Advertisement
Round 3 of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations 2026 was the most dramatic yet. Whether it be shock humiliations or underdogs rattling the big boys, the talking points were everywhere. By reviewing the stats, we can learn even more about what REALLY happening last weekend. Let’s crunch the numbers…
Round 3 of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations 2026 was the most dramatic yet. Whether it be shock humiliations or underdogs rattling the big boys, the talking points were everywhere. By reviewing the stats, we can learn even more about what REALLY happening last weekend. Let’s crunch the numbers…
There was almost no level on which England executed effectively against Ireland on Saturday. In attack, they actually won the 22m entry battle 12-9, but their conversion rate was just 1.7. They lost no fewer than 24 turnovers and conceded 6 penalties on their own attacks.
Meanwhile, when they had to defend, Ireland averaged a whopping 4.3 points from their 22m entries. A side that had looked limp and lethargic in recent matches managed 19 offloads and beat England in the post contact meters per carry stakes by 0.7m - that’s around 40%.
Perhaps worst of all, though, were the kicking stats. Borthwick-ball is characterised by super high kicking figures, with total kicks from hand normally coming in at around 40 per match. In this game, they kicked just 18 times and Ireland very nearly doubled them up in the kick metres tally. George Ford kicked just 6 times in this match, the fewest times he has kicked in any of his last 10 tests, and starting scrum-half Alex Mitchell kicked just once in his 20 or so minutes on the pitch.
Picking a player of the match from the Ireland team was an impossible decision. In the end, the official prize went to scrum-half Gibson-Park but we must also be upstanding for the Ulstermen. Stuart ‘Big Choo Choo Stu’ McCloskey ran round like a rocket propelled fridge-freezer and his winger teammate Rob Baloucoune backed up a player of the match performance last week with another dazzling display.
What makes Baloucoune’s performance stand out is not only his typical winger’s stats such as line breaks and tries, but his defensive contribution too. He made 11 tackles without missing one - a crazy stat for a wing - made a game-high 4 dominant hits and won a game-high 3 turnovers. It is exceptionally rare to see stats like that from a back, let alone one playing away in Twickenham!
This was by far Wales’ best performance under Steve Tandy as they stuck with Scotland right up until the death. If a couple of refereeing calls had gone their way and a couple of injuries hadn’t occurred, they might well have pulled off a famous upset. However, in the cold light of day, Scotland were the better side and deserved their win.
Wales scrambled bravely in defence but Scotland still engineered 9 line breaks and will be frustrated not to have converted more of them. Chief architect Finn Russell picked off a frequently dog-legged Welsh line with ease and it was only desperate, last ditch tackles that thwarted Scots tries. It was dramatic, it was close, but all the numbers say the result was right by the end.
Welsh rugby has been desperate for players to stand up and make themselves into heroes. With Jac Morgan injured, a new talisman was needed to inspire the men in red this campaign. Step forward Dragons number 8 Aaron Wainwright.
Going into the game against Scotland, Wainwright had the best carrying stats of any forward in the championship. He was behind only Ben Earl in total carries, but was the only forward with more than 20 carries who had greater than 75% gainline success, greater than 50% carry dominance and better than 25% of tackles evaded.
He is currently the top forward in the Six Nations for defenders beaten, for dominant contacts and for post contact metres. This is despite him playing every minute of every game so far. What a player.
France were a bit blunt against Italy, right? Nope! 5 tries, 39 defenders beaten and 4.1 points per 22m entry. Even though there was a 43 minute gap between their 3rd and 4th tries, almost the entire 2nd period was played in Italy’s half and 5 out of France’s 7 starting backs beat at least 3 defenders each - no Italian beat more than 2.
Their points difference of +89 after 3 matches is 78 better than 2nd place Scotland. France have now broken the 30 points barrier in 9 of their last 10 Six Nations matches - if they can make it 10 from 11 against Scotland there’s a good chance the title will be theirs with a round to spare.
Italy’s physicality caused France real problems on Sunday and they took multiple scrums off their hosts. It was a credible performance but rugby matches are won by the team that scores the most points, and Italy have a real problem in that department.
In the 17 test matches going back to the the 2024 autumn internationals, Italy have now been held to fewer than 20 points 9 times and fewer than 15 points 5 times. In that same time they have only scored more than 25 points twice - against Namibia and Chile. Against France, their only try came from France overplaying behind their own try line, not from a structured attack. In the last 2 rounds they have averaged less than 1 point per 22m entry,
