There is just one South African and no players from defending champions the DHL Stormers in the Top 10 performers announced by the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Thursday.
The newly updated URC Top 100 was officially named on Thursday, reflecting performances across the Vodacom URC, EPCR competitions and international rugby.
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Powered by the StatMaster xP algorithm, the Top 100 identifies the most valuable performers across the 16 Vodacom URC teams by analysing every match they have appeared in during the last 12 months.
Sharks lock Eben Etzebeth is the only South African player to crack the top 10, which does not include any players from the Stormers, despite their continued consistency this season.
Loose forward Deon Fourie is the first Stormers player to appear on the list and he is ranked at number 21. Other Stormers players to crack a nod on the list are props Brok Harris (39th), Steven Kitshoff (45th) and Frans Malherbe (81st) and Neethling Fouche (87th), loose forward Junior Pokomela (72nd), lock Ernst van Rhyn (96th) and new recruit Ruben van Heerden (99th).
There are four Leinster players in the Top 10. Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan comes in as the highest-ranked player, followed by scrumhalf Luke McGrath, flank Josh van der Flier and wing James Lowe.
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URC Top 10:
1 Dan Sheehan (Leinster)
2 Luke McGrath (Leinster)
3 Gavin Coombes (Munster)
4 Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
5 Niall Murray (Connacht)
6 Owen Lane (Cardiff)
7 James Lowe (Leinster)
8 Eben Etzebeth (Sharks)
9 Josh Adams (Cardiff)
10 Tom Stewart (Ulster)
Explainer:
Then StatMaster applies an “expected points” (xP) algorithm to each event in games. Like “expected points added” (EPA) in the NFL and “expected goals” (xG) in football, this revolutionary new stat measures the impact each player has on his side’s chance of scoring. It is based on the idea that rugby is a team game and while the player who slots the ball through the posts or touches it down deserves plenty of credit, so do the 14 others who helped create that opportunity.
For example, a player can gain points by doing things that increase his team’s probability of claiming the next score, such as crashing past defenders, nailing a 50/22 kick, earning a scrum penalty or even winning a crucial turnover on his own try-line. On the other hand, if he makes a costly error, he can lose points. Crucially, the algorithm adjusts for lots of match factors, including a player’s position, his location on the field, the phase type, the time on the clock and the quality of his teammates and opponents.
All this allows URC StatMaster to give the most accurate data-driven estimates of how much players are currently contributing to their teams. The ratings can also be broken into skill types, so you can look at the best prop at scrummaging, the best flanker at defending, the best fly half at goal kicking or the best winger at carrying.
Photo: Deryck Foster