1872 Cup 2017/18 – Team Stats

Ten games into the inaugural PRO14 campaign and it’s time for the first of three clashes between Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh this season. Until the phony war ends and a direct comparison can be drawn between the two teams here’s a look at how some of their key stats stack up against each other (and the rest of the league).

SCORING
26 (7th= in PRO14)   Total tries for   44 (1st= in PRO14)
21 (5th)   Total tries against   13 (1st)
84% (3rd)   Kick success rate  85% (2nd)

Glasgow’s tries for and against numbers handily illustrate why they have been able to win 10 in a row this season. They’ve picked up bonus points in 8 of those matches and have scored at least 2 tries in every game they’ve played under Dave Rennie.

To end the away side’s streak Edinburgh will need to score some tries themselves. They’ve already made big strides forward in this respect during the current season – they’ve already picked up 3 times as many try bonus points as they did in the whole of the last campaign – but the next step is to get up to the level of those top 6 teams.

ATTACK
401 (8th)   Metres run   512 (1st)
8 (9th)   Clean breaks   11 (2nd)
17 (8th)   Defenders beaten   20 (2nd)
13 (5th=)   Turnovers conceded   18 (14th)

The turnover numbers for Glasgow look a little better on a per carry basis – they cough up possession once per 7 runs which is 8th in the league. The same is true for Edinburgh though who are 3rd best in the PRO14 at protecting the ball, turning it over once every 9 carries.

DEFENCE
139 (7th)   Tackles made   153 (10th=)
90% (1st)   Tackle completion   89% (4th=)
6 (2nd)   Clean breaks conceded   6 (1st)

As a result of Glasgow’s attacking style they have to make more tackles than anyone in the league bar Benetton, the Kings and the Dragons. The Warriors don’t tend to use many phases to score – 28 of their tries have come from 3 or fewer phases and they’ve only twice scored after more than 10+ phases. Allied to their turnover numbers this means a fair amount of time spent with the opposition on attack.

Edinburgh under Richard Cockerill are building on a solid defensive foundation. Saturday’s game will be a good test as to how well they can bring that shape and structure without the ball against one of the best attacking sides in the PRO14.

BREAKDOWN
97% (7th=)   Ruck success (own ball)   97% (7th=)
3.0% (10th)   Ruck success (opposition ball)   3.9% (4th)
93% (1st)   Maul success (own ball)   78% (12th)
22.7% (2nd)   Maul success (opposition ball)   16.7% (5th)

Increasingly the ruck is becoming less and less about contesting possession and more about whether the attack or defence can reorganise more quickly. That does mean that every turnover that is won at the breakdown is even more valuable though.

There is an obvious advantage for Edinburgh when it comes to the maul. Having seen the way Glasgow have struggled at times in the Champions Cup in this facet of the game it seems highly likely that Richard Cockerill will send his men out with clear instructions to attack the Warriors from the lineout and try to overpower the visitors’ pack.

SET PIECE
91% (7th)   Scrum success (own ball)   94% (4th)
3.2% (14th)   Scrum success (opposition ball)   7.5% (9th=)
88% (6th)   Lineout success (own ball)   83% (13th)
15.4% (3rd)   Lineout success (opposition ball)   13.1% (4th)

The Edinburgh scrum without Al Dickinson and (largely) WP Nel and Ross Ford is not quite the intimidating prospect of a couple of seasons ago. On the other side Glasgow will likely prioritise getting the ball back in play rather than getting involved in looking for penalties.

The Warriors’ lineout has struggled at times this season. The disparity between how well they have done on the opposition put-in compared to their own does tend to suggest that the issue may be more related to the throwers rather than the jumpers.

DISCIPLINE
10 (6th=)   Penalties conceded   11 (11th=)
10 (6th)   Penalties won   10 (7th=)
4 (4th)   Total yellow cards   2 (2nd=)

Glasgow will probably want to keep their penalty count down below their average during the 1872 Cup matches to avoid giving Edinburgh easy territory and/or scoring opportunities. Both sides have done a pretty good job of keeping their players out of the sin bin, although Edinburgh did pick up 1 of the 4 red  cards issued in the league so far this season when Michele Rizzo was sent off against Scarlets.

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Stats only include PRO14 matches and are the average per game unless otherwise stated.