The Super Rugby Team of the Week has players from nine of the 14 teams with the Sharks, who beat the Jaguares to claim the last quarter-finals spot, contributing three of the players. Crusader wing George Bridge is Player of the Week.

The Crusaders winger scored a hat-trick of tries in his teams' win over the Blues to take his season tally to 14. He also assisted in a further try, had nine carries beating four defenders and ran for 123 metres.

 

15

Solomon Alaimalo

Chiefs

Made a joint team-high 12 carries on the day, his third consecutive appearance with 10+ carries, as well as sccoring a try.

14

Waisake Naholo

Highlanders

Gained 130m and beat seven defenders, the third most of any player in both categories, while he also scored one try.

13

Michael Little

Sunwolves

Made 13/13 tackles, the most of any back to not miss a single tackle attempt.

12

Kyle Godwin

Brumbies

Beat four defenders and made four clean breaks from 12 carries, made 13/14 tackles, and scored a try.

11

George Bridge

Crusaders

Scored the third hat-trick of his Super Rugby career; no other player over the last eight seasons has scored more than two.

10

Reece Hodge

Rebels

Became the first fly-half to score a hat-trick of tries since Matt Toomua in Round 19, 2014, finishing with a total haul of 29 points, the most ever by a Rebels player.

9

Brad Weber

Chiefs

Gained 114m, more than any other scrumhalf, from just five carries, also making three clean breaks and scoring a try from those carries.

8

Daniel du Preez

Sharks

Beat the second most defenders (6) of any forward over the weekend, won three lineouts, and made 12/15 tackles.

7

Liam Wright

Reds

Made the most tackles (18) of any player not to miss a single attempt.

6

Marco van Staden

Bulls

Won a round-high five turnovers, the most of any Bulls player in the last eight seasons.

5

Sam Whitelock

Crusaders

Made the third most carries of any forward (15), 13/15 tackles, and crossed for a try.

4

Rory Arnold

Brumbies

Made a team-high 17 tackles, as well as making 12 carries and winning five lineouts.

3

Thomas du Toit

Sharks

Made 16 tackles from 17 attempts, more than any other front row forward for the round.

2

Armand van der Merwe

Sharks

Gained the most metres (48) and beat the most defenders (3) of any hooker, and scored a try against the Jaguares.

1

Jean-Pierre Smith

Reds

Finished with 14 tackles from 15 attempts, and gained 69m, more than twice as many as any other prop, from eight carries.

 

 

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.