The scrum has been a major factor this season, just ask Soane Tonga'uiha
© Getty Images
|
Robert Kitson dusts off the stats cap and delves into the try-scoring trends from this season's Heineken Cup Pool stage in The Guardian.
"A little bit of research for you. Did you know that, barring a late scoring avalanche, this year's Heineken Cup pool stage is on course to produce fewer tries than in any season since the current pool format began in 2000/01? Even if the final round produces a healthy average of five tries per game it will still yield the lowest aggregate total for seven years. It is enough to make Europe's attack coaches weep.
"There are all sorts of possible reasons why. The Italian teams no longer wave opponents through the way they once did. The weather has been extreme and no team, other than Bath at home to Aironi on Saturday, has topped 50 points in a single game. Standards of fitness are now pretty similar across the board; space is at a premium, even when the attacking side is granted more leeway at the breakdown. Last but not least, video analysis is now so intensive, and some gameplans so rigid, that defenders frequently know what to expect before the opposition do."
RSS feed
