Let’s look at the stats after 5 rounds of Super Rugby.
Team Stats
* Indicates when the Sharks are involved in a tie.
Biggest Win Margins:
1. Chiefs (43)
2. Highlanders (24)
3. Hurricanes (22)
11. Sharks (-5)
Best Defenders:
(Tackle success %)
1. Highlanders (92.09)
2. Crusaders (89.83)
3. Sharks (88.43)
Worst Defenders:
1. Kings (74.81)
2. Jaguares (76.60)
3. Force (78.85)
Best Scrum Stealers:
1. Bulls, Jaguares (3)
2. Multiple way tie (2)
3. Multiple way tie (1)
4.* Sharks (0)
Best Lineout Stealers:
1. Bulls, Cheetahs (3)
2. Stromers (2)
3. Multiple way tie (1)
4.* Sharks (0)
Worst Scrum Win%:
1. Jaguares (33.33)
2. Cheetahs (50.00)
3. Wolves (70.00)
4. Sharks (75.00)
Worst Lineout Win%:
1. Wolves (70.00)
2. Brumbies (76.92)
3. Jaguares (85.71)
6. Sharks (94.44)
Best Ball Stealers:
1. Brumbies (14)
2. Waratahs (9)
3. Stormers, Highlanders (8)
6. Sharks, Rebels (5)
Most Active Offloaders:
1. Reds (18)
2. Crusaders (17)
3. Waratahs (15)
11(Last). Sharks (1)
Most Active Kickers:
(Kicks from hand)
1. Sharks (35)
2. Highlanders (33)
3. Crusaders, Chiefs (29)
Least Active Kickers:
1. Cheetahs (12)
2. Kings (14)
3. Hurricanes (15)
Best Disciplined:
(Penalty count)
1. Chiefs, Force (5)
2. Bulls (7)
3. Reds, Rebels (8)
5.* Sharks (10)
Worst Disciplined:
1. Brumbies. Wolves, Waratahs (16)
2. Cheetahs, Stormers (14)
3. Jaguares (12)
Best Handling :
(Total handling errors)
1. Stormers, Sharks (9)
2. Brumbies, Wolves (11)
3. Kings (13)
Worst Handling:
1. Jaguares (23)
2. Cheetahs (20)
3. Force (19)
Team Of the Weekend:
(Points Difference + Tackle% + Lineout% + Scrum% – Penalty Count – Y/R Cards – Handling Errors)
1. Chiefs
2. Highlanders
3. Hurricanes
9. Sharks
Player Stats:
* Indicates when a Sharks player is involved in a tie.
Most Tries Scored:
1. Charlie Ngatai – Chiefs (4)
2. Damian McKenzie, Israel Folau, Lwazi Mvovo (2)
3. Multiple way tie (1)
Best Offloaders:
1. Damian McKenzie, Nick Frisby (5)
2. Nemani Nadolo, Samu Kerevi (4)
3. Multiple way tie (3)
5.* Jean-Luc du Preez (1)
Most Tackles Made:
1. CJ Velleman, Kings (19)
2. Nizaam Carr, Sikhumbuzo Notshe – Stormers (18)
3. Matt Hodgson, Frans Malherbe (13)
4. Paul Jordaan, Nic Groom (12)
Most Tackles Missed:
1. Nizaam Carr – Stormers (5)
2. Multiple way tie (4)
3. Multiple way tie (3)
5.* Andre Esterhuizen (2)
Most Clean Breaks:
1. Akihito Yamada – Wolves (5)
2. James Lowe – Chiefs (4)
3. Multiple way tie (3)
4.* Lwazi Mvovo (2)
Most Try Assists:
1. Aaron Cruden, Damian McKenzie (2)
2. Multiple way tie (1)
2. Multiple way tie (0)
Most Meters Run:
1. Patrick Osborne – Highlanders (123)
2. Akihito Yamada – Wolves (122)
3. James Lowe – Chiefs (120)
4. Lwazi Mvovo, Jason Woodward (105)
Most Turnovers Won:
1. David Pocock – Brumbies (6)
2. CJ Velleman – Kings (4)
3. Matt Toomua, Jack Dempsey (3)
4.* Andre Esterhuizen (2)
Most Penalized:
1. Scott Fardy, Angus Taavao-Matau (5)
2. Keita Inagaki, Oliver Kebble (4)
2.* Coenraad Oosthuizen (3)
Most Lineouts Stolen:
1. Eben Etzebeth, Francois Uys, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg (2)
2. Multiple way tie (1)
Most Handling Errors:
1. Multiple way tie (4)
2. Multiple way tie (3)
3.* J.P Pietersenn (2)
My stat sheet (please inform me of any errors)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wTA9RRtA291xoajI2CeAuPxl_Y801xbJtFwrh9ng1mk/edit?usp=sharing
Tweet
Second week in a row Jordaan has been our best defender.
You know things are bad in the ruck when Esterhuizen has the most turnovers with only 2.
