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JWC 2008: Final Statistics
(IRB.COM) Sunday 22 June 2008
Australia's Ratu Nasiganiyavi is the leading try scorer in the tournament with seven - Photo: Huw Evans
We bring you some interesting statistics from the final day of the IRB Junior World Championship 2008 in Wales.
* The inaugural IRB Junior World Championship winners are New Zealand after their clinical 38-3 defeat of England in the final at Liberty Stadium.
* The final standings are 1. New Zealand 2. England 3. South Africa 4. Wales 5. Australia 6. France 7. Samoa 8. Argentina 9. Ireland 10. Scotland 11. Italy 12. Canada 13. Tonga 14. Fiji 15. Japan 16. USA.
* The honour of being the leading point scorer in the tournament goes to Francois Brummer, the South African fly half cum centre leading the way with 67 points (three tries, 17 conversions, five penalties, a drop goal).
* Next best was New Zealand full back Trent Renata with 59 points - 11 of them in the final against England - with Wales wing Leigh Halfpenny and Italy fly half Riccardo Bocchino both on 52.
* A total of 52 tries were scored in the final round of matches, taking the total for the tournament to 257 - 172 of which were scored in the pool stages.
* The smallest winning margin in a game was three points, with Ireland beating Italy 9-6 in extra-time, while the biggest margin was 90 points in South Africa's 108-18 defeat of USA in Pool B.
* New Zealand conceded just one try in winning the title - by Ireland number 8 Patrick Mallon in his side's 65-10 Pool A defeat. Only Australia (9) and South Africa (8) kept their conceded tries in single figures. By contrast Canada conceded 30 and USA the most at 36.
* Josias Ebersohn scored the most points in a single game with 25 in South Africa's 108-18 defeat of USA on day one. His team-mate Francois Brummer scored 22 against Scotland, while England's Rob Miller, Ireland fly half Ian Porter and Australia full back Dane Haylett-Perry all scored 20 points in matches against Canada, Tonga and Canada respectively.
* Italy kicked the most penalties in the tournament with 16 - all of them from the boot of fly half Riccardo Bocchino, who ended with 52 points. Scotland, Fiji and Japan kicked the fewest, with just three in their five matches.
* Champions New Zealand averaged 48.4 points and 6.6 tries a game. Only South Africa could beat these averages with 51.4 points and 7.4 tries, with Australia not far behind on 44.2 points and 6.6 tries.
* Japan, Samoa and South Africa all received five yellow cards over the duration of the tournament. By contrast, Australia and Tonga collected only one.
* Ten players went into the final day on four tries, but a first-half hat-trick against France saw Australia wing Rati Nasiganiyavi finish as the tournament's leading try scorer with seven, two more than team-mate Junior Sovala Futi, Lionel Mapoe of South Africa and New Zealand wings Kade Poke and Andre Taylor.
* A total of 399 points were scored across the eight matches on finals weekend to bring the total for the tournament to 1985 - an average of 49.4 points across the 40 matches.
* USA, Italy, Canada and Argentina scored the fewest tries in the tournament with seven apiece, some 30 fewer than the number of times the leading try scorers South Africa managed to cross the line. New Zealand and Australia were the next best with 33 tries in their five matches.
* Francois Brummer kicked the most conversions with 17, one more than Trent Renata of New Zealand, with Australia fly half Quade Cooper third with 14.
* South Africa converted 27 of their 37 tries to lead the conversion chart, while Italy made only two of their seven tries into seven-pointers.
* Of the 257 tries scored, only 155 of them were converted into seven pointers.
* The most points scored in a game was 126 with South Africa's 108-18 opening win over USA in Pool B, a far cry from the fewest points scored - just 15 in Ireland's 9-6 victory over Italy in extra time to reach the ninth place play-off.
* USA are the only side not to record a victory in the inaugural IRB Junior World Championship, with New Zealand the only team with a perfect record after lifting the trophy.
* A total of 101 replacements were made by the 16 teams in round five, bringing the total for the tournament to 444.
* Four red cards were issued over the course of the tournament - one each to France, Fiji, Scotland and England, the latter's to Calum Clark for a headbutt in the final against New Zealand.
* A total of five drop goals were kicked in the tournament, with Samoa wing Alatasi Tupou, Argentina fly half Benjamin Madero, South Africa fly half Francois Brummer, Japan fly half Shingo Yoshida and France No.10 Mathieu Belie all slotting one between the posts.
* France made the maximum of 35 replacements in their five matches, one more than New Zealand and four more than Scotland and Samoa. Finalists England made all seven in the final to take their total to 22, moving them above Canada (20) and Italy (21).
* A total of 49 yellow cards were handed out during the tournament, with Japan hooker Ryuhei Arita the only player to get more than one with his sin-binnings against Italy and USA.
* Riccardo Bocchino of Italy kicked the most penalties with 16, five more than Sione Toke was successful with for Tonga.
* Argentina scored the fewest points of the 16 teams with 63 across their five matches, while South Africa scored the most with 257 - 15 more than champions New Zealand. Seven teams reached three figures - France (155), runners-up England (148), Ireland (112) and Wales (109) - with Australia passing the double century like South Africa and New Zealand (221).
* Dane Haylett-Perry of Australia scored the most tries in a single game with four against Canada on day one, while six other players scored hat-tricks in Ryuhei Arita (Japan), Raphael Lakafia (France), Andre Taylor (New Zealand), South Africa duo Pieter Janse Van Vuuren and Stefan Watermeyer and Ratu Nasiganiyavi (Australia).
And finally...
* The heaviest player in the tournament is New Zealand prop Ben Afeaki at 137kg (21st 6lb), while Japan wing Takamasa Okubo is the lightest at 70kg (11st).
* The players were the longest surnames are Argentine duo Lisandro Ahualli de Chazal and Lucas Alcácer Mackinlay with 17 characters.
* Samoa second row Maselino Paulino is the tallest player at 205cm (6ft 7in), while Fiji hooker Saula Qalomai is the shortest at 167cm (5ft 5in).
* Australia have both the young squad with an average age of 19 years and 201 days and the heaviest squad with an average of 99kg (15st 6lb).
* USA have the tallest squad with an average height of 187cm (6ft 1in) in comparision to Japan having the shortest with an average of 180cm (5ft 9in).
* The oldest squad in the inaugural tournament belongs to Argentina with an average age of 19 years and 334 days. Argentina also boast the lightest squad with an average of 92 kg (14st 5lb)
* The IRB Junior World Championship 2009 will be held in Japan.
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Originally Posted by travelling_gerry
I'd say we have a looong way to go up here...
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