The stats don't lie: Super 15 week 11 preview

The game of the round this weekend is the all-New Zealand clash at Carisbrook between the red hot Highlanders and in-form Blues.

The Hurricanes return home battered and bruised to take on the high flying Reds, while the Crusaders play the Force in Perth and the Chiefs finish their South African tour taking on the Bulls in Pretoria.

HIGHLANDERS v BLUES

- The Highlanders are coming off the back of an impressive away win against the Crusaders last week, but the Blues have historically had it over the Highlanders scoring on average 10 more points a game plus having won the last four matches played between the two sides.

- Neither side has lost a game since Round 5 and both have strung together four consecutive wins and had the bye in that time.

- Luke McAlister is running at 70 percent with his goal kicking, while Stephen Brett's bad day with the boot last weekend has seen his success rate drop to 48 percent. Tony Brown has had a 63 percent success rate with his goal kicking this season.

- The Highlanders' lineout is one of the best, with a success rate of 90 percent on their own throw. The Blues are running at 77 percent, with Anthony Boric successful in stealing four opposition lineout throws this year.

- Plenty of linebreakers in both backlines, Isaia Toeava is still the top NZ back for clean linebreaks with 11 and Jared Payne close on his heels with eight. Kade Poki is the leading linebreaker for the Highlanders with eight, while Ben Smith has been the quiet achiever with six to his name.

- The Highlanders won plenty of counter-rucks against the Crusaders last weekend, and with Adam Thomson returning from injury they further bolster their chances at the breakdown as he looks to add to his eight turnover wins this season.

- The average score in matches between these two teams is 28-20 in favour of the Blues. The Blues won last year's game 19-15.


HURRICANES v REDS

- This will be the 16th game played between the two teams, and the Hurricanes have the edge with 10 wins. Last year they won 44-21.

- The Hurricanes have only won two games this season and sit last in the New Zealand conference, while the Reds are top of the Australian conference and the overall points table with just one loss so far.

- Quade Cooper is the second highest points scorer in the competition with 101, and with seven linebreaks and fourteen offloads to date will be a player the Hurricanes will want to shut down.

- Aaron Cruden returns to the No 10 jersey for the Hurricanes this week. He is currently running at 80 percent with his goal kicking.


FORCE v CRUSADERS

- If the Crusaders have a bogey team, then surely the Force are it. There have been five games played between these two sides, and there have been two draws (bizarrely both were 23-all). The Crusaders have won two of the remaining three games, but lost 16-24 in Perth last year.

- Richie McCaw will start at No 8 in his second game of the season, with Kieran Read being spelled this week.

- Matt Todd is the leading New Zealand flanker with 10 breakdown steals, and his match up against David Pocock will be keenly watched.

- The Force's James O'Connor is the competition's leading points scorer with 108, including three tries. Sean Maitland is still the competition's leading try scorer with eight, while Israel Dagg has five.

- The Crusaders have a points differential of +139, while the Force who are languishing second to bottom in the Australian conference have a differential of -67.


BULLS v CHIEFS

- The Chiefs meet the Bulls at the ideal time, with the Bulls returning home from an arduous tour where they lost three of the four games played.

- The Chiefs may have scored six less points overall than the Bulls, but they are marginally better on defence having conceded 28 less points than the South Africans. The Chiefs have seven wins, six losses and one draw against the Bulls but haven't beaten them since 2008.

- Scott Waldrom starred last week winning two breakdown turnovers and scoring two tries. He is the third best New Zealand flanker behind Matt Todd and Adam Thomson for stealing ball at the breakdown.

- The Chiefs' scrum remains an area of concern, as they concede almost twice as many scrum penalties as the other New Zealand sides.

- Ian Foster will notch up his 100th game as the Chiefs' coach this weekend.

Further NZ player stats can be found at Haka.co.nz

- HERALD ONLINE