A look at some statistics

by

Geronimo Jim 

I picked up on a thread (on The Tribe) that one poster felt we needed to tighten our defence next season as we concede “soft” tries. A glance at the points conceded column tells a different story on the surface at least, we have conceded fewer points than anyone other than Leeds. If there is an impression that our defence is soft it must come from somewhere.

This prompted me to try to dig deeper so I had a look at the statsbunker web site and it does raise some questions.

According to the bunker we’ve so far conceded 48 tries this season, only Leeds have bettered this, although we tie with Bedford & Nottingham. Where it gets interesting is where and when we concede the tries.

Of the 48 tries we conceded 30 of them away from home and, spookily, 30 in the second half of games.

So there is an apparent need to a) Stop conceding tries when we think the game is won (2^nd half), and b) tighten our defence at away games.

The starkest statistic for me is that we have conceded 21 tries in the last 20 minutes of games, that a staggering 43.75% of tries conceded in 25% of game time. Statistics don’t lie (yes I know they can really!) so it would seem self evident that the perception that we go soft late in the game is true or that we simply aren’t as fit as other clubs in the league (I don’t think so).

Here’s an interesting point though, Leeds aren’t massively better in the last 20 minutes averaging 39%. Maybe it’s a concentration thing?

In attack we’ve scored 137 tries, 75 at home 62 away, with a mere 26% in the last 20 minutes. It does seem like we lose interest.

I think that the solution is easy, play hard for the first 20 MINUTES and last 20 minutes......

OF EACH HALF!

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