|
One of my 6 part series where I will use iRB statistics and our own recollections of the tournament to paint a picture of how each team approached the 6 Nations. Hopefully these should get a nice debate going.
Statistical analysis of France’s matches this year did notassociate France with any particular style of play. Im not going to lie to you, this isnt as easy as the rest of the teams who play with a clearer style. It was difficult any recurring characteristics of French play but I will try examine some facts.
Kicking: France had a very poor goalkicking rate. It was the least successful in the tournament with 58%. They also seemed to prefer having ball in hand and had the least amount of kicks per game of any team.
Lineout: Frances lineout was quite average. Neither spectacular nor terrible. However what is noticeable is that half the tries they conceded came from the lineout. Their defense can be exposed from this area. They also conceded several from broken play many of them coming against England.
Discipline: One of Frances greatest assets is their lack of cards. In stark contrast to England they have only given away one yellow card in the last 5 years.
Average: The stats show that their percentage possession was around average; they were not the leading nor worst passers. In the lineout and scrum, their success rate was around the average and their penalties awarded/conceded ratio was close to 50/50. Their rucks, passes and rates of rucking and passing were neither exceptionally high nor low, the percentage of passes made by their forwards was similar to almost all the other teams - and at the end of the tournament they finished 3rd. At the restart they kicked both short and long at a rate of 60-40. All in all very very hard to read anything from them. The rumor of what France will turn up is very true. However another interesting aspect of their play was the amount of forwards who scored tries. 6 French forward tries, that is double their nearest rival, Ireland.
Key men in their system: Although they seem to lack a system certain players really showed they have a key role to play like Harinordoquy and Medard. |
