Team of the Week
- Ayden Johnstone (Highlanders)- was good for the ‘Landers, making six tackles and helping to win 100% of his teams’ scrums.
- Ash Dixon (Highlanders)- Dixon led by example, making 11m, two offloads and seven tackles.
- Ofa Tu’ungafasi (Blues)- despite being on the losing side, Tu’ungafasi was solid, making 14 tackles and helping to win 100% of scrums.
- Josh Goodhue (Blues)- made 14 tackles and won three lineouts. Worked extremely hard off the ball for his team.
- Mitchell Brown (Chiefs)- Brown made 15 tackles and took five line outs. It was an extremely good defensive performance from the Chiefs lock.
- Lachlan Boshier (Chiefs)- got two key turnovers, took seven lineouts, made 47m from six carries, beat 3 defenders and made 2 clean breaks as well as scoring the opening try. An incredible performance from the blindside.
- Dalton Papali’i (Blues)- made an enormous 21 tackles, won two lineouts and was dangerous in attack, scoring a great rolling maul try.
- Ardie Savea (Hurricanes)- made 53m from 11 carries, made 16 tackles and taking three lineouts.
- Aaron Smith (Highlanders)- a great performance from the All Black scrum half, making 45m from ten carries, beating three defenders, making 88 passes and scoring a wonderful try.
- Mitchell Hunt (Highlanders)- after a shaky start, Hunt grew into the game- making six tackles, 57m from seven carries, scoring a great try and getting 13 points for his team.
- Ben Lam (Hurricanes)- made 47m from 9 carries, beat a defender and got the try assist for Laumape’s opening try.
- Ngani Laumape (Hurricanes)- arguably player of the week, Laumape made 118m from 16 carries, beat three defenders, made the same number of clean breaks and offloads, made four tackles and got two turnovers. An incredible performance which inspired his team to win.
- Peter Umaga-Jensen (Hurricanes)- it’s an all-Wellington centre partnership as Umaga-Jensen comes in to the team, making 54m from nine carries, beating three defenders and making two clean breaks as well as five tackles.
- Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes)- Barrett played at fullback but I am playing him on the wing to accommodate another 15. He made 35m from 15 carries, got a clean break and scored nine points.
- Damian McKenzie (Chiefs)- the Chiefs star had a great outing on Sunday, making 31m from seven carries, beat four defenders and made a clean break, as well as making four tackles and scoring 11 points for his team.
*all statistics from espn.com
