Statistic of the Day

[Lizard]

New Zealand
2000 : 60 tries
2001 : 38
2002 : 47
2003 : 81
2004 : 40
2005 : 55
2006 : 44
2007 : 80
2008 : 56
2009 : 25
2010 : 59
2011 : 60
2012 : 50
2013 : 51
2014 : 53
2015 : 55
2016 : 80
2017 : 67

[rowan]

Maybe for tier 1 nations. A couple of longer duration that spring to mind:

Germany v Romania, no wins between 1938 and 2017 - 79 years
USA v Romania, no wins between 1924 and 1988 - 64 years

I had a more thorough look last night and couldn't find anything that surpassed these two, in fact. So Germany certainly set a new record when they stunned the Oaks last year. Prior to that USA's 64-year wait against the same opponent seems to have been the record, and prior to that SA v Scotland (59 years).

Germany & the US were the obvious teams to check because they were both reasonable forces prior to WWII and might even have ranked as tier 1 in the day, had there been such a thing. They both recorded wins over France, for example, while the US won Olympic gold, of course.

[scuzzaman]

It seems that New Zealand won simultaneous men and women's commonwealth gold medals in the sevens and nobody noticed.

Got to be some kind of records involved.

[rowan]

It seems that New Zealand won simultaneous men and women's commonwealth gold medals in the sevens and nobody noticed.

Got to be some kind of records involved.

Meh

[rowan]

Longest gap between wins against NZ is probably 37 years for England, between 1936 - 1973.

NZ itself had to wait 19 years for a win against SA between 1937 - 1956, but here we get into extenuating factors such as infrequency of fixtures and a pesky World War.

[Lizard]

Measuring by matches as well as by time would be interesting.

[Lizard]

Last weekend, the Waratahs failed to score for the first time in their Super Rugby history.

The Blues and Chiefs are now the only founding teams that have never been held to a clean sheet. The Jaguares and Sunwolves (perhaps surprisingly) also join the club if you include expansion teams. Technically, Free State, Natal, Northern Transvaal, and Western Province can also claim to have scored in every Super Rugby match they played, but of course after the first two years of Super Rugby these provinces were replaced by regional franchises (the Cheetahs, Sharks, Bulls, and Stormers respectively). Transvaal could argue the same, but they were nilled under their new name the Gauteng Lions in 1997.

Nil Scores in Super Rugby
25 Apr 1997: Gauteng Lions v Crusaders 23
27 Feb 1999: Hurricanes v Reds 11
17 Apr 1999: Bulls v Sharks 29
01 Apr 2000: Lions v Brumbies 64
11 Mar 2005: Bulls v Highlanders 23
02 Apr 2005: Brumbies v Blues 17
29 Apr 2006: Reds v Brumbies 36
07 Apr 2007: Force v Crusaders 53
29 Feb 2008: Stormers v Crusaders 22
07 Mar 2009: Crusaders v Highlanders 6
06 Mar 2010: Highlanders v Stormers 33
18 Feb 2011: Rebels v Waratahs 43 ( Rebels first ever match)
09 Apr 2011: Bulls v Crusaders 27
24 May 2014: Cheetahs v Stormers 33
05 Jul 2014: Bulls v Stormers 16
14 Mar 2015: Reds v Brumbies 29
23 Jul 2016: Sharks v Hurricanes 41
22 Jul 2017: Highlanders v Crusaders 17
20 Apr 2018: Waratahs v Lions 29

Obviously defences were not all that in 2001-04.

I should also note that the Hurricanes v Crusaders match scheduled for 26 Feb 2011 was recorded as a 0-0 draw when it was abandoned due to the Canterbury earthquake

Number of nil scores for each team:
4: Bulls
2: Highlanders, Lions, Reds
1: Brumbies, Cheetahs, Crusaders, Force, Hurricanes, Rebels, Sharks, Stormers, Waratahs,
0: Blues, Chiefs, Jaguares, Sunwolves (excludes defunct teams)

[rowan]

Measuring by matches as well as by time would be interesting.

You'd be looking at longest winning streaks by opponent then. At a quick glance I counted about 15 for Romania over Germany between 1938 and 2017. Germany spent more time in FIRA 2nd division than 1st division in the latter half of the past century. NZ had 10 wins against Australia at one point.

[Lizard]

Measuring by matches as well as by time would be interesting.

You'd be looking at longest winning streaks by opponent then. At a quick glance I counted about 15 for Romania over Germany between 1938 and 2017. Germany spent more time in FIRA 2nd division than 1st division in the latter half of the past century. NZ had 10 wins against Australia at one point.

Presumably, you're counting West Germany as Germany?

NZ is on 11 v France, who will presumably beat us again some day. Nowhere near the current Welsh run of 30 on the trot though, with no such presumption reasonably available.

