Clermont who does not succeed in La Rochelle, Baptiste Chouzenoux takes on a new role with Aviron bayonnais… Here are all the statistics to know before the start of the 12th day of Top 14.
122: Abraham Papali'i chocolate lover
Opta lists the number of ball-in-hand charges of Top 14, URC and Premiership players. In the leading quintet, we find four members of the Top 14 and one former player: Tom Willis (134), Uzair Cassiem (123), Abraham Papali 'i (122), BillyVunipola (115) and Jack Willis (107). Le Castres stands out because the vast majority of his ball catches end in collision (119), because he very often mobilizes at least two defenders (73.8%), and he escapes almost a quarter of the tackles (23.8%). Which is not necessarily the case for the other large aircraft at the top of this ranking.
22: Sacha Zegueur makes offensive tackles
He is the eighth biggest tackler in Europe: Palois Sacha Zegueur not only has 115 tackle attempts in 671 minutes of play, but he is above all the fiercest defender if the stats are to be believed. This is evidenced by his number offensive tackles made, according to Opta: 22. In the number of tackles attempted, five Top 14 players are ahead of Zegueur: Steeve Blanc-Mappaz (126), BillyVunopola (124), Fritz Lee (121) and Ibrahim Diallo (117).
Another Palois stands out in the defensive statistics: Joel Kpoku stands out for his tackling efficiency: 97.6% out of 42 tackles attempted. He is in the top 10 of this ranking.
9: almost a decade of famine for Clermont in La Rochelle
The Auvergne people do not like maritime air. A few hours before moving to LaRochelle, a week after leaving feathers in Leinster, the signals are red for the Jaunards. Because the Clermontois have not won in Charente-Maritime since August 22, 2015, and a clear victory, 44-6. Within the current ASM workforce, only Fritz Lee can boast of being the last representative of this success. Will the series break on Saturday?
2: second captaincy for Baptiste Chouzenoux
At the start of the season, he was not part of the closed circle of captains. There were three of them: Camille Lopez, Athur Iturria and Baptiste Héguy. But when it was necessary to compensate for the absences of the latter, the choice of Grégory Patat fell to the one who knew all the categories in the club. The “Chou” at the end of his baptism of fire in this role against the Stade Français had released: “You’re welcome, it was close to my heart!”
15: too many mistakes, too many mistakes for the Racingmen!
Friday evening, the Racingmen conceded fifteen penalties against Sale Sharks. Therefore, if we had believed the Ile-de-France residents were on the road to redemption after having been good in discipline against Harlequins at the opening of the competition (8 penalties conceded), we are still not far from the goal. What did “Bernie” say again? “Too many mistakes, too many mistakes!”
10: average points scored away
The Section is having a lot of trouble away from home this season in the Top 14. Without a victory away from its bases and with only one bonus point gleaned, Pau is antepenultimate in the ranking of away teams. But the worst is surely on the offensive level: with 10 points scored on average per match away from its bases, the Béarnais club is the worst attack in the away championship. A fault that will have to be corrected against Toulon.
13: lightning in Paris
The Catalans won on the grounds of Stade Français for the last time in March 2011 (9-21). More than thirteen seasons later, this duel for the Usapists has become rather tough, since in fifteen confrontations, the Usap has only won twice.
