How The 2019 Super Rugby Season Is Shaping Up

May 02, 2019
3042
Ultimate Rugby

We are past the halfway point in Super Rugby and boy have we seen a fair amount of shock performances and results in this season’s competition.

The Australian and South African conferences are incredibly tight while, New Zealand has two clear standout teams.

Let's take a closer look at how this year’s tournament is shaping up.

Australian Conference:

The Rebels have looked like an improved outfit this season and the signing of Quade Cooper has definitely lifted them. They are leading the Waratahs and the Brumbies by four points, which is a little surprising seen that these two sides have been highly inconsistent.

The Reds would argue that they are in touching distance of the two teams in front of them, while the Sunwolves are some way off despite looking a better outfit this year.

New Zealand Conference:

The Crusaders are not the only the team to beat in their conference but also in the entire competition. The reigning champions have won eight out of their 10 games with one match being called off due to the Christchurch attacks before they went down to the Waratahs in Sydney a week later.

They are being chased by the Hurricanes at this point with the Highlanders and Blues are someway back.

South African Conference:

Despite having lost five games this season, the Sharks are narrowly leading the South African conference. The men from Durban are currently on 26 points and find themselves just two points ahead of the Bulls, who have a game in hand.

The Jaguares, Stormers and Lions are not that far off the pace and a win or two for each team could see this table seesaw again.

Overall Table

Stat Leaders

Understandably the flyhalves lead the point scored categories with the Bulls' Handre Pollard leading the way with 123, 39 points more than joint second Elton Jantjies and Quade Cooper.

Points scored

123 - Handre Pollard (Bulls)

84 - Elton Jantjies (Lions)

84 - Quade Cooper (Melbourne Rebels)

82- Hayden Parker (Sunwolves)

81 - Damian McKenzie (Chiefs)

Tries scored

Rieko Ioane, Jack Maddocks and Will Jordan have all scored a tournament-high of 8 tries while Folau Faingaa, Ngani Laumape and Semisi Masirewa have all scored 7.

Try Assists

Quade Cooper leads this stat with 9 assists so far for the Rebels with Tomas Cubelli and Hayden Parker trailing by two.

9 - Quade Cooper (Melbourne Rebels)

7 - Tomas Cubelli (Jaguares)

7 - Hayden Parker (Sunwolves)

6 - Will Genia (Melbourne Rebels)

6 - Joe Powell (Brumbies)

6 - Louis Schreuder (Sharks)

Tackles Made

Michael Hooper comfortably leads the tackles made in the competition with 138 and currently averages 17.25 tackles per game.

138 - Michael Hooper (NSW Waratahs)

113 - Pieter-Steph du Toit (Stormers)

109 - James Blackwell (Hurricanes)

106 - Liam Wright (Queensland Reds)

105 - Luke Jones (Melbourne Rebels)

Turnovers Won

Pete Samu and Duane Vermeulen currently share top spot with 13 turnovers apiece while the Lions have three players inside the top 10.

13 - Pete Samu (Brumbies), Duane Vermeulen (Bulls)

12 - Malcolm Marx and Kwagga Smith (both Lions)

11 - Lachland Boshier (Chiefs), Matt Todd (Crusaders), Marnus Schoeman (Lions)

Defenders Beaten

Samu Kerevi tops the defenders beaten list just edging Melani Nanai and David Havili while Ardie Savea is the only forward in the top 10 having beaten 32 defenders.

40 - Samu Kerevi (Queensland Reds)

39 - Melani Nanai (Blues), David Havili (Crusaders)

37 - Anton Liernet-Brown (Chiefs)

33 - Semisi Masirewa (Sunwolves)

Carries

Another stat that Kerevi tops after averaging almost 15 carries per game so far this season.

131 - Samu Kerevi (Queensland Reds)

116 - Daniel du Preez (Sharks)

107 - Andre Esterhuizen (Sharks)

103 - Damian Willemse (Stormers)

99 - Isi Naisarani (Melbourne Rebels)

Metres Gained