Australia and Wales were well-matched opponents on day one - Photo: rugbymatters.net

Rhys Jones, the IRB's Game Analyst, highlights some of the match statistics from the opening day of matches at Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 at Surrey Sports Park on 20 August.

WALES v AUSTRALIA

• Statistically, the two teams were very even in this Pool A encounter with both Australia and Wales gaining adequate possession and both having successful set pieces.
• Australia scored three first-half tries which helped to settle the contest.
• However, their discipline will have been cause for concern for coach John Manenti with 17 penalties or free kicks conceded and three Wallaroos sin-binned.

NEW ZEALAND v SOUTH AFRICA

• New Zealand enjoyed a first-half try blitz, scoring six tries. South Africa gained more possession in the second half which slowed the Black Ferns' scoring.
  
• The defending champions had good breakdown retention and stole six South African rucks.
• New Zealand made 132 passes compared to 77 by South Africa.

USA v KAZAKHSTAN

• The Women's Eagles dominated possession throughout the match, although despite scoring seven tries overall, only one of them was scored in the first half.
• There were only 18 kicks in the entire match, with Kazakhstan kicking the ball just three times.
  
• Kazakhstan lost eight lineouts, whereas USA won all of their own lineout throws.

ENGLAND v IRELAND

• A good contest with a high amount of turnovers at rucks and lineouts, one major difference in this Pool B encounter was at scrum time where England won possession from five Irish scrums.
• Ireland were penalised more, conceding 17 penalties or free kicks.
• England, by contrast, did not concede any penalties or free kicks in the second half.

SCOTLAND v CANADA

• Despite having little possession in the Pool C match, Canada scored five tries to Scotland's two.
• Both teams were successful at the breakdown and set piece, however Canada conceded 15 penalties and free kicks and had one player yellow carded in comparison to Scotland's four penalties/free kicks.

FRANCE v SWEDEN

• France dominated possession for most of this Pool C match but couldn't break the Swedish defence.
• They did score three tries, but failed to kick any of the conversions.
• France, semi finalists at the last World Cup, made three times as many passes as Sweden and created 25 mauls when in possession of the ball.
• In the whole match there were only 20 kicks.

Overall, the games are action packed and so far:

WRWC 2010 Ball in play = 42%
WRWC 2010 average number of points = 41 points
WRWC 2010 average number of tries = 6 per match
WRWC 2010 average number of passes = over 200 per match
WRWC 2010 average number of rucks/mauls = around 150 per match

Most interesting though is the number of kicks:

WRWC 2010 average number of kicks = 26 per match. The most in a match is 33 and the least in a match is 18.