The stats don't lie: Week 13 review

The Blues look dejected after losing their round 13 clash against the Reds. Photo / Getty Images

Losses for both the Blues and Crusaders this weekend, while the Highlanders won yet another close one against the Hurricanes, and the Chiefs made an astounding second half comeback to upset the Stormers.

HIGHLANDERS v HURRICANES (13-6)

- It was shades of Round 1, when just five points separated these two teams. This time the Highlanders stretched it out to seven points, and just like Round 1 scored the only try of the game.

- Once again handling errors were the demise of the Hurricanes, with ten knock-ons and two forward passes. The Highlanders knocked the ball on eight times.

- Without Adam Thomson the Highlanders lost the breakdown battle, conceding nine turnovers to the Hurricanes. The did win five back, but the moral victory here went to the men from the capital.

- The Highlanders' lineout ran like clockwork and they only lost two of their seventeen throws. Jarrad Hoeata won all of his seven throws, while Tom Donnelly and Josh Bekhuis each won three from four.

- The Hurricanes won thirteen of their sixteen throws, two of their three losses were Andrew Hore overthrows. Victor Vito was their top jumper winning six of his seven throws, and he also stole one off the Highlanders.

- Defence was tight by both sides, with just three clean linebreaks all game. Lima Sopoaga made the sole break for the Highlanders, while it was the Hurricanes' fowards James Broadhurst and Victor Vito who made their linebreaks.

- Aaron Cruden had just two attempts at goal and landed both of them. Lima Sopoaga, who went into this game with a 44% kicking success rate, kicked two from four penalties and converted Ben Smith's try.

- There were 21 full-arm penalties in total in this game. The Highlanders conceded eleven (six at the breakdown) while the Hurricanes conceded nine (also conceding six at the breakdown).


REDS v BLUES (37-31)

- The Reds inflicted just the second loss for the Blues this season, in a game that was played at a frantic pace and yielded a total of eight tries. The Blues scored their fourth try of the game to Rene Ranger in the last minute of play, and Luke McAlister kicked the conversion from the sidelin to grab a bonus point from the loss.

- The Blues' defence let them down this week, with the Reds making nine clean linebreaks. Digby Ioane was particularly dangerous breaching the Blues' line three times. The Blues only managed two linebreaks, both by Stephen Brett.

- Handling errors were costly for the Blues, with ten knock-ons and two forward passes.

- Although the Blues only lost four breakdown turnovers, tellingly two of them were within metres of the Reds' goal line.

- The Blues lost just three of their seventeen lineouts with Keven Mealamu over-throwing the ball twice, and Ali Williams losing one of his five throws to Scott Higginbottom. Anthony Boric managed the sole steal off the Reds' lineout.

- There were only fourteen full penalties in this match, and the Blues conceded just five.

- Luke McAlister landed all four conversions and missed just one of the two penalty attempts at goal for a personal tally of 11 points from this game that sees him just six points short of 100 points for the season.

- The Red's win shifts them ahead of the Blues to take the number one spot on the overall points table. The Blues still head the New Zealand conference, thanks to the Crusaders losing in Bloemfontein..


CHIEFS v STORMERS (30-23)

- A classic game of two halves, with the Stormers scoring three first half tries to jump out to a 20-3 lead at half time, only to be steam-rolled by the Chiefs in the second half who countered with three of their own (one being a penalty try).

- It was the first time this season the Stormers have conceded more than two tries in a game.

- The Chiefs varied their lineout jumpers all evening to keep the Stormers guessing, and won nine of their eleven throws. Top jumpers with two takes each were Craig Clarke, Romana Graham and Liam Messam.

- Sitiveni Sivivatu was the leading linebreaker for the Chiefs with two, while Fritz Lee, Richard Kahui, Dwayne Sweeny and Liam Messam all chipped in with one each.

- The Chiefs almost undid their good work conceding eleven penalties in this game, including two for foul play off the ball.

- Stephen Donald was 100% with the boot kicking three penalties and three conversions.

- Mils Muliaina played his 100th Super Rugby game.

CHEETAHS v CRUSADERS (33-20)

- The mounting injury toll finally caught up with the Crusaders and their usually strong defence was broken by the Cheetahs who scored three tries to two in claiming their third consecutive victory in this year's competition.

- The twin brothers Robert and Sias Ebersohn each scored a try for the Cheetahs.

- Handling errors were again high for the Crusaders, with seven knock-ons and two forward passes.

- The Crusaders also conceded five breakdown turnovers, and only won four off the Cheetahs despite having Richie McCaw back this week.

- The Crusaders only made four linebreaks in this game, two going to Tom Marshall. Robbie Fruean's break led to Zac Guildford's try to open the scoring for the Crusaders.

- Dan Carter, playing in his first game since Round 6, scored a try and kicked a penalty and two conversions in the 51 minutes he played to take his season tally to 96 points.

- Richie McCaw equalled Todd Blackadder's record of 62 games as captain of the Crusaders. Brent Ward, on his 32nd birthday, played his fifth game for the Crusaders having last played for them back in 2007 when he made four appearances.

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