Investec Champions Cup stats: Sharks star and Welsh forward lead the charts as road to Bilbao draws near
French stars top the charts as the 'road to Bilbao' draws near
The road to Bilbao has hit the next stage in its journey, as the Investec Champions Cup round of 16 draws near.
16 teams remain in the competition, with the first match of the round taking place on Friday evening, when Northampton Saints host Castres at Franklin’s Gardens.
The most successful team in European rugby, Toulouse, are set to welcome Bristol Bears on Saturday, whilst last season’s winners, Bordeaux-Begles, will host Leicester Tigers on Sunday.
Elsewhere, there’s an all-English affair at the Recreation Ground as Saracens take on the PREM champions Bath, while PREM strugglers Harlequins and Sale will face off at the Stoop.
South African teams, The Bulls and The Stormers, will face Glasgow Warriors and Toulon, respectively, while Edinburgh travel to Dublin to face four-time champions, Leinster, in the final match of the weekend.
Investec Champions Cup statistics
The group stage is now complete, and we were treated to some pretty special matches, so let’s see which teams set themselves apart and which players led the way.
Bordeaux-Begles had an impressive attacking campaign, leading the stats with 27 tries, 50 offloads, and 132 players beaten, while defensively, Glasgow Warriors dominated, making a remarkable 85% of their tackles and winning a chart-topping 39 turnovers.
Individually, Toulouse’s Thomas Ramos and Bath’s Finn Russell top the points scorers list with 53 and 51 points respectively. There are six players still with a 100% kicking ratio, including Ramos, who has slotted all 24 of his efforts so far.
French star Louis Bielle-Biarrey leads try scoring charts with six, while Glasgow’s Jack Dempsey holds a slight lead for the number of carries, with 58.
Harlequins’ Caden Murley boasts an impressive 344 metres gained, having made 12 line breaks from just four matches, but Scarlets’ Fletcher Anderson has proved to be the most elusive player in the Championship, beating an astonishing 25 defenders in just four matches.
Tom Farrell of Munster and Nick David of Harlequins top the offload chart with 10, but David has done so from one less match, whilst Ernst van Rhyn of Sale Sharks leads the way defensively with an incredible 66 tackles from just three matches.
A standout performer, Thibaud Flament rules the skies with 36 lineouts won, while Freddy Douglas rules the ground with 12 turnovers won.
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