The best and worst from Super Rugby's week six action.
FORWARD OF THE WEEK Tyler Ardron - Chiefs In his first Super Rugby start, it took just four minutes for the Canadian lock to put his stamp on the win over the Sunwolves, scoring the first of his side's nine tries. Ardronwas a monster on attack – running hard, breaking the line and carrying the ball for 124m. He was just as strong on the defensive end and looked right at home next to Brodie Retallick in the second row.
Chiefs lock Tyler Ardron stretches out to score a try against the Sunwolves. Photo / Getty Images
BACK OF THE WEEK Ben Lam - Hurricanes The former Sevens specialist continues to impress in the 15-a-side game. Lam scored two impressive tries in his side's 29-12 win over the Highlanders, and both in fine fashion. Pure strength and determination saw him plant the ball over the tryline despite flying toward the sideline under the combined effort from Lima Sopoaga and Waisake Naholo for his first. He later repeated the dose, again displaying his strength and fingertip control. Honourable mentions to Bulls winger Travis Ismaiel and Crusaders midfielder Jack Goodhue.
COACH KILLER Turnovers It seems simple enough right? You have the chance to score if you have the ball, and the same goes for your opponent. You don't have to look much further than the Sharks' 22 turnovers in their loss to the Rebels to guess ball retention might be the focus for the week ahead. It's a similar story for the Lions. Last season's finalists conceded 17 turnovers to the Jaguares 8. It proved costly, with the Argentinian side taking the win.
UPS Hurricanes After stumbling out of the starting blocks, the Hurricanes seem to have hit their stride and show no signs of slowing down. After losing their season opener to the Bulls in Pretoria, the Wellington-based club have won four on the trot, which included wins over the Crusaders and Highlanders. What's more, in their 12 remaining matches, only two are played outside of New Zealand.
Amanaki Mafi and the Rebels have moved to the top of the Super Rugby standings. Photo / Getty Images
Rebels The Melbourne club recovered from last round's hiccup with another dominant outing against the Sharks. The bonus-point win saw them move to the top of the table with a league-best points differential of 77. They're just one of six teams with a positive number in that column, and the only side in the Australian conference to boast one.
DOWNS Lions Looking at the table, you would have expected the past two rounds to be the easiest of the Lions' schedule. However, last year's finalists barely saw off the winless Sunwolves last week and this week suffered their second loss of the year against the Jaguares. It only gets harder for them, with the Crusaders next on the agenda.
Blues The Auckland-based club didn't even have a game this weekend, but still suffered a big loss, confirming midfielder Sonny Bill Williams had been ruled out for six to eight weeks due to a fractured wrist suffered in last weekend's loss to the Stormers.
