Champions Cup: The nine stat leaders heading into the quarter-finals, including most metres, offloads and tackles

Jared Wright
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quarter-finals The Champions Cup round of 16 top stat performers and stat leaders in the competition so far, including the most metres, offloads and tackles.

The Champions Cup round-of-16 produced some spills, thrills and impressive results as the quarter-finalists were confirmed.

With Oval Insights’ help, we look at the 11 individual stat leaders in the competition and the top performers from the weekend’s action.

Top try scorers

Leinster flanker Josh van der Flier still leads the way for tries scored in the tournament despite not adding to his tally against Ulster.

The Ireland international averages a try every 80 minutes in the tournament this year, having dotted down five times in the last five matches.

Seven players are just one try behind Van der Flier with four tries scored; they are Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins), Deon Fourie (Stormers), Gavin Coombes (Munster), Elliot Daly (Saracens), Thomas Darmon (Montpellier), Ben Earl (Saracens) and Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks).

Fourie scored twice for the Stormers in the round-of-16, including a long-range effort early in the game.

Fast fact: Makazole Mapimpi had three try involvements against Munster, scoring one and assisting scorers Hendrikse and Werner Kok.

Top points scorers

La Rochelle fly-half Antoine Hastoy entered the round-of-16 as the tournament’s top points scorer with 50 points. However, the gap between him and the rest was closed this weekend.

Sharks fly-half Curwin Bosch scored a round-high of 20 points against Munster and now trails Hastoy (59) by just four points – despite playing one game fewer than the Frenchman.

Bosch scored a try, slotted a penalty and converted all six of his side’s scores to steer the Sharks to a 50-35 victory over Munster.

Fast fact: Thomas Ramos produced a man-of-the-match performance against the Bulls, scoring 18 of his side’s 33 points – the second-highest points tally of the round.

Top tacklers

Munster number eight Coombes made seven tackles against the Sharks, adding to his 67 from the four games before.

His fellow teammate Jean Kleyn is the closest, having made 69 tackles before Munster’s exit.

Ulster’s Nick Timoney makes it a hat-trick of Irishman at the top with his 66 in the tournament.

However, the top tacklers this weekend came from the Englishman plying their trade in France. Curtis Langdon, who played an incredible 98 minutes at hooker, made a round-high of 32 tackles, with teammate Elliott Stooke making 30.

There was another impressive tackle count in Ulster white as Rob Herring racked up 27 against Leinster.

Tommy Reffell made 24 for Leicester Tigers against Edinburgh.

Fast fact: Langdon and Stooke missed just one tackle between them against Exeter Chiefs.

Top carriers

With so many Montpellier players ranking among the weekend’s top tacklers, it is no surprise that the top carrier was an Exeter Chief.

Sam Simmonds made a round high of 20 carries, gaining 91 metres and was closely followed by teammates Dan Frost (18) and Jack Nowell (16).

His efforts earned praise from his director of rugby, Rob Baxter.

“He [Simmonds] looked almost impossible to handle sometimes,” Baxter said.

“He very nearly scored a solo try that would have written the game off, and he was one of the guys who got his levels right for what he wanted to achieve.”

Fellow number eights Gregory Alldritt and Jack Conan (both 19) came close to Simmonds’ tally, while Damian Willemse shared the top carrying back with Nowell.

Despite the big tallies, Zach Mercer still leads the competition with 89 carries. Alldritt (82) is in second place, and Bill Mata (79) is in third.

Fast fact: Willemse has made more carries than any other backline player in the competition (63), and Pierre Schoeman (59) the most by a front-rower.

Most defenders beaten

It was a successful weekend for the hot steppers and elusive runners, with three players beating eight defenders.

Montpellier’s Darmon beat that many against Exeter, with Munster’s Calvin Nash doing so against the Sharks. Harlequins’ Cadan Murley also beat eight defenders against the Stormers.

Quins full-back Nick David still holds a considerable lead at the top of the statistic, having beaten 25 defenders in five games. He is followed by Mapimpi, who has evaded 19 tacklers in four games and Antoine Dupont, who has beaten 18.

Fast fact: Exeter Chiefs hooker Frost beat more defenders than any other forward during the round-of-16, evading six Montpellier tacklers.

Most line breaks

It’s difficult to break through modern defences, and this stat highlights that with Murley leading the way with eight line breaks from five games.

Mapimpi is not far off from the Quins flyer, having broken through the opposition’s defence on seven occasions, while Clermont’s Bautista Delguy matched that tally in just three games.

Stormers’ youngster Suleiman Hartzeberg, Leinster’s Jimmy O’Brien and Saracens’ Daly have all posted the next-best tallies of six.

Fast fact: Props Nicky Smith and Mako Vunipola made two clean breaks apiece in the round-of-16.

Running metres

Munster’s Mike Haley (384) has gained more metres with the ball in hand than any other player.

Murley (377) and Mapimpi (361) continue to show the threat they pose in attack posting the second and third-best tallies.

Bulls duo Wandisile Simelane (340) and Kurt-Lee Arendse (324) round out the top five.

Focusing on this past weekend, Exeter Chiefs’ Tom Wyatt topped the charts with 126 metres. Munster’s Nash came in second with 117.

Bosch (Sharks), Matthis Lebel (107) and Mike Lowry (93) complete the top five.

Fast fact: Dupont made a round-high three try assists – two passes and one kick.

Turnovers won

Will Evans conceded the top spot in the turnovers won department to flanker Fourie this weekend.

The Stormers veteran now tops the statistic with 12 turnovers in five matches.

Leicester’s Reffell shares second place with Evans on 10, with Julien Marchand in third with nine.

Fast fact: 22% of Dupont’s kicks in play were retained this weekend, and he has now made a tournament-high six try assists.

Offloads

Two Springboks share the top spot in this statistic, with Willemse and Siya Kolisi completing 11 offloads in their five appearances.

Stormers back-rower Hacjivah Dayimani and Saracens centre Nick Tompkins are in second with 10 apiece.

Top stat performers – Round-of-16

Points: 20 Curwin Bosch (Sharks)
Carries: 20 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs)
Metres: 126 Tom Wyatt (Exeter Chiefs)
Defenders beaten: 8 Thomas Darmon (Montpellier Hérault Rugby), Calvin Nash (Munster Rugby), Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Tackles: 32 Curtis Langdon (Montpellier Hérault Rugby)
Offloads: 4 Nick Tompkins (Saracens), RG Snyman (Munster Rugby), Paolo Garbisi (Montpellier Hérault Rugby)

Champions Cup Stat Leaders

Points: 59 Antoine Hastoy (La Rochelle)
Tries: 5 Josh van der Flier (Leinster Rugby)
Try Assists: 6 Antoine Dupont (Toulouse)
Carries: 89 Zach Mercer (Montpellier Hérault Rugby)
Metres: 384 Mike Haley (Munster Rugby)
Tackles: 74 Gavin Coombes (Munster Rugby)
Turnovers won: 12 Deon Fourie (Stormers)
Line Breaks: 8 Cadan Murley (Harlequins)
Defenders Beaten: 25 Nick David (Harlequins)
Offloads: 11 Damian Willemse (Stormers), Siya Kolisi (Sharks)
Lineouts won: 28 Hanro Liebenberg (Leicester Tigers), Matias Alemanno (Gloucester Rugby)

READ MORE: Loose Pass: Home advantage in the Champions Cup and the Premiership’s future

Bulls Deon Fourie Sam Simmonds