Ben Darwin

There is a fine line between a standing ovation and people just clapping as they get up to leave.

@Jack_Quigley @MrBlack_Rugby @Peel1659 We looked at this across a number of team sports, if you look at any sports that had a team aspect, the dutch won the most gold medals in the last olympics.

@bendarwin @MrBlack_Rugby @Peel1659 This is the whole “we were better when it was just 3 super rugby teams” argument in a nutshell.

wee reminder. we should be 6th every year. overachievers 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@MrBlack_Rugby @Peel1659 Larger countries by nature have more talent available which means they turnover the team more often driving the cohesion of the team down. Smaller countries by default will tend be drawn from less clubs which adds to the stability.

@bendarwin @Peel1659 How so? Genuinely interested 🙏

@ChristypDoran @HuwTindall @Sambruce86 Stud or dud is not really they to put it. So much of this is out of his hands. Remember RTS?

Stud or dud: Will Zac Lomax make the Rugby World Cup? ** Latest Super Rugby news, Six Nations recap + why RA needs to dial a Aussie-based star in the French Top 14 | @Sambruce86 m.youtube.com/watch?v=e1N65z…

@rtralphy I didnt mean to i am sorry.

I've been involved in AFL media stunts and been badly burned by so called mates. I'm still mates with everyone I was in media stunts with & sacked ppl for life and genuinely can't cop the 2 ppl who badly burned me. That's come to mind for some reason... 🟦

@10Broderick @alexshawsport Well we have presented to a number of senior people in irish rugby so i can see why that might be.

@bendarwin @alexshawsport The cohesion factor gets ALOT of chat in Ireland in relation to leinster depth lads getting selected over starters from elsewhere.

England, with all their resources & playing numbers, have now lost to two nations who have just two professional clubs each. At least we can fully dismiss the notion that removing the jeopardy of relegation from the Premiership was ever going to do wonders for the national team.

@Rob_McKay Correct.

@bendarwin So, with time and frequency, the alternate jersey success reverts to the mean? But best not see that lilac Scottish thing again. Please!

Teams underperform on attack when they change the colour of their jersey.

@haribaldijones @LekkerRugbyPod I know its the wrong side but i miss w p nel.

The referee repeating 3 times Pierre Schoeman’s duty to stay down exceeds duty of Dorian Aldegheri to stay down. Dunno.

@Rob_McKay They wear white reasonably regularly the core of the research has come around the first time the change . Then it drops away.

@bendarwin It took France about 65 minutes to overcome that, and then BOOM! Another five minutes and they'd probably complete their great escape.

@10Broderick @alexshawsport To be fair england did brilliantly beacuse they were about 35% behind ireland.

@bendarwin @alexshawsport Do u mean the subs that came on werent as familiar to the starters either at club or INT level, thus the drop off? As for which Ireland game, try the one below v england last yr.

@10Broderick @rodrig39386 @alexshawsport Importantly shared experience does not dissapear., but you can still have a cohesive team without domestic feeders its just harder.

@rodrig39386 @bendarwin @alexshawsport True

@10Broderick @alexshawsport Which game? , good example of this is england dropped away dramatically for this game against italy.

@bendarwin @alexshawsport Fair enough. How does that 2023 boks side compare to Ireland 2023 considering how leinster heavy it was? Or even more so ireland 2025?

@10Broderick @alexshawsport No its not publicly available, we sell the data and advice on it to clubs and national bodies in a number of different sports , then into corporate and military. Whilst the nature of the calculations is not public it is completely objective in nature.

@bendarwin @alexshawsport Is this data publicly available and how its calculated?

@10Broderick @alexshawsport Its a measure we have been working on and evolving for 13 years that looks at games together, games played in positions , games played under a coach , recency, club and test games included.

@bendarwin @alexshawsport Could you expand on what mean by cohesion in this context? its a word used a hell of alot in irish rugby media and how they use it isn't measurable in terms of being a breakable record

@10Broderick @alexshawsport The boks at the last world cup broke the record for the highest cohesion team at a world cup eclipsing the 1999 wallabies. 92% of world cup games has been won by the higher cohesion team.

@10Broderick @alexshawsport Fortunately we have gone and taken the team lists every single professional game and test match for the past 30 years. So we are able to get quite accurate numbers on each team in each match.

@willgkelleher @TimesSport Cohesion is king

̶C̶o̶h̶e̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ On England’s patchwork quilt backline, and the importance of Elliot Daly @TimesSport thetimes.com/sport/rugby-un…

@lesterredux @alexshawsport Why does it matter what they are called as they were play a significant amount of games for them by then.

@bendarwin @alexshawsport I hope you aren’t referring to NSW and Qld as clubs.

@alexshawsport The key is shared experience which has been growing significantly but drops off dramatically for england when they make such changes.

@bendarwin In fairness, the Italian XV was drawn from 7 different teams, the England XV from 8 different teams. There’s obviously an advantage to having a core that know each other at club level, but the disparity is lessened significantly with nations who select from overseas clubs.