Statistics rarely tell the whole story and sometimes they tell very little of the story – but it’s those little details that made the difference between England winning, and ultimately losing, their Rugby World Cup 2023 semi-final against South Africa.
“Clearly that was one of the key factors,” England head coach Steve Borthwick said of the scrum when reflecting on the match the morning after. In fact, you could say it was the key factor, as South Africa’s replacement props Vincent Koch and Ox Nche, appearing seven minutes apart early in the second half, turned the tide in the Springboks’ favour.
One of those to make way, Steven Kitshoff, said: "We were fortunate with our bench and what the bomb squad did to win those penalties to give us some great territory to go on and win the game.”
England lost two scrums on their own ball , the first since their opening game, including on the hour mark when they were leading 15-6 and deep in opposition territory. Kyle Sinckler was penalised, allowing South Africa to clear their lines.
Then, with South Africa within three points, England’s other replacement prop Ellis Genge was penalised for dropping to his knees on a Springboks put-in, allowing Handre Pollard to nudge them in front.
Until this point, England’s unflattering attacking stats – they kicked away 93% of possession and had the slowest ruck speed of the tournament (an average of 6.73 seconds) - played into a gameplan that was executed almost to perfection.
Ultimately, they failed to breach the Springboks’ defence and became the only team to register no line-breaks in a match at Rugby World Cup 2023.