Talking Points | infonews.co.nz New Zealand News

The early days of Rugby World Cup 2011 produced a great deal of discussion about the standard of place kicking, particularly after the match between England and Argentina in which 11 of the 17 kicks at goal were missed. With one match remaining, it is worth examining how the standard of place kicking at this tournament ranks against previous RWCs, particularly as finals contain few tries and are often decided by the kickers. Both RWC 2003 and RWC 2007 produced similar success rates for place kicks: more or less 72 per cent, with both conversions and penalty goals scored at similar rates. At RWC 2011, the overall success rate for place kicks has dropped to 64 per cent, but there is a notable difference between conversion and penalty attempts. While conversion attempts are marginally down at 69 per cent compared with 71 per cent in RWC 2007, the success rate of penalties has dropped to just 59 per cent. The drop can perhaps be put down to greater difficulty in the position of the kicks, with teams regularly attempting penalties from anywhere in the opposition half and, occasionally, even from their own half. South Africa's final pool match against Samoa provided a perfect example of this when Frans Steyn had, at one stage, scored from just one of three attempts. However, all three attempts were from at least 50m. Costly misses Based solely on raw percentages however, there is little doubt that some teams' kicking has hampered their chances of progress. Wales certainly suffered from missing kicks at RWC 2011, particularly in the knockout stages, where they were successful with only one of five attempts in their 9-8 semi-final defeat by France and missed three of six attempts in the Bronze Final against Australia. "Goal kicks cost us quite dearly,” lamented Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards after the semi-final loss to France. “One of the standards that put us apart from our opponents was the standard of our goal kicking and unfortunately we missed three kicks that we would normally get, and that was part of it (defeat)." In contrast, their opponents France scored all their points from penalties, with Morgan Parra slotting three from three. Of the eight RWC 2011 quarter-finalists, France's 85 per cent success rate with penalties is by far the best, and fellow finalists New Zealand are second with 74 per cent. France's two kickers, Parra and Dimitri Yachvili, have missed just three of their 20 penalty attempts in the tournament and, if history is anything to go by, they will need to repeat this sort of form on Sunday for France to have a chance of victory. Try drought In the past five RWC finals, only five tries have been scored, four by Australia and one by England. In those five matches spanning 1991 to 2007, there were 36 penalties scored, which means that 108 of the 150 points scored in those matches came from penalties. With a further 12 points from drop goals and six from conversions, it means that 84 per cent of points scored in the past five RWC finals came from the boot. Based on that information, a 59 per cent success rate with penalty attempts is unlikely to be good enough on Sunday and the pressure will be on the principal kickers, Piri Weepu, Parra and Yachvili, to deliver. The trio’s RWC 2011 percentages certainly suggest they will be up to the task. Among players who have attempted 10 or more penalty kicks, they are ranked first, second and third, with Yachvili on 90 per cent, Parra on 80 per cent and Weepu on 79 per cent. South Africa’s Percy Montgomery provided the blueprint at RWC 2007, when he scored from all four of the penalty chances he was given. Steyn scored the Springboks' other points with a long-range attempt. Opponents England only conceded seven penalties in the match, but with six in kickable range it was enough for South Africa to claim their second RWC title.