RugbyRebels

Japan and Canada are the only two non-tier 1 nations to have reached every World Cup, but of course the latter nave not yet confirmed their place in next year's 9th installment. The Pacific trio and the US have all missed one tournament, while Romania is out of the running for 2019, which will be the first time they've missed out - and also the first time a tier 2 nation has failed to qualify since expansion in 99. Georgia is technically the only tier 2 nation to have missed out more than once, failing to qualify at its first two attempts in 95 & 99. Since then it has qualified for 5 straight World Cups. Namibia holds the record for tier 3 nations, now qualified for its 6th straight tournament. Uruguay will be appearing for the 4th time next year, while Russian will be playing at its 2nd tournament. Zimbabwe is the only other tier 3 nation to have competed at more than one World Cup (87 & 91). Ivory Coast, Spain & Portugal have been the one-hit-wonders.

Interesting that Uruguay is still the only tier 3 team to have won a match at the tournament too. In fact, they've done it twice, beating Spain in 99 and emerging (literally) Georgia in 2003.

Poor old Namibia has all the negative RWC records with 19 straight losses, 3 last place finishes, 1 2nd last and 1 3rd last, and the biggest loss ever - 142-0 v Australia. Still, their last tournament was by far their best and produced by far their closest result to date - a one point loss to Georgia. & next year they will have a golden opportunity to snatch their first win when they play the winner of the upcoming repechage tournament.

Average margins since RWC2011

I've been trying to think of a succinct way to measure whether (and if so by how much) Steve Hansen's All Blacks are so much better than other top sides, as seems to be the accepted truth. Obviously straight win percentages don't help as not every team plays the same opposition. So to try and limit it to truly competitive matches, I've taken only the 6N teams*, TRC teams and the Lions, and calculated the average margin for each of those teams when playing the others since RWC2011. (As well as overall averages, I've got the various head-to-head figures to hand, if anyone is interested):

New Zealand: +15.5
England: +5.9
Ireland: +4.3
South Africa: +3.4
Lions: +2.3
Wales: +2.0
Australia: -1.8
France: -3.4
Scotland: -3.9
Argentina: -11.0
Italy: -16.6

I guess the most succinct way to put it, is that the All Blacks are about as far ahead of the pack as Italy are behind it. 8 of the 11 teams win or lose, on average, by less than a converted try. Argentina slip below that, but have had a steep learning curve with 53% of their relevant matches being against NZ, Australia or South Africa. Italy are predictably way behind even that. NZ are the only side winning on average by more than 6 points, and they exceed that comfortably.

*I was sorely tempted to leave Italy out, but with 5 wins against the other top sides during this period, I felt obliged to leave them in. The other arguably competitive teams which have won matches against the Big 11 since RWC2011 are Japan (4 wins), Samoa (4), Fiji (3), Tonga (2) and USA (1).

The Springboks victory pushed a number of All Blacks off the “never lost a test” list (with total caps in brackets):
Tu’inukuafe (7)
J Barrett (7)
Goodhue (5)
Coltman (3)
Perry (3)

Current All Blacks yet to experience a loss are:
Fifita (7)
Frizzell (2)
Mounga (2)
Hemopo (1)
Tahuriorangi (1)


Current players (any country) without a loss after at least 5 tests:
Alex Gordas (Romania) 12
D Leavy (Ireland) 10
G Aprasidze (Georgia) 8
M Leindekar Virginio (Uruguay) 8
A Porter (Ireland) 8
DF Sethie (Namibia) 8
A Conway (Ireland) 7
V Fifita (NZ) 7


Most tests (for any country) without a loss:
John Gallagher (NZ) 18*
Charles Piutau (NZ) 17
Corey Flynn (NZ) 15
Waka Nathan (NZ) 14*
Matt Todd (NZ) 14**
Alex Gordas (Romania) 12
Bill Davis (NZ) 11

Eight players are on 10 (3x NZ, 1 each from SA, England, Ireland, France, Japan).



*Includes 1 draw
**In Japan temporarily but signed with NZRU to 2019. Technically not a current All Black.

