🏉 On the eve of a Rugby World Cup, some of New Zealand’s top talent is playing by different rules
My Week in Sport(s) 🏉 🏏 ⚽ 🏀 ⛳️
Welcome to My Week in Sport(s) — a regular newsletter from Plot the Ball.
Covered in this edition: 🏉 New Zealand, 🏏 Harry Brook, ⚽ Spain, 🏀 Dominique Malonga and ⛳️ Scottie Scheffler.
🏉 On the eve of a Rugby World Cup, some of New Zealand’s top talent is playing by different rules
As the Rugby World Cup begins, everyone is aware of the structural advantages that favourites England possess. Current player Marlie Packer said it herself last week: “We have been a professional team for a lot longer than a lot of these other nations.”
Previewing things from a Kiwi perspective, Black Ferns legend Anna Richards spoke about how the hosts’ domestic set-up “springboards” players towards international rugby. “They’re playing lots of quality games under pressure,” she said, “and I think that’s where we fall over a little bit. We’re not playing the amount of games we need to.” Teams in England’s semi-pro PWR play 16 matches a season; Super Rugby Aupiki — also semi-professional — ran for just six rounds in New Zealand earlier this year.
A contract only lasting a few months isn’t enough to make a living. As a result, it’s not a surprise that players who don’t earn full-time Black Ferns deals look elsewhere for income — including to the 13-a-side version of the game. With collectively bargained minimum salaries and 11 rounds of action, Australia’s semi-pro rugby league competition — the NRLW — is a particularly attractive option. In fact, New Zealanders with union experience have played 14% of all minutes in the NRLW so far this season.
The return of the league’s Auckland franchise this year catalysed this exodus. 22% of the Warriors’ minutes have been played by Kiwis with international union experience, with another 33% contributed by players who have played the domestic game in New Zealand. But it’s not just the Warriors: 11 out of 12 NRLW clubs have given playing time to at least one such player this year. With the salary cap due to rise further, keeping players away from league isn’t going to get any easier for New Zealand Rugby.
As different corners professionalise at different speeds, women’s sport is constantly evolving — and some of its long-standing hierarchies are precarious. The Black Ferns might have won six of the last seven Rugby World Cups, but New Zealand’s continued failure to invest enough in the women’s 15-a-side game might finally be catching up with them. You can see that by looking at the odds for this year’s tournament — or by watching a competition in a different code taking place thousands of miles away.
🏏 Harry Brook’s ability to pair intent with batting skill is unmatched in modern test cricket
This summer, England’s test batting approach faltered for the first time at home under Brendon McCullum: they scored fewer runs per wicket on average — and fewer runs per false shot — than visitors India did across the five-match series.
As discussed last month, India now have a solid spine to their batting order; England, in contrast, have more obvious weaknesses. Per the same basic model that I used to analyse India, three of their current top six — Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Ben Stokes — have scored fewer runs per dismissal than expectation in their WTC careers to date. More positively, Ben Duckett has become an above-average contributor, and Joe Root’s quality at number four is a given. The real marvel, though, is Harry Brook.
No one else combines attacking intent and high skill like Brook does. His adjusted average — 18 runs per dismissal above expectation — is in the same tier as Root’s, but he scores at a much faster rate than other elite test batters. His ‘strike rate’ is 26 runs per 100 balls better than other batters in the same role in his games; Root’s is just 3 runs faster than his peers’. In fact, it’s not just the elite Brook outpaces: he has scored faster than any other batter with at least 40 innings in the top six in the WTC era.
What else I learned last week
⚽ Spain’s approach in attack was much more focused at Euro 2025
Euro 2025 also concluded while this newsletter was on its summer break. England took the trophy home, but nothing happened to convince me that my view at the start of the tournament was wrong: that Spain are comfortably the best team in Europe.
Just like at the 2023 World Cup, their underlying performance level was much better than that of the team they met in the final; how they went about creating chances was quite different, though. In Australia, Spain’s distribution of their non-penalty expected goals was fairly balanced: four players contributed at least 10% of their total, with no one above 24%. This year, they were more focused: Esther González had 34% of the team’s xG by herself — and only one other player was above 10% of the team’s total.
🏀 Dominique Malonga is playing more — and staying close to the basket
Since we last checked in with Dominique Malonga, the 19-year-old has been given more opportunity at the WNBA level. Before the league’s All-Star Game, she averaged nine minutes of playing time per game; after the break, that has risen to more than 19.
The French rookie is ultimately expected to be able to stretch the floor at WNBA level, but for the moment the Seattle Storm have limited her offensive responsibilities to the area around the basket: Malonga has shot only 13 three-pointers all season, and her field-goal attempts so far have been taken from 6.7 feet away on average. In 2025, 93 other WNBA players have registered at least as many total minutes as Malonga has — and only nine have tended to shoot from closer to the basket than she has.
⛳️ Scottie Scheffler’s PGA Tour success is still all about his approach play
He’s notched up fewer overall tournament wins than he did last year, but Scottie Scheffler is still on track for an all-time PGA Tour season in 2025. Heading into the final week of the FedExCup Playoffs, he hit new heights in Data Golf’s skill ratings, too.
What does ‘peak Scheffler’ look like as a player? Notably, his putting has improved by half a stroke per round between last year and this year, according to the website’s True Strokes-Gained metrics. The main reason for his success remains his efficiency approaching the green, though — specifically, on shots between 50 and 250 yards in length, where he gains 1.5 ‘true’ shots per round. No one else comes close in this skill category: the next best player gains just 0.9 shots per round over the average tour pro.
The next edition of My Week in Sport(s) will be published on Friday August 29th.
