Of all the sports most ill-suited to detailed statistical analysis it strikes me that rugby union comfortably tops this list, which is why I rather turn my back on the cottage industry churning out endless data.
The coming six or seven weeks is, frankly, going to be a trial in that respect, but I will not be swayed!

Sorry, I appreciate this makes me a bad person, but I have a basic inbred distrust of data applied to sports that are manifestly not data-driven.
It’s artificial and rather missing the point of a game that is built on courage, endurance, genius, quirky skills, inspiration, unse...