Stats and facts for the Vodacom Super Rugby matches involving South African teams in round 16.
BLUES vs VODACOM BULLS (Auckland, Friday, 9:35am)
– The Blues have won four of their last six Super Rugby games against the Bulls (L2), the two losses sandwiched in between back-to-back victories.
– The Blues have won 11 of their 12 home games against the Bulls in Super Rugby history (L1), over half of those wins (7) have seen a final margin of 13+.
– The Blues have won five of their last six Super Rugby games on home turf, including a 23-8 win over the Chiefs in their last home fixture.
– The Blues boast the best scrum success rate (97%) of any team this Super Rugby season and have also lost a league-low total of three scrums.
– The Bulls’ Duane Vermeulen has won 20 turnovers thus far in Super Rugby 2019, more than any other player in the competition and eight more than Blues’ best, Dalton Papali’i.
SHARKS vs HURRICANES (Durban, Saturday, 3:05pm)
– The Hurricanes have won four of their previous six Super Rugby games against the Sharks, including their last two on the bounce; they have never won three successive games against the Durban outfit.
– The Sharks have won their last four home games on the bounce against New Zealand teams in Super Rugby, only once conceding more than 15 points over that span.
– The Hurricanes have won their last three Super Rugby games on the bounce away from home; the last time they won more in succession was a six-game spread to open the 2015 campaign.
– Only the Crusaders (25) have conceded fewer total tries than the Sharks (31) in Super Rugby 2019, though the Sharks have conceded a joint league-low 16 second-half tries.
– Wes Goosen (Hurricanes) has crossed for a try in every one of his previous three Super Rugby games in South Africa, although this will be his first visit to Durban.
LIONS vs STORMERS (Johannesburg, Saturday, 5:15pm)
– The Lions have won four of their last six Super Rugby matches against the Stormers (D1, L1), dipping to a two-point defeat in their last encounter.
– The Lions have won nine of their last 11 Super Rugby games at Emirates Airlines Park, with two of those last three wins coming after having trailed at the half-time interval.
– The Stormers have won their last three South African derbies on the bounce in Super Rugby, each by a margin of no more than five points.
– The Lions have been awarded 12 penalties per game thus far in Super Rugby 2019, the most of any team in the competition.
– Pieter-Steph du Toit (Stormers) has made 13 tackles per game this Super Rugby campaign, the third most of any player in the competition and more than any other South African.
Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix
