Round 20 has passed us by in the Premiership and that means there is another set of stats to analyse. It was another brilliant weekend with teams gearing up for European rugby this weekend. Meanwhile others took their chance to press claims for the top four.
Naturally, there were more incredible performances this weekend. Semi Radradra got a rest this weekend so other players got a bit more of a look-in when it came to topping stats charts in Round 20 of the Premiership. That allowed the likes of Jake Polledri, Richard Capstick and Melani Nanai to come to the fore.
Nanai and Polledri take out the attacking charts
Given their, frankly, poor performance against Harlequins on Monday night the last thing we expected to see was Gloucester players topping the attacking charts. However, when you think about the game a little more then it makes sense.
Gloucester dominated possession and territory but just failed to take most of the opportunities given to them. As such Jake Polledri tops the carries chart with 19 only closely followed by teammate Ollie Thorley who racked up 14 of his own.
Polledri went onto dominate defenders beaten (11) and the offloads (five) charts. He has long been known as an explosive carrier but this weekend he really showed it.
Melani Nanai also had a really strong week. He completed 14 carries in Worcester’s win over London Irish. He also topped the metres made charts with Jake Polledri. Both made 92 metres with Nanai’s coming from five fewer carries.
📊 No player made more metres in round 19 of @premrugby than @nanai_melani who covered 9⃣2⃣ in the win at @LiRFC ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/JJ9c5x2zQ8
— Worcester Warriors (@WorcsWarriors) September 15, 2020
Defensive performances shared around the league
In terms of defensive individual performers, no one individual really stood out. Richard Capstick led the way in terms of tackles with 22 but was closely followed by Sean Reffell (20) and Alife Petch (16) who both played in the same game.
That was maybe a testament to how much ball in play time there was in the Exeter vs Saracens clash. It was high scoring and as a result, put defences under a lot of strain.
Gloucester amount of time in possession also translates into tackles missed. Two Harlequins players are up the top of that chart with Luke Northmore and Scott Steele missing five and four respectively.
When it came to turnovers, it was no surprise to see Tom Curry near the top of the list with three. However, a winger topping that chart is almost unprecedented. That is exactly what happened this week with Nemani Nadolo pinching possession four times.
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