Goff Rugby Report accumulated stats for the four USA games during the Pacific Nations Cup, and here's the report on how the team, and the players, fared.

(Note - these stats are what we gathered by watching game film. We may well be wrong on a specific number on the odd stat, but we feel we're close enough to share the results. They should be read with the understanding that these stats are just part of a larger pool of stats and criteria you could use to evaluate performance.)

Leading up to the final game, against Canada, USA Head Coach Mike Tolkin said he wanted his team to produce a 90% tackle efficiency. They didn’t produce that in any of the first three games, but, according to our measurements, the Eagles were 90.4% against Canada.

USA Team Tackle Percentage

v. Samoa 79.5

v. Japan 78%

v Tonga 80%

v Canada 90.4

 

Running the Ball

The Eagles have not been astounding running the ball. They broke through the line only a few times throughout the series, and in fact the two better running games measured by meters per carry were the two losses - Samoa and Tonga.

v Samoa 86-522 6.1

v Japan 91-427 4.7

v Tonga 55-315 5.7

v Canada 87-408 4.7

 

We did not count as a carry a no-gain run by a forward, and maybe we should have. The main difference between the two top yardage (meter-age) games and the other two is, in our opinion, the presence of Taku Ngwenya, who was 9-114, or 12.7 meters per run, while the other wings, playing the equivalent of six games, were 24-247, or 10.3.

 

USA v Canada

The USA tackling was very impressive, led by Scott LaValla, who made ten tackles and missed none. In addition, while we weren’t measuring positive-grade tackles (stopping the ballcarrier cold or sending him backwards), we can safely say that mod of LaValla’s were pretty positive.

Behind the flanker was Zach Fenoglio, Seamus Kelly, and Blaine Scully, all with nine tackles and no misses.

 

Andrew Durutalo

Openside flanker Andrew Duruatlo made himself especially useful during the USA 7s season by being very quick to steal ball in the tackle. He helped beat Canada in the Olympic qualifiers doing that, and against Canada he either stole ball or forced a holding-on penalty. In that game Durutalo made six tackles, missed none, and produced four turnovers.

Now to the Individuals ...

 

Total tackles over the four games:

Scott LaValla 26

Hayden Smith 23

Seamus Kelly 21

Zach Fenoglio 20

Cam Dolan 18

Eric Fry 17

Phil Thiel 17

 

Most tackles without missing a tackle:

Phil Thiel 17

John Quill 16

Danny Barrett 16

 

Tackles per game:

Seamus Kelly 7.0

Scott LaValla 6.5

Hayden Smith 5.75

Zach Fenoglio 5.0

 

Most missed tackles:

Greg Peterson 8

Eric Fry 7

Shalom Suniula 6

Titi Lamositele 6

AJ MacGinty 4

Seamus Kelly 4

Zack Test 4

 

Highest Tackle Number (Tackles minus 2xmissed tackles):

Scott LaValla 20

Phil Thiel 17

Hayden Smith 17

John Quill 16

Danny Barrett 16

Zach Fenoglio 16

 

Lowest Tackle Number:

Shalom Suniula -10

Greg Peterson -6

Titi Lamositele -5

Takudzwa Ngwenya 0

 

Meters Gained:

AJ MacGinty 175

Danny Barrett 165

Zack test 133

Takudzwa Ngwenya 114

Seamus Kelly 113

 

Meters Per Run:

Takudzwa Ngwenya 12.6

Zack Test 12.1

Seamus Kelly 7.1

Danny Barrett 6.3

Chris Wyles 6.1

Shalom Suniula 6.1

 

Meters Per Game:

AJ MacGinty 58.3

Takudzwa Ngwenya 57.0

Danny Barrett 55.0

Seamus Kelly 37.7

Chris Wyles 36.7

 

These stats don’t measure efficiency in set piece, work rate in getting to rucks or being useful in them, or passing success. But they measure a few things, and we hope they’re useful.