Rugby Championship: The nine individual stat leaders from Round ...

Following the opening round of the Rugby Championship, Planet Rugby takes a look at the individual stats leaders from the weekend’s action.

South Africa and New Zealand both claimed victories on Saturday, defeating Australia and Argentina, respectively.

There were 17 tries scored in the opening round, with a total of 108 points scored. 

Rugby Championship stat leaders

Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse

The fleet-footed Springboks flyer was the only player to score more than once in the first weekend of action. He crossed the whitewash on three occasions against Eddie Jones’ Wallabies, while team-mate Pieter-Steph du Toit was the only other South African try-scorer. 

Jacques Nienaber’s side were awarded two penalty tries at Loftus, with Carter Gordon and Marika Koroibete scoring Australia’s two tries.

Meanwhile, Dane Coles, Ardie Savea, Jordie Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Aaron Smith, Beauden Barrett and Emoni Narawa all scored for the All Blacks in their win over Argentina.

Los Pumas‘ scores came from the front-row, with Lucio Sordoni and Agustin Creevy grabbing five-pointers.

Points: Kurt-Lee Arendse

Usually, this stat is dominated by the placekickers, but with all the kickers missing shots at goal this weekend, Arendse tops the stat.

His team-mate, Manie Libbok, is in second place with his nine points from the tee, with Carter Gordon scoring seven points from the bench for the Wallabies.

Damian McKenzie is in fourth place with his three conversions against Argentina. 

Tackles: Rodrigo Bruni

Moving to defence, and despite some abrasive rugby being played this weekend, the tackle tallies were relatively low.

Argentina’s Rodrigo Bruni made the most tackles this weekend, making 14 in total against the All Blacks. The 29-year-old number eight is joined by captain Julian Montoya and Lucio Cinti in the top three, with the pair both making 13 tackles.

They are tied in second place with Wallabies co-captain James Slipper and All Blacks centre Jordie Barrett who also made 13 hits. 

The Springboks shared the load, with captain Duane Vermeulen leading the way for his side with just eight tackles. 

Turnovers won: Multiple players

Turnovers were hard to come by in round one of the Championship, with no player making more than two turnovers.

All of those who did win two turnovers featured in the clash in Mendoza as Bruni, Mateo Carreras and Jordie Barrett claimed a pair. 

Carries made: Andre Esterhuizen

Harlequins centre Andre Esterhuizen made the most of his opportunity in the starting lineup for the Springboks against Australia. He regularly got his hands on the ball, making 16 carries, a round high, while making seven passes and completing an offload. The Springbok managed to gain 56 metres from his carries, regularly attracting at least two Wallaby defenders. 

Esterhuizen’s team-mate Willie Le Roux made the second most carries (15) and Pieter-Steph du Toit the third most (13).

Mateo Carreras made the most carries by a Los Pumas player (13), while Jordie Barrett carried the most for the All Blacks (11).

Most clean breaks: Kurt-Lee Arendse

Unsurprisingly, Arendse made the most clean breaks on Saturday, slicing through the Wallabies’ defence on four occasions. 

His fellow winger Canan Moodie made the second most clean breaks (3) with Marika Koroibete and the All Blacks’ Rieko Ioane (both 2) the other two players to break the line more than once.

Defenders beaten: Three players

Marika Koroibete was one of the Wallabies’ best on Saturday and his stats prove that as he managed to beat five Springbok defenders. The Wallaby flyer shares the top spot with Springbok centre Esterhuizen and flanker Marco van Staden.

Koroibete’s fellow winger Suliasi Vunivalu shares second place with Carreras, Ioane and Argentina prop Thomas Gallo. 

Running Metres: Canan Moodie

Moodie betters his Springbok team-mate, Arendse, in one stat, having made more running metres than his fellow speedster. The young winger made 119 metres against Australia and was the only player to post three figures this weekend.

Libbok came closest to the triple digits gaining 96 metres, with Koroibete topping the charts for Australia (80) and Narawa posting the most metres for the All Blacks (79). 

Lineouts won: Marvin Orie

Springboks lock Marvin Orie was the busiest lineout jumper claiming five lineout throws at Loftus. 

He was closely followed by several players, including Juan Martin Gonzalez, Nick Frost, Shannon Frizell, Josh Lord and Jean Kleyn, who all won four each.

READ MORE: Rugby Championship Team of the Week: All Blacks and Springboks dominate