Champions Cup: The eleven stat leaders heading into Round Four, including most metres, offloads and tackles

Jared Wright
stat The Champions Cup pool stages wraps up this weekend with 12 fixtures across Europe and South Africa.  With Oval Insights' help, we look at the eleven individual stat leaders from the first three rounds of the competition.

Saracens' Elliot Daly. Sharks' Siya Kolis and Exeter Chiefs' Dave Ewers

The Champions Cup pool stages wraps up this weekend with 12 fixtures across Europe and South Africa. 

With Oval Insights‘ help, we look at the eleven individual stat leaders from the opening three rounds of the competition.

Top try scorers

Elliot Daly was the only player to score three tries in Round Three – his first hat-trick for Saracens. His triple against Lyon, plus his score against Edinburgh, sees him top the scoring list.

He is joined on four tries by Munster back-rower Gavin Coombes and 2022 World Rugby Player of the Year Josh van der Flier. 

Van der Flier’s four has helped Leinster to the most tries in the competition (22). Four of Leinster’s tries have come from mauls.

Fast Fact: Bordeaux have scored just three tries, the lowest tally in the Champions Cup.

Try assists

Caelan Doris is the surprising leader for the most try assists in the competition; the Leinster back-rower has set up five in the tournament.

Toulouse scrum-half Antoine Dupont and Bulls fly-half Morne Steyn have both assisted three so far, while 15 players have assisted two.

In Round Three, the Stormers profited from clever kicks against London Irish, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Dan du Plessis assisting tries with the boot.

Meanwhile, Clermont back Irae Simone was the only other player to assist more than one try in the last round.

Fast Fact: Doris has assisted two more tries than any other player in the competition.

Top points scorers

La Rochelle pivot Antoine Hastoy (44) is still the top points scorer in the Champions Cup despite adding just two to his tally last weekend.

Hastoy is comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack, with Joey Carbery ranked in second place with 29.

Toulouse full-back Melvyn Jaminet scored 17 points in Round Three, the most of the round.

Fast Fact: Leicester Tigers have the highest rate of success off the tee in the competition (95%). Charlie Atkinson is the only player with double-digits yet to miss a shot at goal.

Top tacklers

Munster back-rower Coombes (51) tops another stat as he has made more tackles than any other player in the Champions Cup. The 25-year-old Irish international has missed six tackles in the three matches and has won four turnovers.

Stormers flanker Junior Pokomela made 25 tackles in round three, the highest tally of the round, moving him up the rankings into sixth place.

Pokomela’s fellow countryman Ruan Nortje made 22 last week, the most for a player that did not miss once.

On the other end of the scale, Sale Sharks lock Jonny Hill has missed more players than any other individual in the competition (nine).

Fast Fact: Leicester Tigers fly-half Charlie Atkinson has made more cover tackles than any other player (five).

Top carriers

The Exeter Chiefs pack continues to impress in contact, with Dave Ewers making more dominant carries (16) than any other player, while Sam Simmonds (13) ranks in the top five. Rob Baxter’s charges have made the most post-contact metres (390) in the tournament.

While Exeter’s pack has dominated, Montpellier number eight Zach Mercer has been the busiest carrier, making 53. He has been extremely effective with ball in hand, crossing the gain line 56.6% of the time.

Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen has made 60 metres in contact, a tournament-high and just one more than the next best by Coombes.

Fast Fact: Lewis Ludlam made more carries than any other player in Round Three (18).

Most defenders beaten

Springboks and Sharks flyer Makazole Mapimpi is the most elusive player in the tournament to date, beating 14 defenders over the first three rounds.

London Irish outside back Ben Loader and Quins speedster Nick David boast the next-best tallies of 13.

The best tally by a forward is shared between Lewis Ludlam, Arno Botha, Emmanuel Meafou, Akker van der Merwe and Tom Willis, all beating nine.

Fast Fact: Leinster’s Jamie Osbourne (8) beat the most defenders in Round Three.

Most line breaks

Stormers centre Ruhan Nel made a round-high of four line breaks in round three, and one almost led to a try, but he failed to do the ball down. Thankfully, he could see the funny side of it.

Meanwhile, Clermont’s Los Pumas back Bautista Delguy leads the competition for line breaks, making six in total.

Four players share second place: Cadan Murley, James Lowe, Mapimpi and Daly.

Fast Fact: Also making three clean breaks, Josaia Raisuqe of Castres Olympique made 94 metres in Round Three.

Running metres

The Bulls backs racked up the running metres last week, with Wandisile Simelane gaining 145 metres and Kurt-Lee Arendse 123, the two highest tallies of the round.

The South Africans have really got up and running in the tournament, with Mapimpi making a competition-high 292 metres.

On the opposite end of the charts, Ulster’s attack has struggled to fire in the first three rounds as the Irish province has made the fewest metres (577), beat the fewest defenders (25), and made just three clean breaks – again the lowest tally.

Fast Fact: Toulouse lock Emmanuel Meafou made a round-high 33 metres in contact at the weekend. He made 34 metres in total, meaning all but one of his metres gained were in contact.

Turnovers won

Sharks back-rower Vincent Tshituka has won more turnovers than any other player in the tournament (7); five of those have been won at the ruck.

Meanwhile, Toulouse hooker Julien Marchand won four turnovers against Sale Sharks; no player has won more in a single match during this season’s competition.

Racing 92 centre Gael Fickou and Toulouse captain Dupont top the charts for backs in the tournament.

Fast Fact: Will Evans has been a nuisance in more defensive rucks than any other player (18). 

Lineout wins

Ospreys lock Adam Beard has won more lineouts in the tournament than any other player (23).

Beard has four more than the next best in the tournament (19), with three players on 17.

Racing 92 and the Sharks have the most lineout steals (six each), with Baptiste Chouzenoux and Eben Etzebeth claiming the most in the tournament.

Fast Fact: The Ospreys have the most effective lineout this season, winning 93% of their throws in the tournament.

Most offloads

Siya Kolisi was in fine form with the ball in hand against Bordeaux last weekend, completing five offloads.

His five against Bordeaux catapults him to joint-eighth, having not made an offload in the first two rounds.

Ahead of the Springboks’ captain are Leone Nakawara, Noa Nakaitaci, Meafou, Hacjivah Dayimani, and Dupont, with six apiece.

The top spot is jointly held by Munster fly-half Carbery and Stormers back Damian Willemse.

Top stat performers – Round 3

Points: 17 Melvyn Jaminet (Stade Toulousain)

Carries: 18 Lewis Ludlam (Northampton Saints)

Metres: 145 Wandisile Simelane (Bulls)

Defenders beaten: 8 Jamie Osborne (Leinster Rugby)

Tackles: 25 Junior Pokomela (Stormers)

Offloads: 5 Siya Kolisi (Sharks)

READ MORE: Brian O’Driscoll: Three South African teams making the Champions Cup knockouts ‘would speak volumes for their quality’

Bulls Elliot Daly Siya Kolisi

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