South Africa Super Rugby's best travellers but Kiwi pocket rocket takes the cake
New Zealand may have dominated Super Rugby for the last decade, but South African forwards proved to be the best ‘travellers’.
SANZAAR has punched the numbers and select a Team of the Decade – based on away performances.
New Zealand teams have won seven of the 10 titles since 2001, with their backs providing the bulk of the Away Team of the Decade.
There are eight Kiwis in the teams, six of them among the backs.
The picture looks very different among the forwards.
South Africa, despite having only one title in that period, provides four players – three of them among the forwards.
And all three were key players in the South African pack that dominated England in the World Cup Final (winning 32-12) in Yokohama last November.
That confirms the suggestion that South African forwards generally travel well.
The pack includes two current Springbok World Cup-winning front row forwards in Stormers prop Steven Kitshoff and Lions hooker Malcolm Marx – who between them made 506 tackles.
The mighty Marx gained an average of 23 metres per game in that stretch – the most of any tight forward to play at least 20 away games in that period.
The lock pairing is Rudolph Snyman (Bulls) and Brodie Retallick (Chiefs).
They won 301 line-outs between them. Snyman made 162 carries from his 25 appearances, while Retallick crossed for eight tries, made 487 tackles, and 336 carries from 53 games on the road.
The fourth Springbok is aggressive Bulls centre Jan Serfontein – who made 10+ carries and 10+ tackles in a game from inside centre on five occasions.
Team of the decade – away form:
15 Damian McKenzie (Chiefs)
Has scored 20+ points in an away game on seven occasions in Super Rugby since debuting in 2015 – more than any other player – and he has been directly involved in 24 tries in his last 18 games away from home in the competition (10 tries, 14 try assists).
14 James Lowe (Chiefs)
Scored 13 tries in 28 games away from home, as well as making 48 clean breaks and 38 offloads – he also gained the most metres per game (76) of any wing to play at least 20 games on the road.
13 Charles Piutau (Blues)
Gained an average of 79 metres per game away from home in the last decade of Super Rugby – the second-most of any player (min. 10 games in that stretch.
12 Jan Serfontein (Bulls)
He’s made 10+ carries and 10+ tackles in a game from inside centre on five occasions, the second-most of any player in the last decade of Super Rugby (Kyle Godwin – 7).
11 Nemani Nadolo (Crusaders)
No Crusaders player has scored multiple tries in an away game more times in the last decade than Nadolo (three); his hat-trick against the Cheetahs in Round 9, 2014 is unbeaten by Crusaders players in such fixtures.
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1255577693975982091
10 Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes)
He’s scored 9.5 points per game away from home in the last decade of Super Rugby, the most of any of the 71 players to have played at least 50 games in that time.
9 TJ Perenara (Hurricanes)
He’s scored 30 tries away from home in Super Rugby – only one player has scored more in the last decade (Israel Folau – 31); he’s also made 48 clean breaks, and 56 offloads in that span.
8 Amanaki Mafi (Rebels/Sunwolves)
Mafi is the only forward to have made 20+ carries in an away game on multiple occasions in the last decade of Super Rugby; he’s done so three times.
7 Luke Braid (Blues)
Braid has made 329 carries and 350 tackles in his 36 games away from home in Super Rugby in the last 10 years, as well as having made 45 offloads and winning 40 turnovers.
6 Sean McMahon (Rebels)
McMahon has beaten an average of 3.6 defenders per game away from home in the last decade of Super Rugby – the most of any forward to have played at least 10 away games in that span.
5 Brodie Retallick (Chiefs)
He’s won 182 line-outs (including steals) in the last decade of Super Rugby when playing away from home, as well as crossing for eight tries, making 487 tackles, and 336 carries from 53 games on the road.
4 RG Snyman (Bulls)
He’s won 119 line-outs (including steals), made 43 offloads, and made 162 carries from his 25 appearances away from home in the last decade of Super Rugby.
3 Allan Alaalatoa (Brumbies)
He’s made 10+ tackles in six of his last seven Super Rugby games played away from home including a tally of 17 against the Stormers in Round 10, 2019.
2 Malcolm Marx (Lions)
Made 202 carries from his 29 games away from home, gaining an average of 23 metres per game in that stretch – the most of any tight-five forward to play at least 20 away games in that period.
1 Steven Kitshoff (Stormers)
Has made 304 tackles, won 15 turnovers, and made 22 carries from his 47 games away from home in the last decade of Super Rugby.
– with Super Rugby
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
28 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
28 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
28 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
28 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
28 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments