Super Rugby Aotearoa Top Stats Performers - tackles, carries, turnovers and more

Round Two of Super Rugby Aotearoa did not disappoint with the impressive Blues nailing down their reputation as the team to be beat in the competition with a well-deserved victory over the Chiefs (24-12) while the Crusaders got their campaign off with a bang as they downed the Hurricanes 39-25. We take a look at the top performers in the stats from the competition thus far.

With regard to tackling, Blues back-rowers Dalton Papali’i and Hoskins Sotutu are the pick of the bunch with a total of 27 tackles each and an average of 13.5 per game. Reed Prinsep from the Hurricanes comes in at second with 23 and Josh Goodhue (Blues) and Lachlan Boshier (Chiefs) tie for third with 22.

As far as the turnovers stat is concerned, interestingly, Chiefs fullback Damian McKenzie finds himself with the highest total (4), averaging 2 per game. Dalton Papali’i, Dillon Hunt (Highlanders), Lachlan Boshier, Akira Ioane (Blues) all tie for second with 3 each.

In terms of carries, the hot-stepping Damain McKenzie is still leading the charge with a total of 29 and averaging 14.5 per game. Hoskins Sotutu and Ngani Laumape (Hurricanes)are level on second place with 22 each and Anton Lienert-Brown comes in at third with 21.

Mark Telea (Blues) continues to be a menacing presence on attack, having beaten 14 defenders in the competition thus far and averaging 7 per game. Quinn Tupaea (Chiefs) has been impressive in this department as well, managing to slip past 10 while Laumape has beaten 7.

Damian McKenzie, Caleb Clarke (Blues) and Sean Wainui (Chiefs) are sitting atop the ‘metres gained’ stat with 162m, 150m and 134m respectively.