GUINNESS PRO14: Round 5 Preview
Round 4 of the GUINNESS PRO14 saw the Championship at its unpredictable best with wins for Benetton Rugby, the Toyota Cheetahs and Cardiff Blues standing out in a cracking weekend of rugby. With round 5 approaching, only Ulster and Glasgow Warriors remain undefeated across both Conferences.
The Cheetahs’ win over Leinster produced one of last weekend’s most exciting games and now sees the South Africans step up into the top three of Conference A, while in Conference B, Ulster and the Scarlets and are also setting the pace in the race to reach the GUINNESS PRO14 final series.
Benetton Rugby visit Scotstoun Stadium on Friday after back-to-back Championship victories and good away form (two wins from their last three). However, Glasgow Warriors have won 23 in a row against Italian opposition and it would take an incredible effort to upset them at home.
Edinburgh are another team with two wins from three on the road, but the RDS is a real fortress for Leo Cullen’s Leinster who will aim to put things right after their tour to South Africa ended in a surprise defeat to the Cheetahs.
The Scarlets and Connacht meet in a clash of the two most recent title winners at Parc Y Scarlets where the hosts are unbeaten in 12 games. Both of these teams like to play with flair and this promises to be a fast-paced match-up.
At Thomond Park, Munster will prepare for their upcoming trip to Leinster by taking on Cardiff Blues who have a decent record against the men in red in Ireland, while they also boast the best tackling success in the Championship so far (92%).
Zebre, having won two try-scoring bonus points in a row for the first time, host Conference B leaders Ulster as Les Kiss’ side look to remain unbeaten, while the Dragons face the Southern Kings aiming to earn their second home win of the season.
Four-time Championship winners, the Ospreys, are the third European team to visit Bloemfontein in succession and all signs are pointing to another electric PRO14 tie involving the Cheetahs – fixtures involving the South African newcomers are averaging 10 tries and 70 points.
GUINNESS PRO14 – ROUND 5 FIXTURES:
Friday, September 29 –
Toyota Cheetahs (3rd, Con A) v Ospreys (6th, Con A), Toyota Stadium, 5pm local time (live SuperSport 1/BBC 2 Wales)
Glasgow Warriors (1st, Con A) v Benetton Rugby (5th, Con B), Scotstoun Stadium, 7.35pm
LEINSTER (3rd, Con B) v Edinburgh (4th, Con B), the RDS, 7.35pm (live TG4/BBC ALBA)
Scarlets (2nd, Con B) v CONNACHT (4th, Con A), Parc y Scarlets, 7.35pm (live BBC 2 Wales)
Saturday, September 30 –
MUNSTER (2nd, Con A) v Cardiff Blues (7th, Con A), Thomond Park, 1.30pm (live Sky Sports Action)
Zebre (5th, Con A) v ULSTER (1st, Con B), Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, 3.35pm local time/2.35pm Irish time (live BBC 2 Northern Ireland/Eurosport Italia)
Dragons (6th, Con B) v Southern Kings (7th, Con B), Rodney Parade, 7.35pm (live S4C/SuperSport 1)
TOP PERFORMERS IN GUINNESS PRO14 AFTER ROUND 4 (Powered by Opta Statistics):
TOP POINTS SCORERS –
Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) 38
Gavin Henson (Dragons) 38
Carlo Canna (Zebre) 37
Ross Byrne (Leinster) 37
Duncan Weir (Edinburgh) 35
TOP TRY SCORERS –
Alex Wootton (Munster) 5
Barry Daly (Leinster) 4
Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets) 4
Jean Kleyn (Munster) 4
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 3
Chris Dean (Edinburgh) 3
Lee Jones (Glasgow Warriors) 3
William Small-Smith (Toyota Cheetahs) 3
Torsten van Jaarsveld (Toyota Cheetahs) 3
Makazole Mapimpi (Toyota Cheetahs) 3
Mattia Bellini (Zebre) 3
TOP TRY ASSISTS –
Duncan Williams (Munster) 5
Steff Evans (Scarlets) 4
Darren Sweetnam (Munster) 4
John Cooney (Ulster) 3
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 3
Tommaso Castello (Zebre) 3
Luke McGrath (Leinster) 3
Jack Conan (Leinster) 3
Francois Venter (Toyota Cheetahs) 3
METRES GAINED –
Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets) 365
Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) 331
Steff Evans (Scarlets) 326
Andrew Conway (Munster) 315
Ciaran Gaffney (Zebre) 309
MOST CARRIES –
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 78
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster) 70
Steff Evans (Scarlets) 57
Olly Cracknell (Ospreys) 54
Anidisa Ntsila (Southern Kings) 52
Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors) 52
Jarrad Butler (Connacht) 52
CLEAN BREAKS –
Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets) 10
John Cooney (Ulster) 7
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 6
Sergeal Petersen (Toyota Cheetahs) 6
Makazole Mapimpi (Toyota Cheetahs) 6
Keelan Giles (Ospreys) 6
Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) 6
Mattia Bellini (Zebre) 6
Steff Evans (Scarlets) 6
Giulio Bisegni (Zebre) 6
DEFENDERS BEATEN –
Jeff Hassler (Ospreys) 21
Steff Evans (Scarlets) 18
Maxisole Banda (Southern Kings) 16
Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets) 14
Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) 14
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 13
MOST PASSES –
Kieran Marmion (Connacht) 370
Tom Habberfield (Ospreys) 345
John Cooney (Ulster) 304
Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) 243
Marcello Violi (Zebre) 243
MOST OFFLOADS –
Steff Evans (Scarlets) 14
Johnny McNicholl (Scarlets) 10
Masixole Banda (Southern Kings) 9
Stuart McCloskey (Ulster) 9
Tom Farrell (Connacht) 8
Tommaso Castello (Zebre) 8
Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors) 8
KICKS FROM HAND –
Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) 31
Carlo Canna (Zebre) 31
Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors) 30
Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) 29
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 29
MOST TACKLES –
Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) 69
Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues) 60
Paul Schoeman (Toyota Cheetahs) 59
Dries van Schalkwyk (Southern Kings) 55
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) 54
LINEOUTS WON –
Reniel Hugo (Toyota Cheetahs) 23
Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) 22
Dries van Schalkwyk (Southern Kings) 21
Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) 20
Robbie Diack (Ulster) 18
TURNOVERS WON –
Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets) 11
Sibusiso Sithole (Southern Kings) 6
Tommaso Castello (Zebre) 6
Michael Willemse (Southern Kings) 5
Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) 5
Josh van der Flier (Leinster) 5
Aaron Shingler (Scarlets) 5
For more statistics, please visit www.pro14rugby.org/powered-by-opta