[Lizard]

New Zealand
2000 : 60 tries
2001 : 38
2002 : 47
2003 : 81
2004 : 40
2005 : 55
2006 : 44
2007 : 80
2008 : 56
2009 : 25
2010 : 59
2011 : 60
2012 : 50
2013 : 51
2014 : 53
2015 : 55
2016 : 80
2017 : 67

Continuing:
South Africa
2000 : 29 tries
2001 : 27
2002 : 35
2003 : 36
2004 : 45
2005 : 46
2006 : 22
2007 : 81
2008 : 42
2009 : 21
2010 : 39
2011 : 24
2012 : 23
2013 : 47
2014 : 38
2015 : 35
2016 : 20
2017 : 39

[rowan]

Measuring by matches as well as by time would be interesting.

You'd be looking at longest winning streaks by opponent then. At a quick glance I counted about 15 for Romania over Germany between 1938 and 2017. Germany spent more time in FIRA 2nd division than 1st division in the latter half of the past century. NZ had 10 wins against Australia at one point.

Presumably, you're counting West Germany as Germany?

No, West Germany actually beat Romania in 1972. So if you counted that, this dissects Romania's winning streak into 36 year and 45 year halves, handing the record to Romania v the US of 64 years (between losses to the same opponent). From those, Romania appears to have had a 12-match winning streak against Germany/West Germany between 1972 and 2017 (I suspect its more, but can't find a detailed list), while it may be Romania and the US did not play at all between 1924 and 1988 !

[Lizard]

I’m not 100% sure what the absolute longest winning streak (as opposed to longest between losses) between any two countries is, but these are the ones I could find that are over 20 matches long:

Argentina: 41* v Uruguay
Argentina: 38* v Chile
All Blacks: 30** v Wales
England: 24* v Italy
All Blacks: 24** v Arg
All Blacks: 22 v Ireland

*Undefeated and no draws against this opposition
**Ongoing streak but previous loss or draw

[rowan]

I wonder what is the longest winning streak by one team against another. I think Argentina have a 41-0 record against Uruguay, while they themselves have failed to beat NZ after 26 attempts (1 draw). The All Blacks, meanwhile, are undefeated against Scotland after 31 meetings (2 draws) and are on a 22-game winning streak right now. & England are 24-0 against Italy.

[rowan]

CURRENT HEAD COACH RECORD, ORDERED BY TOP 10 WORLD RANKINGS:

1. Steve Hansen, New Zealand:
82 Games, 73 Wins, 6 Losses, 3 Draws (89%) ️

2. Joe Schmidt, Ireland:
55 Games, 40 wins, 14 Losses, 1 Draw (73%)

3. Eddie Jones, England:
28 Games, 24 wins, 4 losses, (86%)

4. Michael Cheika, Australia:
45 games, 24 wins, 19 losses, 2 Draws. (56%) ️

5. Gregor Townsend, Scotland:
11 Games, 7 wins, 4 losses (64%)

6. Allister Coetzee *DEFUNCT* , South Africa:
25 Games, 11 wins, 12 losses, 2 Draws, (48%) ️

7. Warren Gatland, Wales:
102 Games, 53 wins, 47 losses, 2 draws (52%)

8. Jaques Brunell, France:
5 Games, 2 Wins, 3 Losses (40%)

9. Daniel Hourcade, Argentina:
55 Games, 19 Wins, 35 Losses, (35%)️

10. John McKee, Fiji......

[Lizard]

in response to a question on the Super Rugby Thread, the Highlanders 26-point shaming by the Sharks is not actually a particularly low point. It is less than a year since the Blues were humiliated 21-48 (PD 27) by the Sunwolves, no less (15 July 2017 in Tokyo).

The Highlanders' piss-poor effort is the 36th= worst margin in such matches. The top 10 plus ties are:

1. Chiefs v Lions, 13 May 2000: 50
2. Chiefs v Bulls, 30 May 2009: 44
3. Highlanders v Brumbies, 12 May 1996: 44
4. Chiefs v Brumbies, 11 May 2001: 43
5. Hurricanes v Brumbies, 26 Feb 2016: 42
6=. Blues v Lions, 14 May 2016: 38:
6=. Blues v Reds, 26 Apr 1996: 38
6=. Chiefs v Natal, 17 Mar 1996: 38
9. Crusaders v Reds, 17 Mar 1996: 36
10. Highlanders v Lions, 03 Mar 2001: 35
10=. Crusaders v Brumbies, 23 Feb 2001: 35

[rowan]

Nice research! I took a look at last season's results and the only losing margin for a Kiwi team against non-Kiwi opposition that surpassed that of the Landers' in Durban this weekend (26 points) was the Blues against the Sunwolves in 40 degree heat in Tokyo (27 points).

[Lizard]

Following on from yesterday...

