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Sharks, Stormers 'surprise'

Cape Town - Hands up those who called this past weekend’s unexpected set of Super 14 results?

Given their form going into the weekend, the Sharks losing to the Reds in Brisbane and the Stormers whipping the Lions by 38 points at Newlands was somewhat of a surprise.

Many reasons (or excuses, take your pick) have been given for the Sharks’ poor showing and the Stormers’ dramatic turnaround in fortunes, but what do the actual match statistics reveal about just why the Sharks lost and the Stormers won?

Using stats provided exclusively by Verusco, the New Zealand-based company who supply video analysis systems (and the very same figures used in this column) to most of the South African Super 14 teams, let’s find out.

Stormers v Lions

We analysed this match with particular emphasis on handling errors, what each team did with ball in hand, how they tackled, and how many turnovers they won and lost. The results, as usual, made for interesting reading.

Handling errors: Lions 37, Stormers 37, so all square there, then. The players with most handling errors on both sides were as follows:

Stormers: 7 – Jean de Villiers; 3 – Schalk Burger, Duane Vermeulen, Gcobani Bobo, Percy Montgomery.
Lions: 5 – Cobus Grobbelaar, Henno Mentz; 4 – Jano Vermaak, Earl Rose; 3 – Jaque Fourie, Louis Ludik.

Tackling: The 22 Stormers players who appeared had to attempt just 107 tackles, of which they made 77 and missed 30 for an efficiency of 71.96%. The 22 Lions used attempted 148 tackles, making 107 and missing 41 for a tackle efficiency of 72.29%.

The Stormers’ hooker Schalk Brits made the most tackles for his team, namely 10, followed by Jean de Villiers (8), Peter Grant (7 in just 59 minutes) and Luke Watson (6 in only 28 minutes).

The Stormer who missed the most tackles was De Villiers, followed by Percy Montgomery and Sireli Naqelevuki, who missed 3 apiece. Grant was the most efficient tackler, with a 100% success rate from his 7 attempts, with Brits second on 83.33% after missing just 2 of his 12 attempted hits.

For the Lions, backrower Franco van der Merwe and centre Barry Goodes each made the most tackles, namely 12, followed by skipper Cobus Grobbelaar (10). But Grobbelaar, as he has done previously this season, fell off the most tackles as well (6), while Van der Merwe and wing Ashwin Willemse each missed 5 tackles.

The team’s best tackler was Jannes Labuschagne, who made 9 out of 9 in his 43 minutes on the field while prop Heinke van der Merwe boasted an efficiency of 85.71% (6 from 7).

Turnovers: The Lions managed to force 11 turnovers but they conceded a whopping 29 against opponents who made them pay dearly. The Stormers, by contrast, forced more turnovers (15) and conceded less (18) than the Lions.

Ball in hand: The Lions had 80 runs with the ball, during which time they gained a total of 854 metres. The Stormers had 82 runs, but made 1 012 metres. But what did each team do with the ball?

For all their possession, the Lions could manage only 3 line breaks and 4 tackle breaks all afternoon, while the Stormers made a massive 15 line breaks, 3 tackle breaks, and also managed more offloads (17-13) than their opponents.

In summary, the Stormers won because they ruled the breakdown, were more clinical in finishing off their line breaks, and came up against opponents who just aren’t penetrative enough with ball in hand.

Reds v Sharks

We analysed this match using the same categories as above.

Handling errors: Reds 28, Sharks 34. The players with most handling errors on both sides were as follows:

Reds: 3 – Will Genia, Scott Higginbotham, Ben Lucas.
Sharks: 7 – Rory Kockott; 5 – Adi Jacobs; 2 – five players.

Tackling: The 21 Sharks players who appeared had to attempt 206 tackles, of which they made 147 but missed an alarming 59 for an efficiency of 71.35%. The 21 Reds used attempted only 150 tackles, making 108 and missing 42 for a tackle efficiency of 72%.

Readers of this column will perhaps want to relook the Sharks’ 76 missed tackles against the Chiefs and then suggest they don’t have a problem in this area?

The Sharks players who made the most tackles were Frans Steyn and Jacques Botes with 16 apiece, followed by Rory Kockott (12), Keegan Daniel (11) and Johann Muller (10).

But Muller also missed 10 tackles for an efficiency of 50%, while Kockott missed 9 of his 21 attempts for a 57% success rate. Prop John Smit missed 6 of his 11 attempts (45.45%).

Botes was the star here, missing just one of his 17 tackles for an efficiency 94.11%, while Steyn made 16 from 19 (84.21%) in midfield. Daniel made 11 from 12 (91.67%).

Turnovers: The Sharks managed to force 9 turnovers but conceded a whopping 26, while the Reds forced 13 and conceded only 20. The Sharks players most guilty of conceding turnovers were Jacobs (4), followed by 3 apiece from Smit, Ryan Kankowski, Steyn and Bismarck du Plessis.

Ball in hand: The Sharks had 84 runs with the ball but clocked up just 765 metres. The Reds, in contrast, had 123 runs and gained 1048 metres.

Jacobs enjoyed 11 runs for a total gain of 104 metres (or 13.5% of his team’s total gain) but four Reds players did even better: fullback Mark McLinden, for example, had 17 runs and gained 159m; centre Berrick Barnes ran 15 times for 149m, and flyhalf Quade Cooper ran 14 times for 112m. The Reds, as Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus said, play what looks like touch rugby at times, and the stats back him up.

But what did each team do with the ball?

The Sharks made 10 line breaks, 8 tackle breaks and 11 offloads, while the Reds made 11 line breaks, 9 tackle breaks and 21 offloads. Nothing much in it, except for the offloads, but then we had a look at the hit-ups and carries stats.

The Reds may be a ‘touch-rugby team’ in some respects, but against the Sharks they were also more than happy to play a more direct game: they carried the ball more times (147 to 111), hit it up (119-93) more often than the men from Durban, and cleaned out more times at the breakdown (111-102). The Sharks also weren’t helped by the fact that they lost 5 lineouts on their own throw.

In summary, the Sharks lost because they conceded too many turnovers, especially in midfield (an area Reds coach Phil Mooney suggested before the game they would target), while their habit this season of falling off too many tackles finally came back to bite them in Brisbane.

Join us again on Friday, when we’ll preview Round 6.

Verusco are suppliers of video analysis systems to most of the South African Super 14 teams. Find out more at www.verusco.com or email info@verusco.com
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