How long was that enormous goal kick or try creating miss-pass? What was the hang time of that up and under kick that allowed the winger the time to successfully chase, contest and win back possession which led to a try?
The Gilbert Sportable Smart Ball allows these questions to be answered with precision and accuracy in real-time and also allows us to build up a comprehensive kicking and passing skill execution database.
Here we showcase the top ranking kick and pass metrics from our analysis of 63 International rugby matches.
Any goal kick in the opposition half is effectively in range for the longest kickers in the men’s game and anything around the 10 metre line and beyond in the Women’s. The ability to go for goal from further out and the additional points scoring opportunities that allows demonstrates the benefit of having a long-range boot amongst a team’s kickers.
For contestable kicking, particularly box kicks and up and unders, hang time is crucial to give kick chasers the time to chase and contest and hopefully retain possession.
For kicking where distance is the aim, a big boot can make a big difference. With the longest in-play kicks well over 60 metres for men and 45m for women, there are significant territorial gains to be made, particularly when relieving defensive pressure or putting the opposition back three under pressure.
With longest passes of 27.2m in our men’s analysis and 24.1m in our women’s, it’s evident the ball can be moved significant distances around the pitch when executing this skill.
There are clear benefits to this - for example when getting the ball to dangerous outside backs in maximum time and space in attack or getting the ball to your best and longest kicker in defence - so it’s apparent that long, fast and accurate passing can lead to better match performance outcomes.
