Du Preez the weekend top tackler

Du Preez the weekend top tackler

Jean-Luc du Preez made the most tackles during the Vodacom SupeRugby action this past weekend.

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It was an inland assault of note as the Vodacom Bulls and Emirates Lions gave Gauteng an unbeatable weekend while the Toyota Cheetahs went on a rampage in Bloemfontein.

While Lions pivot Elton Jantjies turned in another commanding display scoring 19 of his side’s match-winning points it was Cheetahs flyer Sergeal Petersen that stole the show.

Petersen’s name pops up at the top of nearly every attacking stat on the All Out Rugby App’s Stats Zone, making the most Clean Breaks and Running Metres while scoring a hat-trick of tries.

The derby between the DHL Stormers and Lions was a mouth-watering affair as Jantjies and the visitors’ young Jean-Luc du Plessis sparred for the spoils.

Jantjies gave his side the upper hand with four penalties, two conversions and a drop goal while Du Plessis was equally valuable for his team with five penalty goals and a conversion kick.

Petersen and Cheetahs flanker Paul Schoeman were pivotal in their side’s record-breaking display against the Sunwolves scoring a hat-trick of tries each in the Bloemfontein team’s 14-try romp over the Japanese tourists.

With their 92-17 rampage they equaled the competition record set by the Crusaders in their 96-29 victory over the Waratahs in 2002.

Petersen came close to running 200 metres in the match but stopped just short making 193 running metres and six Clean Breaks.
Behind him in the Metres Run rankings, the Hurricanes’ Beauden Barrett ran 59 metres less than Petersen.

Cell C Sharks wing JP Pietersen made three Clean Breaks in his side’s narrow 23-18 defeat to the Blues in Auckland sharing fourth place in the category with Lappies Labuschagne (Bulls), Courtnall Skosan (Lions), Rene Ranger (Blues), and Israel Dagg (Crusaders).

Bulls centre Jesse Kriel also featured among the top attacking players this weekend sharing third place in the Defenders Beaten category with Rieko Ioane of the Blues and the Crusaders’ Israel Dagg with seven each.

Julian Savea of the Hurricanes lead the pack beating nine defenders while the Lions’ Warren Whiteley beat six for fourth place.

Lions flanker Jaco Kriel, Petersen, Kurtley Beale (Waratahs) and Jordan Taufua (Crusaders) each beat five defenders in their respective matches.

The Tackles statistics is a crowded place dominated by Sharks players spearheaded by flanker Jean-Luc du Preez, who made a whopping 19 tackles.

His fellow loosie Phillip van der Walt shares second with two more players with 17 each, while you have four more Sharks players cracking the top-five with Paul Jordaan, Andre Esterhuizen and Ettienne Oosthuizen with 16 each and Stephan Lewies with 15 along with the Stormers’ Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Sefanaia Naivalu of the Rebels.

With the highest number of tries per round being scored in Round 8 (24 in total), the contribution from Vodacom to the Tries for Books campaign totalled R168 000 from this weekend’s action.  With a massive contribution from the Toyota Cheetahs leading the pack in supporting Tries for Books with fourteen tries in Round 8 and 30 so far this season.


(File Photo: Gallo Images)


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