The Super Rugby Team of the Week has representatives from nine of the teams from a round that produced 41 tries and six away wins.

Standout players were Blues No.8 Akira Ioane and Chiefs centre Anton Lienert-Brown while there were several players who crossed the white line more than once. Chiefs winger Etene Nanai-Seturo, Bulls winger Rosko Speckman and Sharks hooker Armand van der Merwe all scored two tries while Lions flanker Marnus Schoeman scored a hat-trick of tries against the Jaguares. He became the first South African forward to score a hat-trick of tries since Adriaan Strauss in March 2018, as well as making 11/12 tackles and winning two turnovers.

 

 

15

Ben Smith

Highlanders

Made two offloads, beat two defenders, and made 15 carries - the second most of any outside back.

14

Etene Nanai-Seturo

Chiefs

Crossed for a brace of tries, made 6/6 tackles, and beat three defenders from eight carries.

13

Tevita Kuridrani

Brumbies

Had a 100% tackle success rate from nine attempts, made two clean breaks and gained 43m from six carries.

12

Anton Lienert-Brown

Chiefs

Beat 10 defenders and made five offloads, more than any other player in either category; the last time any Chiefs player made more offloads in a Super Rugby game was in May 2015 (6 - Augustine Pulu).

11

Rosko Speckman

Bulls

Made three clean breaks, beat seven defenders, and crossed for a brace of tries from just five carries.

10

Handre Pollard

Bulls

Kicked a total of eight goals from as many attempts (4C, 4P), and made a joint round-high 14 kicks in play.

9

Nic Groom

Lions

Made 7/8 tackles, beat two defenders, and gained 15m from seven carries.

1

Joe Moody

Crusaders

Made 16 successful tackles, more than any other prop, gained 14m and beat one defender from three carries.

2

Armand van der Merwe

Sharks

Crossed for a brace of tries, gained 20m from five carries, and was successful with 13/15 throws, the second most of any hooker.

3

Allan Alaalatoa

Brumbies

Made eight successful tackles from as many attempts, made eight carries for 5m gained, and scored a try.

4

Marvin Orie

Lions

Made 19 successful tackles, the second most of any player, and won a round-high eight lineouts.

5

Matt Philip

Rebels

Won five lineouts, including one lineout steal, crossed for a try, and made two clean breaks from seven carries.

6

Marnus Schoeman

Lions

Became the first South African forward to score a hat-trick of tries since Adriaan Strauss in March 2018, as well as making 11/12 tackles and winning two turnovers.

7

Peter Samu

Brumbies

Made a round-high four clean breaks, made two offloads, and was successful with 10/10 tackle attempts.

8

Akira Ioane

Blues

Made a round-high 20 carries, the most by a Blues player since Akira Ioane himself made 21 carries in Round 10, 2018.

 

Opta Index: How does it work

The Opta Index allows genuine opportunities to compare and contrast both player and team strengths and weaknesses across Super Rugby, providing real insights pre-game as follows: 

After every match Opta completes a video analysis of every touch of the ball. Each action in the match is awarded a points value depending on the relative importance of the action. So for example, a try scores more points than a tackle, but a player loses points for a missed tackle.

The points are then weighted against the score at the time when the action took place (higher points if the score is closer), the time in the match (higher points at the start of the match) and the position on the pitch where it took place (higher points for actions closer to the goal line).

The player is then given a score for the match by adding up all his actions while he was on the field. The total match score is then weighted to take account of the strength of the opposition so that performances across many matches can be judged fairly.