Crusaders tops when it comes to try-scoring

Blues reject Waisake Naholo has become a champion at the Highlanders and is in the frame for the All Blacks. Photo / Getty Images

The Crusaders are in a precarious tussle for the playoffs and surprisingly, are top of the pile in one department. They have scored the most tries in this year's Super Rugby series and have spread those spoils throughout the team.

The Crusaders suffer from several perceptions. Their misshapen backline has struggled to find much rhythm with injury cutting into the production of Israel Dagg, Robbie Fruean and Johnny McNicholl.

It feels like they have been dogged by an inability to create and score and when they run out of ideas, they fling the ball to the left wing and ask Nemani Nadolo to do his thing. The big man has responded magnificently with his mix of power and deft touches giving massive problems to most sides as the Hurricanes discovered in Nelson.

The Crusaders have scored 48 tries in this campaign yet Nadolo has touched down only six times, a statistic which points to his try-assist potency. The backs have scored 30 tries, the forwards 16 with two penalty tries. Next best are the Hurricanes on 47 tries with 28 of those coming from their gifted backline including eight from halfback TJ Perenara.

The Highlanders are the third most potent team dotting down 44 times with the Chiefs middle of the pack with 36 and the Blues hobbling along with 27 tries for the season.

No one should be surprised about the venom amongst the Highlanders with their backs scoring 34 of their try tally or a massive 77 per cent.

The most destructive is Waisake Naholo who has touched down for nine tries with his latest another example of why he has become such a hot target for the All Black scouts.

Nothing beats gas, as former All Black selector Earle Kirton was fond of saying, and Naholo has stacks of it. We have seen him burn defences in straight line sprints, bump off defenders if he has to and dazzle with his balance and footwork. Against the Chiefs, he delivered a different knockout style, punching through tacklers after a lineout then circling away from the backfield defenders with ease. It was a slow surface at Rugby Park in Invercargill but it did not inhibit Naholo.

Comrades Ben and Aaron Smith with Malakai Fekitoa will be rested for Friday's match against the Hurricanes but the prospect of a Naholo-Julian Savea duel will be one of the top billings for the capacity crowd at McLean Park in Napier.

As a right wing-left wing combo, they might be the preferred All Black combination although their involvement in the opening July test against Samoa will depend on their teams' progress in the Super playoffs.

Opta statistics used by the Herald show little between Naholo and Savea on attack as they have both made life difficult for their opposition.

Defence shows Naholo in a much stronger tone. He has an 80 per cent success rate on defence after making 50 tackles and missing 12 while Savea is running at 58 per cent with 26 tackles and 19 misses.

Statistics are only part of the picture but Naholo's impact this season has shifted him into the national selectors' eyeline.

Like Fekitoa, Naholo was a Blues reject after 2013 and has resurfaced as a champion Highlander.