Rugby Union World Cup 2023 - A closer look at England after their sixth game
I know I've said a lot about England being inexplicable this World Cup, and wasn't that performance in the semifinal the most inexplicable of the lot. Who was expecting such a strong performance against South Africa?
Which once again highlights England's reliance on their kickers.
The pattern of not scoring as many in the first 20 minutes remains.
England point-scoring moments by time and player:
The network diagram makes it particularly clear, because there's two separate lumps, with a couple of players linking them.
If we look at point-concessions instead,
I think Borthwick played Steward because he trusts him more than Smith defensively, which is supported by South Africa having fewer point-scoring moments than Fiji did.
I know there's a suggestion that Borthwick maybe should have changed to a more attacking formation 5 minutes earlier, but England wouldn't have been able to do that if they hadn't been building on a solid defence.
While Elliot Daly is still the player present for the most point scoring moments for England:
Itoje, Earl and Marchant were present for the most concessions.
The concession matrix looks more like
And the 20 players in the network diagram for concessions give a good idea of who England's first 22 are.
Since Borthwick has made it clear that he's going to use the 3rd place match to give players who've not had much game time a go, I think all the diagrams are going to get even more confused.
Which once again highlights England's reliance on their kickers.
The pattern of not scoring as many in the first 20 minutes remains.
England point-scoring moments by time and player:
The network diagram makes it particularly clear, because there's two separate lumps, with a couple of players linking them.
If we look at point-concessions instead,
I think Borthwick played Steward because he trusts him more than Smith defensively, which is supported by South Africa having fewer point-scoring moments than Fiji did.
I know there's a suggestion that Borthwick maybe should have changed to a more attacking formation 5 minutes earlier, but England wouldn't have been able to do that if they hadn't been building on a solid defence.
While Elliot Daly is still the player present for the most point scoring moments for England:
Itoje, Earl and Marchant were present for the most concessions.
The concession matrix looks more like
And the 20 players in the network diagram for concessions give a good idea of who England's first 22 are.
Since Borthwick has made it clear that he's going to use the 3rd place match to give players who've not had much game time a go, I think all the diagrams are going to get even more confused.