The stats don't lie: Week 14 review

The Blues missed 17 tackles and the Stormers missed 25 during their Super 15 clash on Friday. Photo / Getty Images

There seems to be a trend developing that games involving the Stormers are a tale of two halves, and so it was again in Auckland on Friday night.

By beating the Blues the Stormers gave the Crusaders a chance to close the gap at the top of the New Zealand conference, and the Crusaders did that in Napier by beating the Chiefs but without a bonus point.

As a point of trivia, in both matches played in New Zealand this weekend the referee got knocked off his feet during play.

BLUES v STORMERS (26-28)

- A classic game of two halves with the Blues racing out to a 19-3 lead at halftime only to lose their way in the second and allow the Stormers to come back and score 25 points, with a converted try to captain Schalk Burger in last minutes of the game sealing the victory.

- The Stormers lost Francois Louw to the sin bin in the 32nd minute of the game for "deliberate and cynical slowing down of the ball" but in the 10 minutes he was off the field the Blues could only score three points. The Stormers scored three points themselves during that spell with a penalty in the 42nd minute.

- A Luke McAlister knock-on in the tackle in the 56th minute saw the Stormers string together seven phases before Juan de Jongh sailed through three missed tackles to score. His try was just the 20th try of the season for the Stormers, and the three they scored was almost twice their 1.7 average for games this year.

- Four minutes later Johann Sadie scored after wrong-footing three Blues defenders. Dewaldt Duvenage had the chance to put the Stormers in the lead, but missed the conversion leaving the Blues clinging to a 19-18 lead.

- Overall the Blues missed 17 tackles, and the Stormers missed 25.

- Luke McAlister was astray with two penalty attempts in the 65th and 73rd minutes of the game, but kicked four penalties and two conversions on the night to take his season tally to 109 points and be the first New Zealand player to break the 100 mark this year.

- The Blues won six of their eight lineouts, and stole two off the Stormers (Williams and Boric) while disrupting a further three.

- This week the Blues conceded 10 penalties, eight of which were at the breakdown.

- The Blues made seven handling errors (knock-ons, spilled ball) and only lost two breakdown turnovers, whilst winning six turnovers off the Stormers.

- There were seven linebreaks made by the Blues, with a try coming from Stephen Brett's run in the first half. The Stormers made 13 linebreaks.

- Despite losing this game the Blues still took one point from it, and remain at the top of the New Zealand conference on 50 points.

CRUSADERS v CHIEFS (25-19)

- There were plenty of kicks for goal in this game, with Dan Carter lining up seven penalties, one conversion and three drop goals while Stephen Donald had attempts at five penalty goals and one conversion.

- For the record Carter was successful with five penalties, one conversion and one drop goal, while Donald kicked four penalties and more importantly a conversion to give the Chiefs a bonus point for the loss. Carter also reached 100 points for the season and now sits on 116.

- Plenty of handling errors by both teams, the Crusaders made 12 and the Chiefs made 11. Richie McCaw had a night to forget with his hands, knocking the ball on three times.

- The Crusaders had the better of the breakdown turnovers winning ball off the Chiefs six times, while the Chiefs won just two breakdown turnovers off the Crusaders.

- The Chiefs conceded 10 penalties with four coming at the breakdown and three at scrum time. Seven of those 10 penalties were within kicking range.

- The Crusaders conceded 13 penalties with seven at the breakdown. George Whitelock was the Crusaders' main offender conceding three breakdown penalties and one for offside from a kick.

- The Crusaders won eight of their nine lineouts, and the Chiefs won 12 of their 14. There was only one steal all game, and that came via Crusaders' replacement Joe Wheeler in the 69th minute.

- There were five linebreaks made by the Crusaders, but it was only Luke Romano's just after half time that resulted in a try. The Chiefs made two linebreaks but failed to score from them.

- The Crusaders' loose trio made 127m with ball in hand, while the Chiefs' loosies only made 80m this week.

- The Crusaders won the sole tighthead of the game in the 67th minute, and also dominated the scrums in the second half when Brad Thorn came on as a replacement.

- The Chiefs missed 17 tackles while the Crusaders missed nine.

- The win by the Crusaders sees them just two points adrift of the Blues in the New Zealand conference, and sitting fourth overall. The Chiefs remain the fourth placed New Zealand team, just one point ahead of the Hurricanes.

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

- HERALD ONLINE