Super Rugby Aotearoa - Tournament's Top Stats Performers
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The unfortunate, abrupt ending to Super Rugby Aotearoa this weekend was the only blight on what was truly a superb competition and celebration of domestic rugby at its best. While there is a possibility that the final scheduled game, between the Blues and Crusaders, may still go ahead at a later date, the tournament has already been won, fair and square, by the men from Christchurch, who ended top of the table with 28 points.
In light of a competition whose participants exhibited magnificent skill across the board, we take a look at those who finished top in the stats columns.
The Highlanders flankers, Dillon Hunt and Shannon Frizell, outdid themselves on defence, posting the highest and second-highest tackle counts. Hunt finished with a tidy total of 100 tackles while Frizell was close behind his teammate with 98. Hurricanes diminutive work-horse Du’Plessis Kirifi came in third with 95.
While the Chiefs had a nightmare competition in terms of results – failing to post even a single victory – certain individual players still managed to stand out amongst the best. Fullback Damian McKenzie and number 8 Pita Sowakula contributed the two highest totals of carries; 99 and 95 respectively. The energetic Highlanders number 8, Marino Mikaele-Tu'u, fell just short of matching Sowakula, having carried the ball 94 times.
No surprises here; Crusaders fullback Will Jordan racked up the most metres of the tournament with 724, a fair distance in front of second place which is held by McKenzie with 489. The Highlanders’ pace-man Jona Nareki posted the third highest total – 442.
Jordan proved that his skills are not limited to just covering ground as he also managed to beat the most defenders over the 10 rounds (39). Jordan’s teammate Richie Mo’unga – arguably the player of the tournament – out-foxed a total of 35 while the Hurricanes electric midfielder Ngani Laumape beat 28.
Jordan and Laumape also find themselves topping the ‘clean breaks’ stat; Jordan totalling 15 and Laumape, 13. Jona Nareki, Sean Wainui (Chiefs) and Sevu Reece (Crusaders) all managed 12 each.
On the ground, it looked like no one would catch Chiefs openside Lachlan Boshier. Dillon Hunt, however, in addition to his tackling prowess, should he is no novice at ruck time either, stealing a total of 10 opposition balls. Boshier came in second with 9 and number 8 Akira Ioane turned over 7 for the Blues.
