London Scottish travelled to Nottingham on Friday night in the hope of making it three wins out of three. 15 minutes into the game that hope looked very much alive and well with two tries notched up and at half time a 12-point lead.
However, the Archers came back into it and put in a bonus point winning display on Friday night to secure a win that sees them climb the table whilst London Scottish were left wondering what might have been.
Today we take a deep dive into the stats and what they tell us. How did the game turn around so sharply and what did Scottish do so well in the opening minutes but failed to do in the second forty. Find out all in this week’s Stat Bunker brought to you by Cairnhill Structures.
The top line stats tell the tale of a relatively even game. Nottingham slightly edged their opponents in terms of possession and territory which was enough to give them the edge on the day.
However, in terms of carries, metres made and kick metres the two sides were relatively even. Where they did diverge was on the penalty count and in clean breaks. Scottish gave away more than double the amount of penalties Nottingham did and the Archers made five clean breaks to Scottish’s zero. Showing that the home side were able to break the game open and apply pressure more consistently than their opponents.
Nottingham again had the edge at the set-piece. Winning 83% of their own line out compared to Scottish winning 70% of their own ball. Similarly Nottingham had a perfect record at scrum time whilst Scottish lost one of their 5 put ins.
Tom Marshall led the charts for London Scottish. Achieving a Champ Impact Score of 7 on the day, hitting 16 rucks across the eighty minutes, making 5 carries and 11 tackles he put in a robust display which earned him the plaudits of many.
In the back Solodrau Radianirova also showed his quality. Popping up for an opportunistic try in the opening minutes of the game, Radianirova also beat three defenders in the eighty minutes and carried for 27 metres.
A tale of two halves is often a cliche thrown around in the game and in most sports but in this instance it feels rather apt and is borne out in the stats.
In the opening quarter where Scottish scored their two tries, the Exiles outkicked their opponents doubling the territory gained by Nottingham in that period through the boot. For the rest of the game, Scottish were unable to match the Archers in that area as they failed to push up the field. This led to just one more entry to the Nottingham 22 in the final 60 minutes of the game whilst their opponents got into the Scottish 22 on 10 occasions.
Discipline also proved to be crucial across the game, in the first half Scottish and Nottingham gave away a similar number of penalties. However, in the second forty Nottingham only infringed once whilst Scottish did so on seven occasions leading to further territorial pressure.
It’s clear a step up is needed across the board and for a full eighty minute performance to come away with a result. The margins are tight so it’s only a few percent increase that will make a difference but it is clear where it has to come.
