In Paris the World Cup Final was played between England and South Africa. In Bloemfontein the Currie Cup Final was played between the Cheetahs and the Lions. We give some statistics from the Currie Cup match and compare some statistics between the two finals.
1. Currie Cup Final Statistics
Sanctionary Cards
There was three yellow cards in a remarkably well-mannered match.
Darron Nell (Cheetahs) for putting his boots on an opponent
Eddie Fredericks (Cheetahs) - for a dangerous tackle
Ryno Benjamin (Lions) - dangerous tackle
Penalties conceded
In this section we record the times a team was penalised.
Cheetahs vs Lions
Total number of penalties: 9
Cheetahs: 4
Lions: 5
The reasons for the penalties were as follows:
* = points conceded
Cheetahs:
Tackle/ruck: 1 (Meyer)
Off-side: 1 (Duncan*)
Discipline: 2 (Nell - stamping; Fredericks* - dangerous tackle)
Lions:
Off-side: 3 (Vermaak*, Van der Merwe*, Freddie van Zyl)
Discipline: 2 (Anton van Zyl - air tackle; Benjamin - dangerous tackle)
Lions missed a penalty kick at goal.
Tackles/Penalties
This gives the number of penalties at ruck/tackle as a fraction of the total number of penalties:
Cheetahs vs Lions: 1/9
It is low.
Getting possession - line-outs, scrums, free-kicks, drop-outs, turn-overs
In this section the figures represent the number of times you get to play with the ball.
Cheetahs vs Lions
Cheetahs:
Line-outs: 13 (3 lost)
Scrums: 9 (4 reset, 3 collapses)
Free-kicks: 3 (2 scrums, 1 mark)
Drop-outs: 2
Lions:
Line-outs: 15 (5 lost, 2 quick)
Scrums: 12 (5 reset, 6 collapses, 2 free kicks)
Free-kicks: 0
Drop-outs: 2
Stoppages (total of line-outs, scrums with resets, free kicks, penalties, drop-outs):
Cheetahs vs Lions: 74
Tries
This is the number of tries each team scored.
Cheetahs vs Lions:
Cheetahs: 2
Lions: 2
Tries/penalties scored
This gives the ratio of tries scored to penalties scored by each team:
Cheetahs: 2/2
Lions: 2/2
2. Two finals compared
1. Line-outs
RWC: 39
CC: 28
Scrums
RWC: 15 (9 resets, 5 collapses)
CC: 21 (9 resets, 10 collapses)
Stoppages
RWC: 83
CC: 74
Passes
RWC: 204
CC: 240
Kicks
RWC: 91
CC: 65
Ruck & Maul
RWC: 172
CC: 161
Opportunities to get possession from penalty, free kick, scrum, line-out
RWC: 66
CC: 58
Tries scored
RWC: 0
CC: 4
Penalty kicks at goal with successful kicks in brackets
RWC: 8
CC: 4
Drop goal attempts with successful kicks in brackets
RWC: 2 (0)
CC: 2 (0)