London Scottish fell to a last minute penalty against Chinnor in a game the tossed and turned all evening on Friday night. A bonus point for the Scots but another loss, where was this game won and lost? Let’s take a deep dive in to the stats to tell us more.
Top Line Stats
Scottish edged Chinnor when it came to both territory and possession taking 53% and 52% respectively. Simply demonstrating what a tight affair it was.
Where the sides begin to diverge is in the kicking stats. Scottish kicked for 946 metres whilst Chinnor kicked for 663 metres. This is largely in keeping with both sides approach to kicking comparatively, however, both kicked for longer on Friday night largely due to the adverse conditions.
Chinnor opted to run the ball more carrying for just over 300m compared to Scottish’s 184m. The Oxfordshire side also looked to break the game up a bit more with 9 offloads to London Scottish’s zero.
There was little to tell between the sides when it came turnovers and discipline. Both sides lost the ball 13 times whilst Scottish gave 3 fewer penalties away with 8 compared to Chinnor’s 11.
Set Piece Stats
The line out was an area of success for both sides on Friday night. Chinnor and London Scottish boasted success rates in excess of 85%. Chinnor opted for the maul on 8 occassions compared to Scottish’s 4 and came away with a penalty try as a result. Scottish, however, also came up with a penalty try of their own at maul time and a penalty in play as well.
The scrum was a strong contest as well with both sides winning 100% of their own ball. However, Chinnor were able to milk a couple of penalties when in control of it, winning valuable field position on a wet Friday night.
Individual Stars
Top Tackler – 23- Harry Dugmore (Chinnor)
Top Carrier – 15 – Jack Ingall (London Scottish)
Most Metres Made – 64 – Cam Rafferty (Chinnor)
Most Defenders Beaten – 4- Jack Leslie (London Scottish) & Grant Hughes (Chinnor)
Most Rucks Hit – 38- Jamie Campbell (Chinnor)
The Key Stats
Friday night was largely a game of two halves with Chinnor taking control of the first forty and London Scottish the second forty. This is largely born out in the kicking and turnover stats, demonstrating that the ability to control territory and possession was key.
In the first forty Chinnor kicked 18 times to Scottish’s 14. Whilst in the second forty this reversed, Scottish kicked 22 times to Chinnor 13 as they came back into the game.
Equally in the first forty Scottish coughed up turnovers on 8 occasions compared to Chinnor’s 6. Whilst in the second half Chinnor lost the ball 7 times to Scottish’s 5.
Another key metric in Chinnor’s ability to close the game out was their gainline success. Above 50% compared to London Scottish’s 43% they were able to make metres more regularly against the Exiles defence.
Another tight match in this year’s Champ rugby with little to show between the two sides. However, the stats reveal their own story on how the game played out!