Scrum stealers: Lions?
Did I miss a game somewhere?
@FireTheLooser (Comment 2) : Fixed, I am surprised the Crusaders aren’t up there. I am not sure how scrum steals are counted, I think if it leads to a penalty then it’s not counted as a stolen/ lost scrum but just as a penalty, at least that’s how it looks to me.
@Nostraseth (Comment 1) : ja Sharks forwards got nailed! Although I’m glad Jordaan’s defence has improved so much I would rather see him run with the ball attacking!
Esterhuizen put in some big hits on defense, like the one he made that caused that turnover which led to the try( that was disallowed) , BUT he has to start putting his hand up on attack and getting us over the advantage line more often , we can’t just pick him cause his a strong defender . He should get the ball more often on attack and draw in 2 or 3 def and offload and create space for a fast Paul Jordan .
@ettas (Comment 5) : really can’t blame Andre if he does not get the ball to attack.
@JD (Comment 6) : Exactly, he never got any ball it was all kicked.
I didn’t watch the game…but I have read the comments on here…are the guys who are making very outspoken comments about certain aspects of our play exaggerating or just unable to see things objectively…or are there some issues with the stats?
– I read so many comments about just how crap our handling was…but I see the stats show that we were the best handling team on the weekend? Sure…we had less ball, but we didn’t make the 20+ handling errors of some of these other sides…
– I can’t bring the comments about our lineout woes into line with a 94% lineout win stat?
What am I missing?
@pastorshark (Comment 8) : The exact reason why stats are misleading….watch the game and you’ll see.
Very difficult for our boys to knock the ball when they never pass it, but rather opted to kick it away – probably the tactic employed in order for us to minimise handling errors.
…and a few lineouts where Marais clearly didn’t understand the call, and the ball would be thrown in to no one.
@pastorshark (Comment 8) : all I can suggest is that you find the time to watch the game. You will witness a pretty convincing win for the Crusaders in all departments of the game, not just the scoreboard, and a large dose of good fortune the Sharks’ way which kept the winning margin to 5 points.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 9) : ja one time he threw the ball to the middle of the lineout and Oosthuizen as in Coenie Oosthuizen collected the ball!?
@pastorshark (Comment 8) : think you need to use these stats in conjunction with the match stats.
Although the stats says 94% I personally felt our lineouts was hit and miss and no where near championship quality.
Sharks hardly attacked with ball in hand so there was not a lot of chances for handling errors.
Personally I think the Sharks was lucky to only lose by 5 points as they were outplayed by the Saders. All that kept the Sharks in the match was their defending (that at times was seriously good) and the speed of Mvovo.
@pastorshark (Comment 8) : go check the stats in comment 122 of “Sharks 14-19 Crusaders. Can we agree on that?” That will give you another perception of the game.
@pastorshark (Comment 8) : @JD (Comment 13) : http://www.vodacomrugby.co.za/sharks-are-the-hyenas-of-super-rugby/
Very helpful stat summary of the game that shows just how terrible we were.
Thanks guys. So what I’m hearing is that the stats, though objective, just don’t give a complete picture of the game. Could it be that our subjective interpretation of stats will also always colour what we make of objective stats?
I will unfortunately not be able to watch the game because I am in the middle of crazy season for me…I do, however, get a chance to read the comments here while waiting 5 minutes for something to start here and lying in the bath for 10 minutes there. So thanks for all your input…it makes for interesting reading.
@Nostraseth (Comment 14) : A few key points in that article:
– obviously we hardly played at all.
– the interesting thing for me was that we kicked almost equally, but that their kicking was just so much BETTER than ours. I don’t have such an issue with us kicking…I do have an issue without always being such unintelligent and inaccurate kicking – I mean, they caught 26 of our 35 kicks… 😯
@pastorshark (Comment 16) : Also you need to remember that they had the ball a lot more than we did, so their kick/time with the ball ratio would be much lower. We barely had the ball at all and still managed that many kicks.
And yea completely pointless kicking. As has been mention in the other article comments, their back 3 never ever joined the line because thy knew we would kick every time.
@pastorshark (Comment 16). Well letting the catch 26 kicks from 35 kicks could be judged good if every kick was fielded near touch and saders players tavkled into touch with possession,thus resulting in turnover line-out throw to the shars.yes,it did not happen,but letting them catch 26 from 35 is not bad if that was the outcome.as you mentioned,it is all about execution.
@pastorshark (Comment 15) : yes I can believe this time of year is crazy season for you. Good luck and may the Lord lead and help you through this busy time.
@pastorshark (Comment 8) : Total number of handling errors is meaningless. We should rather look at ratio of Handling errors (excluding lineout errors) over (Number of passes and offloads attempted + Number of kicks received)
and now the stormers are getting the countries best inside centre back from injury
not to mention a really good 4/7 in elstadt
@revolverocelot (Comment 21) : good for them. Shortly Sharks will also be getting players back as will a lot of other teams. That’s the nature of this competition.