Lewington and Miller the Premiership winners in this week's RPI movements

Rob Miller and Alex Lewington were the two big winners in RugbyPass Index (RPI) this past weekend, with Miller rising 6.7% to an overall of 60 and Lewington up to 69, an increase of 6.34%.

Miller’s increased role in the absence of Willie le Roux, who is on international duty with the Springboks, and Lewington’s blistering offensive start to his Saracens career have seen the pair make these significant rises, with Lewington now ranked as the 8^th best left wing in the Gallagher Premiership, a position should that continue to rise if he can maintain this early season form.

Other notable increases this past weekend came in the forms of Jack Maunder (+4.83% to 74), Juan de Jongh (+4.24% to 77) and Henry Slade (+3.67% to 80). In the cases of Slade and de Jongh, these increases see them sit at the top of the rankings for regular outside centres in the Premiership,

There was no change at the top of the player rankings for the Premiership with Owen Farrell and Sam Simmonds remaining on 93 and 92 respectively, due to their lack of involvement over the weekend. Maro Itoje’s value fell by 0.04%, but it sees him hold steady at 93 and sandwiched between Farrell and Simmonds in the top three.

At the other end of the spectrum, Sean Maitland was the player whose value dropped the most, with a 6.92% drop taking him to 74, thanks to a role on the bench behind Alex Lewington, David Strettle and Liam Williams affecting his ability to influence the game.

Other prominent fallers included Phil Dollman (-3.64% to 80), Harry Thacker (-3.78% to 63) and Charlie Ewels (-3.22% to 65) as they either failed to influence their games as much as previously or settled into new roles on the bench.

After the third round of fixtures, each team’s highest-rated player on the RPI is as follows.

Bath: Anthony Watson (81)

Bristol Bears: Charles Piutau (77)

Exeter Chiefs: Sam Simmonds (92)

Gloucester: Jaco Kriel (86)

Harlequins: Mike Brown (73)

Leicester Tigers: Jonny May (82)

Newcastle Falcons: Logovi’i Mulipola (70)

Northampton Saints: Courtney Lawes (74)

Sale Sharks: Chris Ashton (87)

Saracens: Owen Farrell (93)

Wasps: Jimmy Gopperth (89)

Worcester Warriors: Michael Fatialofa (84)