There is a lot of new talent emerging through Super Rugby and many players are already putting their hands up for future Test honours...

The emergence of Harry Wilson as one of the premier forwards this Super Rugby season has been one of the headline stories for the Australian conference and it’s seen him well and truly put his hand up for future representative action. Not only has he been among the busiest players in the competition, but he has also been one of the most dominant.

The Reds’ Harry Wilson has made 30 carries in which he has made dominant contact with the defensive line so far in the 2020 Super Rugby season, which is more than any other player in the competition. Indeed, the only player within five of the Gunnedah-born number eight is fellow Australian Isi Naisarani, who has made 26 such carries this season. Mark Telea of the Blues has made 24 carries with dominant contact this season, which is the third most of any player and more than any other outside back in the competition.

While Wilson may be the outright most dominant in terms of raw numbers, several other players across the tournament have shown that they can be just as effective without such a high work - rate. The Crusaders’ Sione Havili [pictured below] has made 19 carries so far this season of which nine have been dominant. A dominance rating of 47% from those numbers is unbeaten thus far in the story of the 2020 Super Rugby tale.

Fellow Crusader Leicester Fainga’ a nuku ranks third here with a dominance rate of 41%, with the New Zealand pair bookending a top three that also features Rebels’ Michael Wells (47%).

It’s a duo of New Zealand teams who have been the most dominant over the course of 2020’s Super Rugby offerings, with both the Blues and Crusaders registering nearly a quarter of all their carries as dominant this campaign (24% each).

The Reds – thanks again largely to the efforts of Harry Wilson – rank third as a club and round out an echelon of just three teams who have made dominant cont act with at least one in every five of their carries. The Reds’ total of 205 dominant carries remains the most of any team in the competition but the Blues and Crusaders will be hard to stop in Super Rugby Aotearoa as the two most dominant ball carrying s ides of the competition.