defenders, while Priestland, Burton and Laidlaw making the most offloads. Burton will want to forget turnovers conceded, as will Priestland, perhaps reflective that these two were trying the most from 10? Fuel to the fire of a theory that Farrell is the new JW, he put in the most takles, with Sexton not far behind, while Priestland and Laidlaw were profligate in missing tackles (Laidlaw, two critical ones from memory, being run-over by Alex Cuthbert on the way to a Welsh try and by Francois Trnih-Duc in the lead up to a French one). Burton gave away too many penalties, and is joined on the naughty step by Priestland for his YC.


Again, all SNAFU's are mine - pls let me know and I will amend

More tomorrow, if time allows

How does a player receive an assist?

Not sure what definition they use, Bachelor, but final pass or cross-field kick at a guess?

English scrum halfs and fly halfs need to A. get the ball more and B. run more with it then C. make more ground while running that ball.

Very interesting stats.

So much for Hodgson can't tackle! 20 tackles made, 1 missed.

Very surprised by Sexton's excellent tackling too. Farrell's is not so surprising.

Why is Sextons tackling a surprise,it's always been one of his strengths.Maybe as a Leinster supporter I just know his talents better but I didn't think he was ever viewed as anything but a very strong defender.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Not sure what definition they use, Bachelor, but final pass or cross-field kick at a guess?

If that's the case Priestland has 3 I can think of (pass to JD2 vs Ireland, pass to Roberts vs Italy, pass to Cuthbert vs France). Maybe it's something else.

The Bachelor wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Not sure what definition they use, Bachelor, but final pass or cross-field kick at a guess?

If that's the case Priestland has 3 I can think of (pass to JD2 vs Ireland, pass to Roberts vs Italy, pass to Cuthbert vs France). Maybe it's something else.

Must be, if that's the case - does it have to be within a certain distance of the line? So a player passing to his teammate in their own 22 and then that teammate running the length of the field to score = no assist?

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

The Bachelor wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Not sure what definition they use, Bachelor, but final pass or cross-field kick at a guess?

If that's the case Priestland has 3 I can think of (pass to JD2 vs Ireland, pass to Roberts vs Italy, pass to Cuthbert vs France). Maybe it's something else.

Must be, if that's the case - does it have to be within a certain distance of the line? So a player passing to his teammate in their own 22 and then that teammate running the length of the field to score = no assist?

Yeah I'm guessing it's the last pass inside the opposition's 22 as Jenkins doesn't have an assist either for his quick tap and pass to set up Cuthbert's try vs Italy.

These stats have made for interesting reading though; thanks a lot for putting them up!

Why is Sextons tackling a surprise,it's always been one of his strengths

I suspect it's a mixture of Sexton looking quite scrawny (I know he isn't but he looks it) and everyone being used to Ireland having the weak tackling ROG at 10. ROG was there so long you just expect the Irish 10 to miss some tackles.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:Why is Sextons tackling a surprise,it's always been one of his strengths.Maybe as a Leinster supporter I just know his talents better but I didn't think he was ever viewed as anything but a very strong defender.

Maybe it's just ignorance on my part. Sexton doesn't look that big. Also not many fly halves are that good tacklers. It's not really a part of his game I have focussed on. I have never seen Sexton as a poor defender but didn't realise it's as good as the stats show.

beshocked wrote:

Maybe it's just ignorance on my part. Sexton doesn't look that big. Also not many fly halves are that good tacklers. It's not really a part of his game I have focussed on. I have never seen Sexton as a poor defender but didn't realise it's as good as the stats show.

Yeah I guess that's it,I see him so much I just take it for ranted that everyone sees the same things I do.Actually now that you mention it I wouldn't really have considered Farrell a fantastic defender either,just solid.Probably for the same reasons.

His defence is actually better than the stats show.If you watch the France game in particular you'd see that very often he is the player who starts the "choke tackle" we won about 4 turnovers in that game from Sexton holding a man up in the tackle.He's extremely strong and I remember in the WC he stopped Castrogiovanni 5 metres from our line and drove him back a few metres.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

beshocked wrote:

Maybe it's just ignorance on my part. Sexton doesn't look that big. Also not many fly halves are that good tacklers. It's not really a part of his game I have focussed on. I have never seen Sexton as a poor defender but didn't realise it's as good as the stats show.

Yeah I guess that's it,I see him so much I just take it for ranted that everyone sees the same things I do.

His defence is actually better than the stats show.If you watch the France game in particular you'd see that very often he is the player who starts the "choke tackle" we won about 4 turnovers in that game from Sexton holding a man up in the tackle.He's extremely strong and I remember in the WC he stopped Castrogiovanni 5 metres from our line and drove him back a few metres.

I'd agree with all of that, shoulder, he's a very strong defender imo

asoreleftshoulder wrote:

beshocked wrote:

Maybe it's just ignorance on my part. Sexton doesn't look that big. Also not many fly halves are that good tacklers. It's not really a part of his game I have focussed on. I have never seen Sexton as a poor defender but didn't realise it's as good as the stats show.

Yeah I guess that's it,I see him so much I just take it for ranted that everyone sees the same things I do.

His defence is actually better than the stats show.If you watch the France game in particular you'd see that very often he is the player who starts the "choke tackle" we won about 4 turnovers in that game from Sexton holding a man up in the tackle.He's extremely strong and I remember in the WC he stopped Castrogiovanni 5 metres from our line and drove him back a few metres.

Impressive.

Didn't realise Sexton was 6,2. A bigger lad than I thought.