All Blacks: Perenara stacks up as No2 halfback

Aaron Smith is the gold standard in the No9 jersey but Hurricanes halfback TJ Perenara is enjoying a strong campaign in 2015. Photo / Getty Images

All Black coach Steve Hansen can rest slightly easier when he thinks about his backup halfback this year, if he's a believer in numbers.

Aaron Smith is the gold standard in the No9 jersey but Hurricanes halfback TJ Perenara is enjoying a strong campaign in 2015.

The 23-year-old has scored seven tries, which is the equal-most in the competition alongside Highlanders wing Waisake Naholo.

But let's take a further look inside some other statistics.

Perenara's average gain with the ball in his hands is 6.39m, the most among any Kiwi halfback. He has also produced four try assists, the same figure as Highlanders halfback Fumiaki Tanaka.

With 11 clean breaks, Perenara leads the charge in that category among New Zealand No9s, while he has beaten the second-most defenders and produced the second-most offloads.

Perenara has made 41 tackles, trailing only Brad Weber of the Chiefs who has made 42, but perhaps the most impressive number for Perenara is the number 1, which is how many tackles he has missed. Perenara (11) has also committed fewer turnovers than Smith (17) and Andy Ellis (12) of the Crusaders.

Perenara has made only 11 test appearances with nine of them coming off the bench but as the World Cup approaches, Hansen will want to know he has a reliable option behind Smith and Perenara is smoothing over some of the rough edges in his game.

His option-taking is also improving, which will be pleasing for Hansen, while his try-scoring has been down to his impressive support play; Perenara always seems to be ready and waiting for a pass.

Points are flowingAfter starting the season relying on their unbreakable defence, the Hurricanes have started to get their attacking game working in recent weeks.

They're averaging a league-leading 27.9 points per game, while they also score the most tries of any team with 3.3.

In Perenara and Julian Savea they have two of the top three try-scorers in the competition.

A lack of ForceThey are at the bottom of the table, but the Western Force lead Super Rugby in two statistical categories.

The men from Western Australia have the best ruck success with 96 per cent when retaining their own ball, while they also spend the most time in possession with 17m 34s per game.

With all that ball, they should be able to do something with it but the Force have scored the second-fewest points this year with 157. Only the Reds (130) have troubled the scorers less.

The Force have made the fewest clean breaks this year with 5.2.