Stats courtesy of the Vodacom Rugby Stats App suggest that while the South African players are willing to run and carry, it is debatable as to how effective they are when doing so.
Perhaps it is just the anomaly that is Willie le Roux, because without him, South African players would only be topping the lineouts, missed penalties, drop goals and minutes played!
Even with Le Roux topping the metres run, carries and klicks caught, the below stats suggest that while happy to carry, it is the lack of defenders beaten, clean breaks and offloads that is the problems in the current South African game.
Let it be seen that while we may all think Julian Savea to be a rugby genius, it is interesting to see the amount of errors that he makes. An expansive game is going to come with mistakes, it is perhaps about where those mistakes occur, keeping them to a minimum, and making sure the tries scored outweigh the errors made.
Let it also never be said that the Kiwis do not kick though. Beauden Barrett ( on 136) tops the Kicks from hand category, while Jesse Mogg (112) is second. Again though, it is about the effectiveness of said kicks …
South Africans topping the 2014 Super Rugby stats:
Metres run: Willie le Roux (939), Ben Smith (825)
Carries: Willie le Roux (130), Ben Smith (127)
Lineouts won on own throw: Victor Matfield (58), Ben Mowen (48)
Kicks caught: Willie le Roux (76), Jesse Mogg (68)
Loose ball collected: Francois Hougaard (39), mJurgen Visser (36)
Missed penalty goals: Johan Goosen (12), Francois Steyn (10)
Drop goals: Marnitz Boshoff (6), Jacques-Luois Potgieter (3)
Minutes played: Adriaan Strauss (949), Francois Uys (946), Johann Sadie (936)
Kiwis and Aussies that top the stats:
Defenders Beaten: Alapati Leiua (37), Charles Piutau (36), Julian Savea (34)
Clean breaks: Isreal Folau (14), Julian Savea(13), Alapati Leiua (12)
Offloads: Isreal Folau (24), Quade Cooper (23)
Turnovers won: Matt Hodgson (15), Deon Fourie, Jack Lam, Michael Hooper (13)
Tries: Isreal Folau (9), Robbie Coleman, Nemani Nadolo (6)
Try assists: Quade Cooper (8), Nick White (7)
Tackles: Matt Hodgson (156), Jacques du Plessis (132)
Tackles missed: Aaron Smith (23), Ryno Benjamin (20)
Lineouts stolen: Ben Mowen (8), Ryan Kankowski and Stephan Lewies (6)
Penalties conceded: Scott Higginbotham (21), Scott Fardy (18)
Knock ons: Julian Savea (28), Quade Cooper and Nick White (20)
Handling errors: Julian Savea (30), Quade Cooper (25)
Kicks from hand: Beauden Barrett (136), Jesse Mogg (112)
Passes: Will Genia (694), Nick Phipps (656)
Points: Beauden Barrett (167), Lima Sopoage (127), Marnitz Botha (126)
Penalty Goals: Beauden Barrett (32), Lima Sopoage (28)
Conversions: Beauden Barrett and Bernard Foley (22)
Missed conversions: Beauden Barrett (11), Nick White (5)
Yellow Cards: Dominic Bird (2)