This weekend featured the All Black’s 28th test against Argentina, to whom they have never lost.

Most matches against particular opposition without a loss

Unsurprisingly, this list is dominated by stronger nations with regular competition against lower tier opposition, such as Argentina in South America or England v Italy in the 6N. No. of draws is indicated by *.

41: Argentina v Urugauy
38: Argentina v Chile
31: New Zealand v Scotland**
28: New Zealand v Argentina*
26: Uruguay v Paraguay*
24: England v Italy
24: Romania v Czechia*
17: Argentina v Paraguay
17: Australia v Italy

Best for other selected nations:

14: Italy v West Germany*
9: France v Fiji
9: Ireland v USA, Romania
9: South Africa v Samoa
8: Wales v Tonga
7: Scotland v Japan
6: Samoa v Canada
6: Tonga v Korea
3: Fiji v HK, PNG
1: Lions v Argentina*

And of course an honourable mention to Japan, undefeated in 1 test against the Springboks.

Japan are also the only team to be undefeated against the Springboks, which is a remarkable record.

cashead wrote:Japan are also the only team to be undefeated against the Springboks, which is a remarkable record.

I was trying to think of some convoluted stat showing which top tier countries had opponents against whom they have never won.

Every All Black who has played at least one Bledisloe Cup test but never played in a series in which NZ won the Cup:

1998-2002 dry-spell
Joe McDonnell
Tom Willis
Mark Robinson
Pita Alatini
Todd Blackadder
Ron Cribb
Andrew Blowers
Tony Brown
Greg Feek
Darryl Gibson
Norm Maxwell
Dylan Mika
Eroni Clarke
Royce Willis
Carl Hoeft
Mark Mayerhofler
Scott Robertson
Scott McLeod
Isitolo Maka
Joeli Vidiri

1994 One-hit wonders
Stephen Bachop
Shane Howarth
Blair Larsen

1992 One-hit wonder
Ant Strachan

1986 Baby Blacks (the Cavaliers’ ban included the first Bledisloe test)
Marty Berry
Buck Anderson
Kevin Borovich
Frano Botica
Mark Brooke-Cowden
Greg Cooper
Brian McGrattan
Michael Speight
Hika Reid*

1979-1981 Dry-spell (no matches in 1981)
Nicky Allen
Lachie Cameron
Geoff Hines
Tim Twigden
Brett Codlin
John Fleming
Hika Reid*
Murray Watts
John Black
Gary Cunningham
Mike McCool
Murray Taylor

1949 B team (selected alongside the “real” All Blacks who went on the disastrous tour of South Africa)
JGP Bond
TR O'Callaghan
DH O'Donnell
RA Roper
HCB Rowley
VD Bevan
AW Blake
RF Bryers
RL Dobson
AM Hughes
JW Kelly
WA Lunn
GJT Moore
WJ Mumm
RW Orr
RC Stuart

1934 One-hit wonders
Ned Barry
Edward Holder
Hawea Mataira
Bubs Knight
Charlie Oliver

*Reid played in the 1980 lost series when Andy Dalton was unavailable. Dalton kept him out for the wins in 1982, ’83, 84 and ’85. Hika was reselected just in time to lose the Cup in 1986, after which Sean Fitzpatrick took the top job.

Success rates at Loftus Versfeld:

Namibia 100%
New Zealand 85.7%
South Africa 75%
Lions 60%
Argentina, France, Scotland 50%
England 25%
Aust, Fiji, Ire, Italy, Samoa, Sth America, Tonga 0%

Ultimate Utility Team

Someone was posting on Twitter today about test players capped in 3+ different positions. Here is a XV that can be rearranged in 3 ways so that every player occupies 3 different positions in which he has received at least one starting cap (listed 1-15):

Peni Ravai Kovekalou
Stefano Saviozzi
Federico Mendez Azpillaga
Colin Meads
Danie Rossouw
Leone Nakarawa
David Pocock
John Kendall-Carpenter
Austin Healy
RuanPienaar
James O'Connor
Matt Giteau
Adam Ashley-Cooper
Mike Catt
Paul Williams

