Nowell tops the Opta Stats list

By Steve Grace
2/5/17

The Opta statistics made for good reading for England international Jack Nowell, after his virtuoso performance in Round 21 of the Aviva Premiership Rugby season last weekend.

The Exeter Chiefs wing, who will be heading to New Zealand with the British & Irish Lions in the summer, was in sparkling form as his team beat Northampton Saints 36-12 to move level on points with Wasps at the top the table.

Nowell made 28 carries, which was the most by a back this season and is only bettered by team-mate Thomas Waldrom, whose 30 against Bristol Rugby on April 8 was the most in an Aviva Premiership Rugby game since OPTA began recording statistics.

The 24-year-old also beat more defenders than anyone else (nine) as he scored a try and also provided an assist.

In addition, Nowell was also top of the tree in metres made, but he was joined on 155 metres by fellow Chiefs man Olly Woodburn (pictured).

Wing Woodburn has enjoyed an impressive campaign and is currently ranks third-highest in metres made for the 2016-17 season with 1,276, although he has some job to do to catch Bath Rugby’s Semesa Rokoduguni (1,567) and Newcastle Falcons’ Vereniki Goneva (1,478).

Elsewhere, Saints’ David Ribbans was the weekend’s chief spoiler, the 21-year-old lock leading the tackle charts with 28.

Northampton were forced into plenty of defensive work as they were bested by Chiefs, with Jamie Gibson (22), who is 14th in the season’s overall rankings, and England captain Dylan Hartley (21) second and third respectively.

Saracens’ Chris Ashton crossed the whitewash in his team’s 27-9 victory over Bristol, and scored a try for a sixth game in a row – the best scoring run achieved since Goneva achieved the same feat when playing for Leicester Tigers last season.

As the Tigers were busy beating Sale Sharks 41-18, Ben Youngs was in a generous mood.

The scrum-half joined team-mate Owen Williams in becoming only the second player this season to assist three or more tries in an Aviva Premiership Rugby match.

Selected Round 21 top performers

Carries made
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) – 28
Lachlan Turner (Exeter Chiefs) – 22
Olly Woodburn (Exeter Chiefs) – 21

Metres gained
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) – 155
Olly Woodburn (Exeter Chiefs) – 155
Alex Goode (Saracens) – 139

Tackles made
David Ribbans (Northampton Saints) – 28
Jamie Gibson (Northampton Saints) – 22
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints) – 21

Defenders beaten
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs) – 9
Mike Brown (Harlequins) – 8
Olly Woodburn (Exeter Chiefs) – 7

Lineouts won
Calum Green (Newcastle Falcons) – 10
James Horwill (Harlequins) – 8
Charlie Matthews (Harlequins) – 7