Remember the training sessions the All Blacks held last year where they had players running around with cameras strapped to their heads? Not to be outdone, check out this pearler of a press release from the Scottish 6 Nations team.

The Scotland rugby team has been taking advantage of technology pioneered by club and community rugby sponsor, Scottish Hydro, and their partners at technology firm, Cyberhawk Innovations, to offer a groundbreaking perspective on preparations for this weekend's 6 Nations opener against France at Murrayfield.

The flying Cyberhawk drones, nicknamed 'The Flying Scot' after Scotland's joint record try-scorer, Ian Smith, are kept stable by eight independent rotor-blades, managed by an on-board GPS.

The units are fitted with video equipment capable of relaying live action and still images to the team's coaches and video analysts from up to 300m above the training ground, or from directly behind the players themselves, to offer a player's view of the action.

So you're using cutting-edge robotics to make your team better? Couldn't you have just cut out the middleman and strapped giant robot legs to Chris Paterson? And has Northern Hemisphere rugby just resorted to the gimmick? First it was 3DTV, now it's flying robots... What's next, the Dallas Cowboys' cheerleaders?

Before the Cricket kicked off [tipped off? Bowled off? Hit off?] this week, the fellows over at Sportsfreak were focused on the All Blacks' end of year tour, and the lack of tries in their games. The print media also seem to have chosen this as their lead angle ahead of this weekend's match (exhibit a, b, c, d... need I go on?) against France.

You can see my original response over there, where I gave some stats about the tries the All Blacks have scored and conceded in the NH over the past 11 years, but it sparked something in me. At school, I didn't really pay much attention in Maths. If it was something that captured my attention (like graphs and shit) I'd do it, but as soon as I got to sixth form I dropped it. It's never been a problem in day to day life, but this week I've felt completely incompetent. I've been trying to come up with all kinds of mathmatical stats and graphs for this post, and I'm extremely lucky to have Hadyn's patient tutelage to help me. If it hadn't been for him, you'd have all kinds of data here, and it would be presented on an unreadable line graph.

Something I didn't need help for was gathering the data for this. And it's actually a new feature of the Dropkicks. You can see it here. Currently it features all international test matches from 2006-today, but I may backdate it eventually if I see the need, and I may use it for a post about the Rugby World Cup and whether the 'minnow' teams are becoming more competitive.

The first table to have a look at, because I know you want to see the stuff revolving around the All Blacks, is the 6 Nations. [if this was TV that would be a hook - You would have no choice but to stick with me to find out. But this is a blog, so it doesn't work as well... Fuck.]

 *minute of possession

Apart from the lineout
and the kicking South Africa seemed to run the show. What I don’t have
here is the fact that at 60mins the scores were equal at 20. Fiji
didn’t show any respect and really did back themselves to win.

This does not bode well for South Africa. They are due to face a very confident and well rounded Argentinean team.

Argentina – Scotland

What we said:

Only
four weeks ago people would have said that this match-up between
Argentina and Scotland would be close but that the Scots would win.
It’s amazing what a victory over France and Ireland can do for a team.
Not to mention hard and fast defensive rugby, good kicking, smart
tactics and a winning attitude

It seems though, that the Argentineans are better at getting the ball back off you and I am a strong believer that turnovers win games

The Argentineans are the only team I have seen so far that has the overall pace that matches the All Blacks.

Argentina look the business and are my “Lock of the Week”

The numbers:

*minute of possession

Well a 19-13 isn’t really “Lock of
the Week material. But they did enough for victory. I think perhaps it
was actually Scotland playing better than Argentina playing worse. Then
again Argentina’s no-tries-against record is in tatters.

Scotland
has kept their 0.30 rate of handling errors going, which is not so good
to see. But they did well in the lineout snaffling 15% away from the
Argentineans. Still turnovers once again tell the story. Argentina won
the ball in the ruck and maul every three and a half minutes that
Scotland had it. Scotland only got the ball back every 10 minutes that
Argentina had it.

This is where Argentina won the game. They
only had 51% of the possession but it was their ability to get the ball
back off Scotland that enabled the victory. I don’t have the breakdown
but I imagine that a lot of Scotland’s penalties would have come from
holding on to the ball.

Scotland can be congratulated on playing better than they have so far but Argentina are fast becoming the team to beat.

It's post-mortem time with the Dropkicks, who analyse just where the All Blacks went wrong in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against France. Also: some thoughts on the other quarterfinals, and Athletes and Dicks of the Week.

Download Episode 37 - Quarterfinals review

Subscribe to the Dropkicks Podcast (iTunes users click here).

Quarterfinal action looms at the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and the Dropkicks make their picks as to who's going to be facing off come Semi-final time. Also: Air NZ Cup results, Athlete and Dick of the Week, and the rundown on the big Dropkicks competition.

Download Episode 36 - Rugby World Cup Week #4 pt.2

Subscribe to the Dropkicks Podcast (iTunes users click here).

All you iTunes subscribers will have this one already, but, for those who don't subscribe to it that way (we recommend you do, as we, and by we I mean I, sometimes forget to post the 'cast to the website in good time), here it is.

The Dropkicks look back at the final round of pool play at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

Download Episode 35 - Rugby World Cup Week #4 pt.1

Subscribe to the Dropkicks Podcast (iTunes users click here).

*minute of possession

One of the above teams has been to the World Cup semifinals the other has not. Only four weeks ago people would have said that this match-up between Argentina and Scotland would be close but that the Scots would win. It’s amazing what a victory over France and Ireland can do for a team. Not to mention hard and fast defensive rugby, good kicking, smart tactics and a winning attitude (I’ve never seen a rugby team bring on so many of their children after a game).

Still looking at the stats above (with all caveats noted) it’s hard to tell the difference in a few important areas. Points per m.o.p. is basically the same, so are handling errors, successful tackles and own lineouts won. It seems though, that the Argentineans are better at getting the ball back off you and I am a strong believer that turnovers win games.

Because of this the Scots have to be worried about their handling error rate. 0.3 is the second highest rate of the tournament and equate to roughly one error every three minutes and 20 seconds. Admittedly Argentina’s one error every four minutes is also pretty bad.

But it’s the intangibles that make Argentina the team most people pick to go on to the semifinals. It’s at this point that I would love to see Tracey Nelson’s famous First Three to the Breakdown stats. The Argentineans are the only team I have seen so far that has the overall pace that matches the All Blacks. Their numbers seem to get back so quickly that there often seems to be three or four players at fullback.

Argentina look the business and are my “Lock of the Week” (and that's a pretty big lock)