Federico Mendez Azpillaga
Peni Ravai Kovekalou
John Kendall-Carpenter
Danie Rossouw
Leone Nakarawa
Colin Meads
Stefano Saviozzi
David Pocock
Matt Giteau
James O'Connor
Austin Healy
Mike Catt
Paul Williams
Adam Ashley-Cooper
Ruan Pienaar

John Kendall-Carpenter
Federico Mendez Azpillaga
Peni Ravai Kovekalou
Leone Nakarawa
Colin Meads
David Pocock
Danie Rossouw
Stefano Saviozzi
Ruan Pienaar
Matt Giteau
Adam Ashley-Cooper
Paul Williams
Mike Catt
Austin Healy
James O'Connor

Very nice! I suspect you'd have an issue with the front row, but I wonder how far you could get with a 4-way team. Nakarawa, Catt, Giteau, and O'Connor could do it.

Puja

Yep, front row is the limiting factor. Rossouw, Meads, Healy would also be contenders for a 4 way side.

After the conversation we had on the All Blacks lack of drop goals, cam across a fun stat this morning - over the last 2 seasons, the English Premiership has only had 1 drop goal attempt for every 9 games. Attempts, not even successful goals.

Sod the All Blacks, gods help anyone who's 2 points down in time added on.

Puja

Lizard wrote:Yep, front row is the limiting factor. Rossouw, Meads, Healy would also be contenders for a 4 way side.

AAC, too.

Im pretty certain Phillipe Sella at one point or another played every position in the backline bar halfback for France.

Doorzetbornandbred wrote:Im pretty certain Phillipe Sella at one point or another played every position in the backline bar halfback for France.

6 on the wing, 1 at fullback and the rest are at either 12 or 13, including one off the bench.

Are we just including starting positions or permanent position moves during a match. If it’s the latter then Matt Tait must’ve covered 11 - 15. My only question mark is whether he has played both wings.

Did Corry ever start at 5? As he's played 4, 6, 8 for England, no?

And did Mauro Bergamasco play 8 at one point? That would be 6,7,8,9.lol

What about Colin Slade? Played at 10, 14 and 15 at the test level, and is won the World Cup twice.

Stom wrote:Did Corry ever start at 5? As he's played 4, 6, 8 for England, no?

And did Mauro Bergamasco play 8 at one point? That would be 6,7,8,9.lol

That game still raises a smile. When going through school rugby, there was always a couple of arseholes who were big and talented and loved themselves intensely - they thought they could do everything and, most annoyingly, they were usually right. The rare occasion where one of them bit off more than they could chew and looked all the pricks of the day was always satisfying. That's what Bergamasco at 9 reminded me of - that arrogance of believing you're so much better than everyone else that you can do everything even better than the specialists.

Puja

Puja wrote:

Stom wrote:Did Corry ever start at 5? As he's played 4, 6, 8 for England, no?

And did Mauro Bergamasco play 8 at one point? That would be 6,7,8,9.lol

That game still raises a smile. When going through school rugby, there was always a couple of arseholes who were big and talented and loved themselves intensely - they thought they could do everything and, most annoyingly, they were usually right. The rare occasion where one of them bit off more than they could chew and looked all the pricks of the day was always satisfying. That's what Bergamasco at 9 reminded me of - that arrogance of believing you're so much better than everyone else that you can do everything even better than the specialists.

Puja

Let's not overlook Mauro playing 14 when Italy were inspired to seek something akin to Lomu

Mellsblue wrote:Are we just including starting positions or permanent position moves during a match. If it’s the latter then Matt Tait must’ve covered 11 - 15. My only question mark is whether he has played both wings.

My team is based on starts only. There’s no reliable record of positional changes mid-game.

Lizard wrote:

Mellsblue wrote:Are we just including starting positions or permanent position moves during a match. If it’s the latter then Matt Tait must’ve covered 11 - 15. My only question mark is whether he has played both wings.

My team is based on starts only. There’s no reliable record of positional changes mid-game.

Spoilsport