Nine rounds into Super Rugby 2013, and Tank Lanning takes a look at which players are dominating the individual stats thus far. They make for some interesting reading.
Most Kicks:
1. Morne Steyn (Bulls) – 77
2. Joe Pietersen (Stormers) – 62
3. Patrick Lambie (Sharks) – 61
4. Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes) – 58
5. Quade Cooper (Reds) – 55
Most Kick Metres:
1. Morne Steyn (Bulls) – 3164
2. Joe Pietersen (Stormers) – 2380
3. Demetri Catrakilis (Kings) – 2277
4. Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes) – 2068
5. James O’Connor (Rebels) – 1975
Most Lineouts Won:
1. Ben Mowen (Brumbies) – 40
2. De Kock Steenkamp (Stormers) – 34
2. Scott Higginbotham (Rebels) – 34
4. Andries Bekker (Stormers) – 32
5. Juandre Kruger (Bulls) – 30
Based on the above it is fairly evident that for the Bulls, Sharks, Stormers and Kings, Super rugby is mostly about kick, chase and then try and win the lineout …
Most Tackles Made:
1. Lappies Labuschagne (Cheetahs) – 146
2. Wimpie van der Walt (Kings) – 126
3. Ed Quirk (Reds) – 114
4. Phillip van der Walt (Cheetahs) – 109
5. Michael Hooper (Waratahs) – 104
So while the Cheetahs seem to kick the least out of the SA sides, they are also being forced to make a lot of tackles as the opposition run at them.
Most Runs:
1. Hosea Gear (Highlanders) – 75
2. Peter Saili (Blues) – 74
3. Israel Folau (Waratahs) – 68
4. Alfie Mafi (Force) – 66
4. Charles Piutau (Blues) – 66
4. Julian Savea (Hurricanes) – 66
4. Tom Marshall (Crusaders) – 66
Most Run Metres:
1. Charles Piutau (Blues) – 744
2. Israel Folau (Waratahs) – 728
3. Julian Savea (Hurricanes) – 682
4. Hosea Gear (Highlanders) – 666
5. Tom Marshall (Crusaders) – 647
Most Offloads:
1. Quade Cooper (Reds) – 18
2. Rene Ranger (Blues) – 13
3. Luke Braid (Blues) – 12
3. Robert Fruean (Crusaders) – 12
5. Ben Smith (Highlanders) – 11
5. Julian Savea (Hurricanes) – 11
Most Linebreaks:
1. Charles Piutau (Blues) – 8
1. Hosea Gear (Highlanders) – 8
1. Kade Poki (Highlanders) – 8
4. Alfie Mafi (Force) – 7
4. Bernard Foley (Waratahs) – 7
Most Linebreak Assists:
1. Aaron Cruden (Chiefs) – 11
2. Ben Smith (Highlanders) – 4
2. Elton Jantjies (Stormers) – 4
2. Francis Saili (Blues) – 4
The above dominated by the Kiwis as they adopt a more ball in hand approach to the game, with Reds and Force stars Quade Cooper and Alfie Mafi making guest appearances. Sneaky cameo from the much maligned Elton Jantjies as well!
Most Missed Tackles:
1. Chris Noakes (Blues) – 21
2. Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes) – 20
3. Michael Hooper (Waratahs) – 19
4. Sergeal Petersen (Kings) – 18
5. Phillip van der Walt (Cheetahs) – 17
5. Pierre Spies (Bulls) – 17
Most Turnovers conceded:
1. Quade Cooper (Reds) – 22
2. Raymond Rhule (Cheetahs) – 17
3. Charles Piutau (Blues) – 16
4. Luke Jones (Rebels) – 16
5. Israel Dagg (Crusaders) – 15
5. Rene Ranger (Blues) – 15
But as said in a piece yesterday, the Kiwis are tending to dominate the error columns as well this year, and when opting to give it a go from anywhere on the field your wings out wide are often left to fend for themselves thus often being prone to turning the ball over.
Sergeal Petersen may be the talk of the town given his pace and ability to intercept passes, but the latter also tends to put his side under pressure defensively when the intercept is missed, and quite clearly he is going to need to up his tackling skills.
The above stats are courtesy of the rugbystats.com.au website.
I would like to see team possession stats too. The Cheetahs kick less and tackle more that might be because they are getting less possession. Interesting that no South Africans feature in the most runs, running meters gains, offloads, line-breaks and assists; says a lot about our game – kick, don’t run or is it because we have weaker territory stats so we are receiving the ball in our own half a lot. Territory stats would be interesting too. What worries me is our poor defence; if we are going to kick the ball away we then need to make sure we can stop them when they come at us and we have three guys in the most tackles missed category, two being forwards.
Is it possible to say how many tackle the Worst Tacklers attempted?
Thanks for the stats Tank. SA’s uninspiring style of poor kick & chase rugby was very apparent in Saturday’s Sharks v Stormers derby at Newlands.
Howzit Ron. Long time … Hope you are well. I think as long as it attains a modicum of results, we are stuck with it, sadly
catrakillis is not in the top 5 kicks yet is third on metres gained – that is impressive…