Player ratings pre-test

OK, so what I've done is to take player ratings for each of the Lions games thus far on tour from two separate (and varied) sources, then count the number of separate rating series ('count'), take the player's individual rating relative to the average of that rating source, sum each individuals ratings, and scale it by the count - gives a rough indication how players are doing versus their positional rivals from 'somewhat' neutral sources.    I ignored substitute ratings as I rarely find these accurate.

So for example, 1/2p vs the Force received a 8.5 against at average of 7.03 from rugbyblog and an 8 vs avg of 6.6 from london24, and so on, with 4 'counts' to divide the sum of his ratings scores by to give a total of 1.18, clearly the highest rated FB on tour so far by some distance (slightly unfair to Hoggy as I've included both his flyhalf appearances).

Player	Baabaas	Baabaas	Force	Force	Reds	Reds	Country	Country	Tahs	Tahs	Brumbies	Brumbies	Count	Score
Leigh Halfpenny			8.5	8					9	9			4	1.18
Stuart Hogg	8	8			6	6	8	8			5	6	8	1.03
Rob Kearney											6	5	2	1.04
Tommy Bowe			7.5	6	8	7.7							4	1.08
Alex Cuthbert	8	8			6	6	9	8					6	1.05
Sean Maitland	6	7					8	8	6	5.6			6	0.90
George North			8	7			9	8					4	1.13
Simon Zebo									8	7.3			2	0.98
Christian Wade											6	4.5	2	1.00
Shane Williams											5	5	2	0.95
Brad Barritt											5	4	2	0.86
Billy Twelvetree											5	4.5	2	0.90
Jonathan Davies	7	7			7	6.8			9	8.7			6	1.03
Brian O'Driscoll			8	6			9	7					4	1.06
Jamie Roberts	8	8					6	7	8	7.2			6	0.98
Manu Tuilagi			7.5	6	5	5.3							4	0.88
Owen Farrell	6	6			8	6							4	0.93
Jonathan Sexton			7.5	8					8	7.7			4	1.07
Conor Murray			6	6			6	7					4	0.89
Mike Phillips	9	9							7	7.3			4	1.06
Ben Youngs					7	6.7					6	6	4	1.08
Dan Cole			6	6			6	7					4	0.89
Cian Healy			5	5									2	0.73
Gethin Jenkins													0
Adam Jones	7	8							8	7.5			4	1.00
Matt Stevens					6	5.9					4	6	4	0.92
Mako Vunipola	7	7			7	7.2			9	7.1			6	1.01
Alex Corbisero							6	7					2	0.89
Ryan Grant											4	5	2	0.85
Rory Best			5	5							5	2.5	4	0.73
Dylan Hartley													0
Richard Hibbard	7	6					5	6					4	0.81
Tom Youngs					7	6.5			8	7.2			4	0.99
Ian Evans			6	6			5	7			5	6	6	0.91
Richie Gray	8	7			6	7	7	6			4	6.5	8	0.97
Alun-Wyn Jones			6.5	6					8	8.6			4	0.99
Paul O'Connell	9	8							9	8.1			4	1.12
Geoff Parling					7	6.5							2	1.01
Tom Croft			7	7					9	7.9			4	1.05
Toby Faletau	7	8			7						6	7.5	5	1.12
Jamie Heaslip			9	8			7	8	7	7			6	1.06
Dan Lydiate	7	6			8	7.2							4	1.01
Sean O'Brien			8	9			9	9			6	6	6	1.21
Justin Tipuric	8	9					8	8			5	7	6	1.12
Sam Warburton					7	6.5			8	7.6			4	1.00
Media	SkySport	MSN Sport	rugbyblog	london24	independent	walesonline	thesportfeed	independent	MSN Sport	walesonline	glasgow herald	rugbyblog		*
Average	7.47	7.47	7.03	6.60	6.80	6.52	7.20	7.40	8.07	7.59	5.13	5.43		*

Happy solstice

My God ASBO - I'm going to need to print this off and pour myself a stiff drink!

Do you have player average ratings?

Nothing like a bit of Friday afternoon stats!

So if we assume that higher ratings equals being in better form, then we could say:
-Maitland has played the worst of the outside backs and shouldnt be on the bench.
-Ben Youngs deserves to start
- Lydiate's scores would put him out of the test squad and bring O'Brien in as a starter.
-Vunipola deserves to start over Corbs.

So in this case I think I lot of people would agree with the conclusions.

Of course the stas dont tell the whole story and some of the games have been complete thrashings, but still, interesting for those of a moneyball perepective!

Bathman_in_London wrote:Nothing like a bit of Friday afternoon stats!

So if we assume that higher ratings equals being in better form, then we could say:
-Maitland has played the worst of the outside backs and shouldnt be on the bench.
-Ben Youngs deserves to start
- Lydiate's scores would put him out of the test squad and bring O'Brien in as a starter.
-Vunipola deserves to start over Corbs.

So in this case I think I lot of people would agree with the conclusions.

Of course the stas dont tell the whole story and some of the games have been complete thrashings, but still, interesting for those of a moneyball perepective!

Agreed, Bathman

On seeing the subject heading I thought it was going to be a chance to put ratings in for tomorrow's match based purely on prejudices rather than performances, which seems to be how most people rate games.

Halfpenny 9 - 100% kicking, great try and never missed a tackle (only not a 10 so the MOTM stands out)
North - 8 Great game, caused plenty of problems. Early departure a worry
O'Driscoll - 6 Never quite worked today, think he will be rested next week
Davies - 9 Great game, really stepped up to the mark
Sexton - Shame he went off so early, wonder what Gatland will do for FH cover now
Phillips - 5 Too slow from the base of the scrum, we improved a lot when he went off
Heaslip - 7 Good solid game, did all the basics well without being outstanding
Warburton - 7 Similar to Heaslip and worked well with the ref
Croft - 6 Great try but that's what happens if you stand on the wing long enough
POC - 8 A real performance, right at the top of his game. Never let them settle
AWJ - 5 A real disappointment after last week, doubt he'll be in again next week
Jones - 8 Part of a dominant front row that gave us control up front
Young - 8 Hit most of his lineouts, some good carrying and effective in the scrum
Corbs - 8 Same as Adam

Subs
Front Row - 7 Maintained control that starters gave them
Parling - 7 Good chance to start next week, did nothing wrong and fully involved
Lydiate - 7 Made some good tackles late on to seal the win
Youngs - 8 Really good, incisive passing and fantastic break for his try
Maitland - Only on for last few minutes when North went off, no chance to shine

And . . .

Farrell 10 - Perfection, ran the game brilliantly, got the backline moving and made all his tackles. Even made 3 turnovers. Good to see he didn't react when 3 Australians were punching him, instead just smiling and letting the ref deal with it.

I noticed in the Eng/Arg games that all the England players had these little bumps on the back of their shirts - which I guess is some kind of transponder so that their performances can be better measured. It would be interesting to find out if something like that is happening tomorrow -and if we'll ever see any of the data.

lostinwales wrote:I noticed in the Eng/Arg games that all the England players had these little bumps on the back of their shirts - which I guess is some kind of transponder so that their performances can be better measured. It would be interesting to find out if something like that is happening tomorrow -and if we'll ever see any of the data.

The Lions has a tracking device on the back of their shirts so they can print off stats re meters travelled in the game etc.

Not only are they tracked during the matches according to the Wall Street Journal GPS technology is used to track their every move off the field too.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323393804578557380478845710.html