WXV 2024: The opening weekend in numbers

WXV returned with fireworks over the weekend as Canada, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates played host to action that was at turns, thrilling, intriguing and spellbinding.

In Vancouver, Ireland pulled off a remarkable victory against reigning Women’s Rugby World Cup champions New Zealand, while title holders England and hosts Canada also won.

Scotland got their WXV 2 defence off to a winning start in Cape Town, where Australia and the hosts South Africa also tasted victory.

And the third level did not fail to disappoint at The Sevens Stadium where the Netherlands and Samoa played out a memorable draw after victories for Spain and Fiji.

Here are some of the most telling statistics behind those storylines.

WXV 1

Ireland enjoyed a memorable start to the tournament, securing their second victory against the Black Ferns, and the stats highlight just how committed Scott Bemand’s side needed to be in Vancouver.

Although both sides conceded 13 penalties – and Ireland played for 10 minutes a player light – the Women's Six Nations side came out on top of the turnover count.

Ireland won 11 turnovers to New Zealand’s three and crucially lost only eight to the Black Ferns’ 15.

On top of that, the Irish dominated proceedings at pivotal moments. Their share of possession rose from 45 per cent across the whole match to 63 per cent in the final 10 minutes as they created the opportunity for Erin King to score the decisive try.

Earlier, reigning champions England were made to dig deep to beat USA despite the comfortable scoreline at BC Place.

Alex Matthews, in her first test as captain, made 21 tackles – no player completed more across the opening round of WXV – while as a team the Red Roses completed 91 per cent (160) of the 176 tackles they attempted.

Despite that, the Women’s Eagles still managed to make a top-level-high 353 post-contact metres (compared to England’s 318m).

Canada prop DaLeaka Menin, meanwhile, contributed 15 carries to her side’s defeat of France, while Fabiola Forteza topped the WXV 1 turnover charts with three.

WXV 2

Scotland number eight Evie Gallagher turned in arguably the performance of the round amid Saturday’s downpour in Cape Town, appearing at the top of the charts in several statistics.

No player across all three levels secured more turnovers than Gallagher’s five and the Player of the Match also contributed 22 carries (second only to Faitala Moleka) and completed 17 tackles as Scotland ran out 19-0 winners over Italy.

Wales second-row Georgia Evans made the joint-most tackles across all levels (21) but that is an indicator of just how hard Ioan Cunningham’s side were made to work defensively by Australia in Cape Town.

The Wallaroos made a mammoth 528 post-carry metres while Moleka’s 25 carries from fly-half helped keep her side on the front foot throughout.

Maya Stewart scored two of the four tries Australia registered in the final quarter against Wales, and her four line-breaks were a joint round-high across the three levels. Canada’s Fancy Bermudez and Black Fern Katelyn Vahaakolo matched that tally on Sunday.

Another interesting stat to come out of the weekend is the fact Japan recorded as many team carries as the Wallaroos (149) but were only able to make 148m from them.

WXV 3

Much of the drama from the opening weekend of WXV 3 in the United Arab Emirates was saved until the final match as the Netherlands marked their tournament debut with an enthralling 8-8 draw against Samoa.

Although the Dutch raced into an 8-0 lead, they were eventually reeled in by Manusina – who played in WXV 2 last year – and could have lost had full-back Lieve Stallmann not charged down Cassie Siataga’s conversion attempt in the final play.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the commitment on display, the match contained the fewest missed tackles across the opening weekend as the teams combined for a meagre 29 in total – the Netherlands making 145 of 164 attempted and Samoa 112 of 122.

The WXV 3 round one finale also contained two of the three players to end their matches with 21 carries – Netherlands captain Linde van der Velden and Samoa replacement Joanna Fanene Lolo.

Spain’s Nadina Cisa was the other player to rack up 21 carries as she finished her side’s 83-0 victory against Madagascar with two tries.

Las Leonas made a third-level-high 368 metres post-carry, while Madagascar lost a round-high 23 turnovers.

Madagascar centre Valisoa Razanakiniana certainly didn’t shirk her defensive responsibilities during the defeat, putting in 18 tackles – the same number as Fiji’s Sulita Waisega.

Flanker Waisega also put in more dominant tackles (five) than any other player on the opening weekend, as Fijiana beat Hong Kong China in a match that featured a WXV record 31 scrums (excluding resets).

One major reason for the number of scrums was the 25 knock-ons recorded during the match. At roughly one every three minutes it was another all-time WXV high.