Super Rugby's most potent attacking weapon
While debate over who should don the Springboks No. 10 jersey heats up as the June test window nears, one player has separated himself from the pack.
Robert du Preez has emerged as a point-scoring machine since joining the Durban-based Sharks, leading the competition in points after 12 weeks of competition and declaring himself the most potent offensive weapon in Super Rugby.
While an outlandish call at first glance, there’s no doubt that du Preez has the numbers to back up the claim.
Du Preez’s point production has been on another level in 2018.
The first five-eighth has scored 132 points and four tries, good for best in the competition and best among his position respectively. That amounts to 13.2 points every outing, and when you throw in du Preez’s competition-leading seven try assists he is responsible for 16.7 Sharks points every game. He also ranks fourth in the competition in line-break assists (12), showing great awareness to put his teammates into space.
His 38-point outing against the Blues – the third highest single-game haul in Super Rugby history, where he kicked a perfect 13/13 from the tee and scored a try for good measure - and his 18-point effort against the Highlanders – where he outscored the New Zealand side by himself after scoring a try and converting six flawless kick attempts – stand out in what has been a breakthrough season for Du Preez, who has become the leader of one of the highest scoring teams in Super Rugby.
After ten games the Sharks rank third in points scored (296) and sixth in points per game (29.6 – 0.3 points separate teams ranked four through six). He has scored 45% of the Sharks’ total points and is responsible for an impressive 56% when try assists are factored in.
For reference the next highest points scorer, Damian McKenzie, has scored 107 of the Chiefs’ 268 points, good for 11.9 points per game and 39% of the Chiefs’ total points. When you add McKenzie’s six try assists he is responsible for 51% of the Chiefs scoring and his true points per game increases to 15.2.
The area that truly separates du Preez from the rest of the competition is his incredible ability from the tee.
The 24-year-old is kicking goals at an 88% clip (48/54) and has a ludicrous 94% rate (32/34) when it comes to conversions.
Only the Sunwolves’ Hayden Parker has been more accurate from flyhalf at 90% - though his sample size is significantly smaller as he has taken just 10 kicks.
Du Preez’ boot is also a significant weapon during the run of play. He leads the competition in kicking metres with 2260 and carves off an average of 33.7 metres every time he puts boot to ball.
With the Springboks in for a busy June featuring four tests, it will be tough for new coach Rassie Erasmus to overlook the Sharks’ young gun if he can maintain this level of performance.
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Dont know if the Irish players said it or not, but lets all be honest with ourselves, and hopefully both the Irish and French have healed by now, the Media did jump the gun, be realistic, according to 90% of the media it was a France and Ireland final, and the media had 1 of them winning the world cup, not even mentioning the All blacks? Just remember world cups are different, Australia was not the most in form cricket tean in the last cricket world cup, but they have a nack of winning when it matters. I wont go into whether what Etzabeth is saying is true, all I am saying is that its very easy for a team to get ahead of themselves due to the media. Nothing wrong with it, the media got the springboks over confident against England and we nearly lost that one.
Go to commentsHey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
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