Rugby Statistics: Numbers don’t tell the whole story with Ireland

Statistics are nothing more than a neatly arranged set of numbers without context. For example to say that one group of married men spend over half their time sleeping in other people’s beds sounds salacious, but considerably less so when it’s clarified as airline pilots. Disclaimer: that’s not a factual statement.

So in examining some of the attacking metrics relating to Ireland's performances in the 11 Test matches in 2017 it's essential not to simply compare the figures without fleshing out background detail. Ireland lost Six Nations matches against Scotland in Murrayfield and Wales at the Principality stadium, finished second in the tournament and won the other nine Test matches.

Joe Schmidt's side travelled on the summer tour to the USA and Japan without 11 players who were on duty for the Lions in New Zealand, while the Ireland coach made 13 changes for the middle November Test match against Fiji, so those matches have to be calibrated accordingly with the recognition of the number of young, and in some cases inexperienced players, who were given an opportunity taken into consideration in the context of the graphic below.

There are other variables – weather, the calibre of the opposition – which will determine how much time on the ball and space is afforded and the manner in which the opposition defend that have a primary influence on the attacking categories listed. Arguably the most interesting is the number of minutes in which the ball is in play during an 80-minute Test match.

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The assertion that the Six Nations tournament is the most physically demanding from an Irish perspective is borne out in this category. In Ireland's 22-9 defeat to Wales in Cardiff the ball was in play for a whopping 46 minutes and 13 seconds, a record in the Schmidt era as Ireland coach.

Ireland did not score a try for the only occasion in the time-frame listed, but in terms of the other measurements in the specific categories they didn’t dip appreciably below the figures accumulated in other matches. However where the Welsh game differed was in the nature of the contest, as both teams sought to retain possession, the phase play spiralling into the high 20s and 30s at times.

Wales coach Warren Gatland correctly champions the fact that his team doesn’t kick a huge amount of ball in favour of retaining possession.

Using Ireland’s 13-9 win over a Grand Slam chasing England at the Aviva Stadium as a counterpoint, because it had the least amount of ball in play time in the tournament at 33 mins 52 seconds, there were a combined 257 rucks in the Welsh match as opposed to 177 in the England game and another comparable was 341 tackles in Cardiff to 279 in Dublin.

The only other Ireland game in the 2017 Six Nations Championship in which the ball in play was less than 40 minutes was the 63-10 victory over Italy in Rome. There were 10 tries in that game and given that a player taking a conversion has 60 seconds from the moment he places the ball on the tee to complete the kick, the ball in play time could be reduced by eight to 10 minutes.

Ireland also scored nine tries during the game against the USA in which there were 12 in total which in a linear comparison makes the ball in play time of 33 minutes and 47 seconds roughly compatible based on potential time lost to conversions.

Considering the severe heat and humidity in Japan – water breaks were required during the match – the lively nature of the way their hosts played and the fact that Ireland basically put together a scratch side, the numbers right across the board are impressive. Japan drew 23-23 with France in Paris last November, a result that cost Guy Noves his position.

The figures are pretty uniform against the better teams, in the 300s for metres gained against Wales, France, England, South Africa and Argentina and also in terms of clean breaks and offloads. The Pumas and Springboks both pose a different challenge for the attacking team in that they push their wingers up and in, chasing intercepts.

During the four matches in which Ireland amassed the most offloads, they harvested the greatest number of tries, although the calibre of the opposition and the time and space available were fundamental factors; yet it should also be stressed that Ireland players offloaded just twice against the Springboks yet scored four tries in a record breaking 38-3 victory.

There is a context to everything and everything in context.