Round 11, the last round before the lengthy break for the Six Nations, saw struggling sides attempt to garner some last-minute confidence while stronger sides tried to maintain their superiority. Teams that will spend the break smiling include the Scarlets (a win and a draw in recent weeks), the Sharks (beat the Stormers twice in as many weeks), and Glasgow. On the other hand, the Stormers will be thinking about where it all went wrong. Cardiff, who have done well to be firmly planted in the top 6, will be nervously eyeing up a difficult set of fixtures after the international break.
Glasgow get the ball to width better than any other side in the URC. So, it is never a surprise to find their outside backs in the TOTW. Their wingers are given the best attacking opportunities and reliably make them count. Smith’s excellent corner finish wrapped up a beautiful sweeping move that began in their own 22 and went across the width of the pitch twice. His 3 linebreaks were joint highest among outside backs in the round – 79 points
Another exceptional Glasgow outside back. McKay shifts between playmaker and strike-runner countless times throughout each match – a true dual-threat fullback. He beat 8 defenders and carried for 145 metres (a league high) but it is his ability to link the inside backs to the wingers that truly catches the eye. He never holds onto the ball for too long – always picking the right pass to maximise the benefit for his side – 91.5 points
OB: Duhan van der Merwe – Edinburgh (1 try, 11 defenders beaten, 2 dominant tackles)
2nd week in a row for the big winger as he warms up for his favourite time of the year – playing England. While his try was a simple straight-line finish after good work by Magnus Bradbury and Ben Vellacott, he beat an immense 11 defenders – significantly more than any other player across the round. Despite another loss, his growing involvement is positive news for Edinburgh fans as their side have been guilty of not making full use of their world-class options out wide – 76 points
Vorster joked in his man of the match presentation interview that he was popping up around the ruck so often as he was too tired to take up position out wide. One feels he is doing himself a disservice here as, while he was excellent with pick-and-gos (scoring 2 tries), he was equally effective when given an opportunity in space. 111 metres from just 12 carries are the stats of a free-running back, not a pseudo-loose-forward – 88
More often than not, TOTW selections are driven by try involvements or racking up flashy attacking stats. However, Bertaccini neither scored nor assisted a try and did not top the charts for any individual stat. The Italian earns his spot in TOTW11 with a textbook centre performance: he was dangerous ball-in-hand (evidenced by his 4 defenders beaten), distributed well (2 offloads and 15 passes), and was very effective on defence (2 dominant tackles, 2 turnovers won) – 70.5points
Lancaster pulled the strings to guide a largely 2nd string Glasgow to victory over a similarly weakened Munster outfit on Friday night. One has to assume a fair chunk of his points were earned through his intercept try and the 50 metres that came with it. The lineout play was perhaps a bit clunky from Munster, but Lancaster still had to have the IQ to read it, and the pace and handling to complete the intercept – 81 points
A vintage Papier performance. We have seen less this season of Papier running superb support lines and either scoring or creating tries. This was a return to his best. Alongside that, he managed the Bulls (simple) attack beautifully as they took advantage of the Lions’ weak fringe defence – 74 points
Watch Penny’s three tries back-to-back and you’ll feel like you are doing a “Spot the Difference” challenge. His trio of near-identical finishes close to the line demonstrated his elite ability to get low and under defenders positioned on the try line – Edinburgh simply couldn’t stop him – 86 points
BR: Sean Jansen – Connacht (2 tries. 5 defenders beaten, 25 carries, 3 dominant tackles) – Player of the Round
A performance of sheer physicality by the big 8th man. Zebre couldn’t live with his physical presence as he crashed over the line twice: the first as he barged through two defenders, and the second in the middle of a rumbling maul. This was not just limited to his try-scoring efforts as 17 of his 25 total carries crossed the gain line – 94.5 points
Making 24 tackles at a 100% completion rate is simply a heroic effort from Gleeson. He would deserve a TOTW week place on the back of that alone. However, he did also show fantastic reactions and instinct to pick up the scraps of a botched Glasgow lineout to run in a try untouched – 80.5 points
7 offloads is a frankly outrageous number of offloads for a single player to make in a game. Many teams don’t even reach that number. Every time the opposition sees him in the attacking line, they need to dedicate two tacklers and give consideration to his outside men. It can completely change how a team sets up in defence. He also worked hard, arriving at 35 rucks, only bettered amongst locks by his teammate Brian Deeny, although this may reflect Leinster’s possession dominance on the day – 74 points
While Snyman got to spend most of Saturday evening on attack, his opposite number Young was camped on defence. The Scotsman performed admirably, making tackle upon tackle without missing a beat. When given the opportunity ball-in-hand he was effective – gaining 40 metres from his 10 carries – 73.5 points
To understand why Bell has made TOTW11, I can simply direct you to footage of his wonder try as he burst through a couple of defenders, demonstrating extraordinary pace that left the Cardiff defence in his wake. Bell is perhaps the best ball-carrying prop in world rugby at the moment, and this was his coming out party for Ulster, beating more defenders than he had in his first 4 appearances combined – 85.5 points
While not a vintage day at the lineout for Glasgow, Stephen made his presence felt around the park. He beat more defenders and made more offloads than any other hooker in the round. However, his performance was not all flash, as only Johan Grobbelaar was involved in as many rucks as he was – 79.5 points
PR: Scott Wilson – Ulster (1 try, 11/12 tackles)
A strong outing for the Ulster tighthead. He was part of a solid Ulster scrum which operated at 100%. He took his try incredibly well by picking-and-going at speed to catch a still-setting defensive line unprepared – 68 points