All Time Top 10* Highest Margins in Super Rugby

1. Bulls v Reds, 05 May 2007: 89
2. Lions v Sunwolves, 01 Jul 2017: 87
3. Crusaders v Waratahs, 11 May 2002: 77
4. Cheetahs v Sunwolves, 15 Apr 2016: 75
5. Hurricanes v Sunwolves, 25 Feb 2017: 66
6. Hurricanes v Rebels, 04 Mar 2017: 65
7. Brumbies v Lions, 01 Apr 2000: 64
7=. Brumbies v Bulls, 27 Mar 1999: 64
9. Waratahs v Kings, 04 May 2013: 62
10. Brumbies v Sunwolves, 28 May 2016: 61
10=. Waratahs v Lions, 12 Mar 2010: 61
10=. Bulls v Stormers, 14 May 2005: 61

Only one of these 12 matches was between compatriot teams (Bulls v Stormers).

The Sunwolves are unsurprisingly the most common whipping boys (4 matches) while the Cheetahs, Force and Kings make only 1 appearance amongst them. The Brumbies are the most regular flat-track bullies (3 matches) while the Crusaders haven't wasted any energy, only exceedgm

Of these top 12:
4 came from 10 seasons of Super 12 (average of 0.4/season)
2 from 5 seasons of S14 (0.4/sason)
1 from 6 seasons of S15 v.1 (0.17/season)
6 from 2 seasons of S18 (3.0/season)
0 from about 0.6 seasons of S15 v.2

*Plus ties

[Lizard]

With the recent decisions around qualifying, Romania will now drop out of the club of teams to have appeared at every RWC, leaving 11 members:

Arg, Aus, Can, Eng, Fra, Ire, Ita, Jap, NZ, Sco, Wal

Canada is not yet qualified, so there could be another drop-out.

Teams still in qualifying are (previously qualified/invited teams in italics):
Canada, Cook Islands, Germany, Hong Kong, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, Namibia, Portugal, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimababwe

[cashead]

Realistically, Malaysia are only there to make numbers, and are highly unlikely to qualify at this stage. They were soundly beaten at home by South Korea and Hong Kong in the Asia Rugby Championships.

South Korea, having already dropped a fixture at home to Hong Kong, now have to hammer Malaysia in Incheon (by 80 points or so, at least) and hope Malaysia aren't too dispirited to play spoiler against Hong Kong (enough to at the very least prevent a BP win for Hong Kong on their patch). After all this, they then have to go up against Hong Kong in Hong Kong and win with a bonus point, and prevent them from getting the <7 BP.

[rowan]

Samoa are technically still involved in qualifying, but might as well book their tickets now with only Germany or Portugal standing in their path.

I actually forgot all about the Germany - Portugal playoff. That's no foregone conclusion either, with the former still embroiled in a sponsorship row keeping half its top players out of the national team. In fact, right now I'd say it's 50/50.

Hong Kong is basically in the repechage tourny already. They won't be troubled at home by either Korea or Malaysia, while the Cooks should be a cakewalk. But hard to see anyone other than Canada emerging from the repechage now.

& Odds on Namibia will emerge from Africa - yet again. In fact, they're looking stronger than ever with a couple of respectable results against top SA provincial sides lately.

[Lizard]

Yep. See the “premature prediction” thread.

[rowan]

That's the sad thing about international rugby. It took a major eligibility scandal to derail yet another otherwise mind-numbingly predictable World Cup qualifying process . . .

[rowan]

From the SA Rugby Supporters' web site:

Since the start of 2016, the South African sides have combined for a 25% win record against New Zealand opponents and a 59% win record against Australian teams.

What’s really interesting to note is the combined win record of 32% at overseas venues during this period – more specifically in Australia (39%), New Zealand (12%), Argentina (27%) and Asia (70%).

[Lizard]

This is possibly the start of a series:

All Blacks June squad by birthplace

New Zealand: B. Barrett, J. Barrett, S. Barrett, Cane, Crotty, O. Franks, Goodhue, Harris, Ioane, Milner-Skudder, Laumape, Lienert-Brown, McKenzie, Moody, Mo’unga, Perenara, Perry, Retallick, Savea, A. Smith, B. Smith, Squire, Tahuriorangi, Taufua, Taylor, Toomaga-Allen, L. Whitelock, S. Whitelock, Williams (29/33 = 87.9%)

Tonga: Fifita, Frizell, Tu’ungafasi (3/33 = 9.1%)

Fiji: Naholo (1/33 = 3.0%)

Both Tu'ungafasi and Ioane have fathers who played test rugby (for Tonga and Samoa respectively, but never against each other). Perry's dad was an international as well, having a single uncapped All Blacks appearance on tour against Nadroga in Fiji (the two originally selected hookers, Hika reid and Johns Black, had got injured in Australia and Andy Dalton was not available for the tour).

[Lizard]

I should also note that immigrants are disgracefully underrepresented in the All Blacks. Over 25% of the general population were born elsewhere, but only 9.4% of current All Blacks were.

Our 6.43% UK-born population in particular is nowhere to be seen. I think we need an urgent investigation into this apparent rampant racism and bias at the NZRU. It is less surprising perhaps to see no one from the similarly sized Asian-born population either.