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Cape Town – Sireli Naqelevuki may be despised by the Cape rugby public at times, but statistics that measure the wings’ performances in this year’s Super 14 place him above Bryan Habana in key performance areas.
Stormers backline coach Robbie Fleck also believes that Naqelevuki wins more games for the Cape side than he loses for them.
The statistics were sourced independently from Stormers management after Sport24 decided to examine Naqelevuki’s performances. This follows Saturday’s blunder against the Sharks with which a crucial converted try was conceded just before half-time. The Sharks won 20-14.
Naqelevuki has played 677 minutes against the 834 of Habana in this year’s Super 14 and is leading the Springbok hero on many fronts in spite of less game time.
And, believe it or not, he has made fewer errors than Habana!
The statistics by Verusco measure, among other things, tackles made and missed, turnovers won in the tackle, metres gained after first contact with a defender, line breaks, penalties conceded and errors.
However, Habana often impresses in areas that are not measured by statistics. This includes his work-rate off the ball, chasing of kicks and limiting the options of opponents out wide with his defence.
He is also better in the air than Naqelevuki and communicates better on the field.
The idea with the statistical comparison was not to play one wing off against the other, but to remove the emotion from the Naqelevuki debate and provide the facts.
And the fact is that Naqelevuki has generally played very well this year.
His performance against the Hurricanes at Newlands appeared to get him forgiveness for the high tackle on the Blue Bulls’ Jaco Pretorius that cost Western Province a place in last year’s Currie Cup final.
However, the mistake against the Sharks undid some of the good work and was untimely.
In the context of the match it happened at a critical time and coming a week before the game against the Bulls it led to renewed anxiety among rugby writers and fans about what happened in the Currie Cup semi-final.
Naqelevuki is likely to lose his place in the Stormers’ starting line-up for Saturday’s match against the Bulls at Newlands.
Joe Pietersen, Gio Aplon and Bryan Habana are likely to make up the back three.
However, the Stormers may still decide to include Naqelevuki in the squad of 22. He is still highly regarded by team management and team-mates.
“Sireli is huge for us. He wins more games than he loses for us,” said Fleck.
“He plays a crucial role on attack and the players around him are very comfortable with him in the team. He realises that he didn’t play well against the Sharks, but neither did the other players.
“It was not Sireli’s mistake that cost us the match. It was the 25 handling errors that we made. We could not gain any momentum or get any attacking shape.”
Sport24 also obtained statistics on star Bulls wing Gerhard van den Heever and we place it next to that of Habana and Naqelevuki.
Wing statistics for the Super 14:
Total minutes played: Bryan Habana 834, Sireli Naqelevuki 677, Gerhard van den Heever 928.
Tackles made: Habana 44 (3 in which he assisted a team-mate), Naqelevuki 55 (14 assists), Van den Heever 36 (3 assists).
Tackles missed: Habana 13, Naqelevuki 7, Van den Heever 9.
Turnovers won in the tackle: Habana 2, Naqelevuki 4, Van den Heever 6.
Ball carries: Habana 64, Naqelevuki 98, Van den Heever 51.
Metres won after contact with first defender: Habana 416, Naqelevuki 741, Van den Heever 333.
Line breaks: Habana 10, Naqelevuki 14, Van den Heever 10.
Off-loads: Habana 9, Naqelevuki 6, Van den Heever 2.
Ball handled: Habana 112, Naqelevuki 121, Van den Heever 83.
Penalties conceded: Habana 9, Naqelevuki 6, Van den Heever 3.
Errors: Habana 24, Naqelevuki 18, Van den Heever 14.
Tries scored: Habana 4, Naqelevuki 3, Van den Heever 8
Statistics by Verusco. More statistics available on ruggastats.com
Cape Town – Sireli Naqelevuki may be despised by the Cape rugby public at times, but statistics that measure the wings’ performances in this year’s Super 14 place him above Bryan Habana in key performance areas.
Stormers backline coach Robbie Fleck also believes that Naqelevuki wins more games for the Cape side than he loses for them.
The statistics were sourced independently from Stormers management after Sport24 decided to examine Naqelevuki’s performances. This follows Saturday’s blunder against the Sharks with which a crucial converted try was conceded just before half-time. The Sharks won 20-14.
Naqelevuki has played 677 minutes against the 834 of Habana in this year’s Super 14 and is leading the Springbok hero on many fronts in spite of less game time.
And, believe it or not, he has made fewer errors than Habana!
The statistics by Verusco measure, among other things, tackles made and missed, turnovers won in the tackle, metres gained after first contact with a defender, line breaks, penalties conceded and errors.
However, Habana often impresses in areas that are not measured by statistics. This includes his work-rate off the ball, chasing of kicks and limiting the options of opponents out wide with his defence.
He is also better in the air than Naqelevuki and communicates better on the field.
The idea with the statistical comparison was not to play one wing off against the other, but to remove the emotion from the Naqelevuki debate and provide the facts.
And the fact is that Naqelevuki has generally played very well this year.
His performance against the Hurricanes at Newlands appeared to get him forgiveness for the high tackle on the Blue Bulls’ Jaco Pretorius that cost Western Province a place in last year’s Currie Cup final.
However, the mistake against the Sharks undid some of the good work and was untimely.
In the context of the match it happened at a critical time and coming a week before the game against the Bulls it led to renewed anxiety among rugby writers and fans about what happened in the Currie Cup semi-final.
Naqelevuki is likely to lose his place in the Stormers’ starting line-up for Saturday’s match against the Bulls at Newlands.
Joe Pietersen, Gio Aplon and Bryan Habana are likely to make up the back three.
However, the Stormers may still decide to include Naqelevuki in the squad of 22. He is still highly regarded by team management and team-mates.
“Sireli is huge for us. He wins more games than he loses for us,” said Fleck.
“He plays a crucial role on attack and the players around him are very comfortable with him in the team. He realises that he didn’t play well against the Sharks, but neither did the other players.
“It was not Sireli’s mistake that cost us the match. It was the 25 handling errors that we made. We could not gain any momentum or get any attacking shape.”
Sport24 also obtained statistics on star Bulls wing Gerhard van den Heever and we place it next to that of Habana and Naqelevuki.
Wing statistics for the Super 14:
Total minutes played: Bryan Habana 834, Sireli Naqelevuki 677, Gerhard van den Heever 928.
Tackles made: Habana 44 (3 in which he assisted a team-mate), Naqelevuki 55 (14 assists), Van den Heever 36 (3 assists).
Tackles missed: Habana 13, Naqelevuki 7, Van den Heever 9.
Turnovers won in the tackle: Habana 2, Naqelevuki 4, Van den Heever 6.
Ball carries: Habana 64, Naqelevuki 98, Van den Heever 51.
Metres won after contact with first defender: Habana 416, Naqelevuki 741, Van den Heever 333.
Line breaks: Habana 10, Naqelevuki 14, Van den Heever 10.
Off-loads: Habana 9, Naqelevuki 6, Van den Heever 2.
Ball handled: Habana 112, Naqelevuki 121, Van den Heever 83.
Penalties conceded: Habana 9, Naqelevuki 6, Van den Heever 3.
Errors: Habana 24, Naqelevuki 18, Van den Heever 14.
Tries scored: Habana 4, Naqelevuki 3, Van den Heever 8
Statistics by Verusco. More statistics available on ruggastats.com
