The Stats Don't Lie: McCaw leads the way in 100th test

Richie McCaw made the most tackles with 24. Photo / Getty Images

Richie McCaw celebrated his 100th test milestone by leading all the key forward stats in Saturday's Rugby World Cup clash against France.

The All Blacks skipper was the first three to the breakdown on 31 occasions, making the most tackles with 24, the most ball carries with 11, and his 42 metres gained were the most ball carry metres of any forward on the field.

McCaw brought up his test ton for the All Blacks in the 50th test match played between New Zealand and France. He also becomes the 19th player from all rugby playing nations to reach a century of caps.

Thierry Dusatoir was the best French forward with 10 ball carries for a total of 39 metres, while Maxime Mermoz made one linebreak and 62 running metres on attack.

Conrad Smith led the tackle numbers for the All Black backs, and was second behind McCaw with the 14 he made successfully with just the one miss.

After missing 13 tackles in the first half, France tightened things up in the second and only missed a further six tackles for the rest of the match.

The All Blacks made 8 linebreaks (Dan Carter tops with two), while France could only manage three linebreaks.

France conceded 13 turnovers, including eight knock-ons. The All Blacks only conceded eight turnovers.

Only 18 penalties in total for this match, with the All Blacks conceding 11 while France conceded just seven. Most common were scrum penalties (four conceded by New Zealand and two by France), and breakdown penalties (five conceded by New Zealand and three by France).

Dan Carter slotted just his fourth drop goal in 85 test matches, while Morgan Parra's drop goal attempt bounced off the upright.

Carter's success rate with the boot was 71 per cent in this game. France's Dimitri Yachvili landed all three of his attempts for a 100 per cent goal kicking return.

THE GOOD

The All Blacks only missed 12 tackles in this match.

Of the eight linebreaks they made, the All Blacks scored tries from five of them.

The All Blacks only made seven handling turnovers in this game, and the first didn't come until the 32nd minute when Keven Mealamu knocked the ball on.

The high workrate of the All Black pack was rewarded by not conceding any ball at their breakdowns, and winning 3 breakdown turnovers off France.

THE BAD

Dan Carter threw an intercepted pass for France's first try to Maxime Mermoz in the 53rd minute.

I'm not sure whether the referee was more confused than the All Blacks when France took a quick tap from a five metre penalty for Francois Trinh-Doc to score their second try of the game, but at no stage had Alain Rolland called time off so France were quite entitled to take the quick tap.

Scrum penalties are still an issue for the All Blacks, with Tony Woodcock again conceding three penalties for incorrect binding and not driving straight.

FOR THE RECORD

Richie McCaw, Tony Woodcock and Keven Mealamu all played their 10th test match against France, while Damien Traille played his 10th test match against New Zealand.

Israel Dagg has now scored a brace of tries in each of the two games he has started in this tournament.

The All Blacks have now played four World Cup games at Eden Park and have won by a minimum of 20 points on all of those occasions.

The All Blacks have also extended their winning streak at Eden Park to 24 test matches. The last game they lost there was against France in 1994.

Of the 50 tests now played between the two countries, the All Blacks have won 37 matches, France 12, and there has been one draw.