Who's hot…and who's not!
It's time for Planet Rugby's wrap up of who is setting the benchmarks at the moment… and who should be dropped to the bench!
It's time for Planet Rugby's weekly wrap up of who is setting the benchmarks at the moment… and who should be dropped to the bench!
They're on fire!
Morne Steyn and Aaron Cruden: Only a point separates these two fly-halves at the top of the points-scoring charts. Steyn has 225 and Cruden 224, but the Bulls pivot could have the upper hand as he will be in action against the Crusaders in the play-offs, while Cruden and the rest of the Chiefs have the weekend off.
Bjorn Basson and Andre Taylor: With 10 tries apiece, Basson and Taylor have been in red-hot try-scoring form this season. Basson will get a chance to add to his tally in the play-offs and secure sole possession of the top try-scorer's title, while Hurricane Taylor will be watching the rest of the competition on television.
Stormers defence: The semi-finalists' defensive work has been the main reason for their success this season. Coach Allister Coetzee's charges have conceded a miserly 254 points and had only 21 tries scored against them.
The top six: And then there were six in Super Rugby. After the hectic final weekend of round-robin matches, it's the Stormers, Chiefs, Reds, Crusaders, Bulls and Sharks that are left standing and progress to Super Rugby's knockout stages.
Hurricanes: They might have missed out on the play-offs, but the men in yellow certainly made a statement with their attacking style of play. The Wellington-based franchise were the team that scored the most points (489 points) and tries (58) during the regular season.
Heavyweight youngsters: This month saw the arrival of two colossal forwards in Toulouse. 19-year-old loose forward Edwin Maka stands just over 2m and weighs 130kg! And 21-year-old tighthead prop Antoine Guillamon is 1,93m and tips the scales at 145kg! No wonder Leicester have asked George Ford (80kg) to hit the gym!
Someone turn on the heater…!
Francois Hougaard: The nuggety scrum-half is proving a worthy successor to Fourie du Preez for the Bulls and has been one of the top number nines in this year's Super Rugby tournament. However, he will not be proud to know that he was the only player to receive a red card from 118 matches played this season! Hougaard's crime? A tip-tackle on Cheetahs centre Robert Ebersohn which also earned him a one-week ban.
Pat Lam: Any coach that has top-class players such as Ma'a Nonu, Tony Woodcock, Piri Weepu and Ali Williams in his squad should at least be challenging for a spot in the play-offs. Okay so the latter two did not do their reputations justice this season, but the now former Blues coach's inability to get his charges out of the basement with a team that was among the pre-season favourites makes him genuinely not hot!
Rebels: By finishing 13th, Super Rugby's newest franchise might have improved on last year's bottom-of-the-table showing but defensive drills do not appear to be big on coach Damien Hill's priority list. With 520 in the points-against column, the boys from Melbourne conceded the most points in this year's tournament. Even more than the bottom-placed Lions!
Lions: And speaking of the pride from Johannesburg… things have gone from bad to worse as the season progressed. After the euphoria of their Currie Cup final victory in 2011, John Mitchell's troops were overflowing with enthusiasm at the start of their Super Rugby campaign. However, an 11-match losing streak saw them firmly entrenched at the bottom of the table until the end of the round-robin matches!
Stormers attack: They might be defending like Trojans but the Cape Town outfit have scored the least tries in the tournament and are the only team who did not manage to register a try-scoring bonus point this year! Even the hapless Rebels and Lions have done better than that.
Brumbies: Jake White's side's loss to the Blues proved costly as it denied them of their first finals spot since 2004. What makes it even worse for the team's fans is that their defeat opened the back door for the Reds into the play-offs.
By David Skippers