The stats don't lie: Week 12 review

The Blues knocked the ball on seven times and the Hurricanes eleven times during their Super 15 clash. Photo / Getty Images

Plenty of close finishes in all the games this weekend as the Blues withheld a strong attack from the Hurricanes to win in Wellington, while the Chiefs caused a minor upset beating the Highlanders in Hamilton.

Meanwhile there was plenty of drama in Cape Town as the Crusaders lost four backs to injury but beat all the odds to win against the Stormers.

HURRICANES v BLUES (11-17)
Match report

- There were 146 minutes between the last Blues try in Round 10 and Mathewson's in the 66th minute of the game on Friday night, but it was enough to give the Blues a six point buffer going into the final quarter hour of the match and it was one they defended to the final whistle to maintain their lead in the NZ conference.

- The Hurricanes put plenty of pressure on the Blues lineout causing the usually accurate Keven Mealamu to overthrow the ball on two occasions, while Victor Vito and James Broadhurst both stole ball off Chris Lowrey. Top jumpers were Victor Vito with six, James Broadhurst with five and Ali Williams with four.

- Plenty of contest at the breakdown, with both teams winning six turnovers in the tackle/ruck situation.

- Handling errors were also plentiful, the Blues knocked the ball on seven times and the Hurricanes eleven times (most notably in the last seconds of the game when halfback Tyson Keats could have scored a try to give his side the chance to win the game, but lost the ball going over the line)

- Strong defence by both sides meant there were few linebreaks, but the Hurricanes managed five while the Blues had just two. Aaron Cruden lead the Hurricanes charge with two.

- Remarkably few penalties in this game with the Blues only conceding seven, with all but two coming at the breakdown. The Hurricanes only conceded five and just one at the breakdown, but received a yellow card to Tyson Keats for a dangerous tackle in the 62nd minute.

CHIEFS v HIGHLANDERS (20-7)
Match report

- A game of two halves with the Highlanders dominant in the first spell, but the Chiefs surging back in the second and maintaining a six point lead until scoring their second try in the 78th minute of the game to deny the Highlanders a bonus point.

- The Highlanders dominated the breakdown in this match winning nine turnovers to four, with Adam Thomson, Jason Rutledge and Jarrad Hoeata prominent.

- Despite being dominant at the breakdown the Highlanders conceded seven of their ten penalties in this area of the game. The Chiefs conceded eight penalties, five at the breakdown but more importantly just one scrum penalty this week.

- Plenty of linebreaks in this game, with Lelia Masaga and Sitiveni Sivivatu both making three in the Chiefs' tally of nine. Lima Sopoaga celebrated his return from injury with two linebreaks, one of which resulted in a try to Jason Rutledge, while Ben Smith stood out again with two linebreaks in the Highlanders total of five.

- Two well-oiled lineouts in action with the Chiefs winning 13 from their 15 throws. The Highlanders maintained their high season standard with 14 wins from 15 throws. Top jumpers were Romana Graham with six and Jarrad Hoeata with five.

- A large number of handling errors by both sides. The Chiefs knocked the ball on ten times and threw two forward passes, while the Highlanders knocked on nine times and threw one forward pass.

- Mils Muliaina played his 50th game for the Chiefs.

STORMERS v CRUSADERS (14-20)
Match report

- Edge of the seat stuff for Crusaders fans in this game as they lost Israel Dagg, Sean Maitland, Kahn Fotuali'i and reserve Adam Whitelock to injuries in the first 35 minutes of the match to empty the reserve bench of backs, meaning flanker Matt Todd had to play the remaining 45 minutes in the backline.

- Despite the injury dramas the Crusaders still managed to make four clean linebreaks and scored tries from two of them, hero of the day being loosehead prop Wyatt Crockett who scored both.

- Sonny Bill Williams was again a stand-out with the offloads, two of which set up the linebreaks leading to the tries while another was knocked on by Zac Guildford just metres from the try line.

- Plenty of pickings at the breakdown for the Crusaders, with Matt Todd making two steals in the overall team tally of seven turnovers won.

- The Crusaders contested the Stormers'lineout and were rewarded with three steals, going to Luke Romano, Chris Jack and George Whitelock. Luke Romano was the go-to man for the Crusaders lineout, winning all his five throws.

- The Crusaders only knocked the ball on five times in this game but three of them were within metres of the try line.

- Not a great night for discipline, with the Crusaders conceding 13 penalties plus a yellow card. General off-side on defence was a problem, with four penalties conceded. Tom Marshall celebrated his 21st birthday with the yellow card in the last minute of the game.

- The Stormers may have gone into this game as the best defensive side, but the Crusaders weren't the second best for no reason and managed to withstand a final two minute barrage to win the game despite being down to 14 men.

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

- HERALD ONLINE