Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Guinness Six Nations have launched five new, real-time rugby statistics to give fans deeper insights into on-field action than ever before. The new statistics, powered by AWS, will take fans from their sofas, and place them at the dressing room tactics board - revealing the nuances of each team’s plans, plays, attack, and defence, for every game.
The Six Nations team worked with sports data and analytics company Stats Perform, and the Amazon Machine Learning Solutions Lab, to build these new capabilities. They combine real-time action and machine learning, to better understand the split-second decisions made on the field.
The five new insights build on seven statistics launched at last year’s Guinness Six Nations, which provide in-game insights on scrum analysis, try origins, team trends, and much more.
In the 2020 Championship, fans can view new information including heat maps on where all the action is taking place on the pitch, as well as stats on balls won, impactful tackles, and crucial line breaks. It will help them understand which team has momentum at different stages of the game, how game plans evolve during a match, and areas of stress or opportunity for attack.
The Six Nations Championship is the oldest rugby competition in the world, watched by fans across 170 countries. The new statistics will be available from kick off of Game One of the 2020 Championship, which takes place on Saturday 1 February, as Wales and Italy play in Cardiff.
Here are the new 2020 statistics that will make the viewing experience even more exciting. For more details, take a look at the media release.
1. Kick predictor
Kick predictor uses advanced machine learning technology to determine the probability of a kicker successfully scoring a penalty kick or try conversion.
2. Visits to the 22-metre area
This highlights the number of times a team has entered the opposition’s 22-metre area, and how many points they scored with those entries. It will display which team has a superior defensive/attacking strategy, and how each team’s plan differs within this crucial area.
3. Ruck and turnover locations
This stat will visualise where a team is turning over the ball and where they are most effectively playing on the field, giving vital insight to a team’s attacking strategy. With the use of heat-maps and data on ruck location and efficacy, this stat will provide deeper and more meaningful insights to this phase of play than ever before.
4. Dominant tackles
This helps to outline the defensive strength and structure of each team. Mapping out the locations, and percentage, of dominant tackles will provide valuable analysis into a team’s momentum at the gain line, and determine which direction they are going.
5. Power game (metres made and line breaks)
This stat assesses which areas of the field are being dominated by either team, where they are lacking dominance, and whether this could contribute to winning, or losing the match.
The Guinness Six Nations is not the only sporting organisation using AWS to usher in the next wave of technical innovation. Germany’s Bundesliga, one of the world’s most watched professional football leagues, is using AWS technology to bring fans deeper insights into the game; Formula 1 is working with AWS to develop the next generation of race cars, as well as revolutionise the viewing experience for fans; and AWS and NFL recently announced they were extending their partnership, to use AI and Machine Learning to transform the league’s player health and safety initiatives.
Find out more about how AWS is helping customers and partners to engage their fans, train their teams, and transform the business of sports.
