As the Premiership reaches its climax following Round 18, Last Word on Rugby has decided to take a look at which players have performed the best each week in the stats. David Challis will keep us up to date who has outperformed their rivals statically speaking.
This week saw some incredible games, some controversial moments and naturally some individual performances. Let’s take an in-depth look at who led the way across the league.
Radradra leads Bristol’s attacking efforts
Semi Radradra has been a revelation for Bristol since arriving. Arguably one of the best backs in the world has shone so far. The stats underly this as well.
In Round 18, Radradra and Luke James led the way when it comes to carries with 17. When it came to metres made Radradra also topped the charts with almost 200m (197) with ball in hand.
Melani Nanai just pipped Radradra to the top of the defenders beaten chart beating 10 men in Worcester’s match whilst Radradra was just behind with nine.
Another man to mention in the attacking stats for Premiership Round 18 is Terrence Hepetema. He led the way in terms of offloads with a total of five which put him a couple in front of all other players this weekend.
Exeter’s defensive shift serves them well
So far we have not had to associate Exeter with defensive efforts given their utter dominance of the league. However, they were in a real battle with Northampton this weekend.
This meant a ridiculous number of tackles came in from the chiefs boys. Both of the top two spots were occupied by Chiefs players. Sean Lonsdale and Don Armand both made 21 tackles to top the charts. Alec Hepburn was also not far behind with 18.
The amount of tackles made by Exeter is probably due to the lack of turnovers Rob Baxter’s side made. Lonsdale the only man to make the chart with just one solitary turnover to his name.
Conversely, Matt Garvey and Albert Tuisue led the way in a topsy turvy game as Kingsholm. They both made three turnovers each to top the turnover charts.
🏉 POWERING THROUGH!
Sean Lonsdale breaks through the Northampton Saints defensive line for our first try, in last nights 19-22 victory at Franklin’s Gardens 💪🏻
🎥🏉 Head to the Exeter Chiefs YouTube channel to watch full highlights now ⬇️
https://t.co/C6DimGLMwZ pic.twitter.com/p1q48sJlCV— Exeter Chiefs (@ExeterChiefs) September 5, 2020
Indiscipline costs Vunipola and Lavanini
Two of the weakest performances came from Saracens and Leicester this weekend. The former’s defeat can be largely put down to their indiscipline.
It bears out in the stats with Billy Vunipola leading the way for penalties conceded. He tied with Tomas Lavanini for the top spot of the chart you do not want to be on.
Another interesting tidbit was the reliance Harlequins had on Glen Young in the line out. He won 13 line outs in their game with Bath, a whole 5 more than any other player. This could be something teams look to target going forwards.
Another interesting round of Premiership Rugby and interestingly a lot of the trends we saw, bore themselves out in the stats. Exeter’s’ heroic defence was on show as was the indiscipline of Saracens and Exeter.
It will certainly be interesting to see how these stats change over the coming weeks as we reach the business end of the season.
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