GUINNESS PRO12: Round 3 Preview

Round 2 of the GUINNESS PRO12 saw an early push from Cardiff Blues, the Ospreys and Glasgow Warriors to put Wales and Scotland well on the road to having a representative in this season’s final at the Aviva Stadium on May 27.

All three sides have won two games from two, while Ulster have also maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought victory away to Benetton Treviso. The highlight of the round came at Scotstoun Stadium last Saturday where Glasgow Warriors and Leinster played out an eight-try thriller on the new artificial surface.

Five of the away teams will be travelling with intent this weekend as the Scarlets, Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Treviso are all looking to bounce back from their defeats in round 2.

The Ospreys created history last Saturday by becoming the first team in the history of the league to record six consecutive try-scoring bonus points in a run of games that dates back to last April. They are also vying with Glasgow to become the first side to ever claim maximum points across the first three games of the season.

GUINNESS PRO12 – ROUND 3 FIXTURES:

Friday, September 16 –

Cardiff Blues (4th) v Glasgow Warriors (2nd), BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park, 7pm

ULSTER (3rd) v Scarlets (10th), Kingspan Stadium, 7.05pm (live BBC 2 Northern Ireland/BBC 2 Wales)

Edinburgh (7th) v LEINSTER (6th), BT Murrayfield, 7.35pm (live TG4/BBC ALBA)

Saturday, September 17 –

Newport Gwent Dragons (8th) v MUNSTER (5th), Rodney Parade, 5.15pm (live Sky Sports 4 HD)

Zebre (9th) v CONNACHT (12th), Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, 6.05pm local time/5.05pm Irish time

Ospreys (1st) v Benetton Treviso (11th), Liberty Stadium, 7.35pm (live S4C)

Glasgow travel south to face Cardiff Blues where Danny Wilson’s troops have made a fantastic start to the season as they backed up their bonus point win over Edinburgh in round 1 with a dramatic victory in Cork against Munster.

Just one point separates the teams in the table and only one team will leave BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park with their unbeaten record intact. However, Cardiff will have their work cut out to break Glasgow’s winning streak over the Welsh region, which stands at 10 games.

TOP PERFORMERS IN GUINNESS PRO12 AFTER ROUND 2 (Powered by Opta Statistics):

TOP POINTS SCORERS –

Sam Davies (Ospreys) 31
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 30
Duncan Weir (Edinburgh) 21
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 21
Joey Carbery (Leinster) 20

TOP TRY SCORERS –

Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 6
Sam Parry (Ospreys) 3
Tom James (Cardiff Blues) 2
Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors) 2
Pat Howard (Newport Gwent Dragons) 2
Joey Carbery (Leinster) 2
Rhys Webb (Ospreys) 2
Ben John (Ospreys) 2
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 2
Rob Herring (Ulster) 2
Robert Lyttle (Ulster) 2

TOP TRY ASSISTS –

Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 2
Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) 2
Luke McGrath (Leinster) 2
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 2
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 2

METRES GAINED –

Liam Williams (Scarlets) 241
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 192
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 177
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 176
Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons) 164
Jeff Hassler (Ospreys) 164

MOST CARRIES –

Bundee Aki (Connacht) 29
Ed Jackson (Newport Gwent Dragons) 29
Tyler Ardron (Ospreys) 29
Stuart Olding (Ulster) 29
Liam Williams (Scarlets) 28
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 28

CLEAN BREAKS –

Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 10
Jacob Stockdale (Ulster) 7
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 5
Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) 4
Leonardo Sarto (Glasgow Warriors) 4
Ben John (Ospreys) 4
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 4

DEFENDERS BEATEN –

Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 14
Matt Healy (Connacht) 9
Leonardo Sarto (Glasgow Warriors) 9
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 8
Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) 8
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 8
Ben John (Ospreys) 8

MOST PASSES –

Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 210
Luke McGrath (Leinster) 155
Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 146
Gareth Davies (Scarlets) 131
Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) 126

MOST OFFLOADS –

Rey Lee-Lo (Cardiff Blues) 5
Stuart Olding (Ulster) 4
Marco Barbini (Benetton Treviso) 4
Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues) 3
Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues) 3
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 3
Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 3
Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) 3
Leonardo Sarto (Glasgow Warriors) 3
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 3
Ed Jackson (Newport Gwent Dragons) 3
Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons) 3
Nick Crosswell (Newport Gwent Dragons) 3
Tyler Morgan (Newport Gwent Dragons) 3
Scott Williams (Scarlets) 3
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) 3
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 3
Louis Ludik (Ulster) 3
Charles Piutau (Ulster) 3
Filo Paulo (Benetton Treviso) 3
Andrea Buondonno (Benetton Treviso) 3
Kurt Baker (Zebre) 3
Giulio Bisegni (Zebre) 3

MOST TACKLES –

Lewis Evans (Newport Gwent Dragons) 32
Billy Holland (Munster) 32
Josh van der Flier (Leinster) 30
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 29
Tommy O’Donnell (Munster) 27
Jack O’Donoghue (Munster) 27
Sean Reidy (Ulster) 27
Marco Lazzaroni (Benetton Treviso) 27
Maxime Mbanda (Zebre) 27

LINEOUTS WON –

Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) 14
Rory Thornton (Ospreys) 14
Marco Barbini (Benetton Treviso) 13
Daniel Qualter (Connacht) 10
Jake Ball (Scarlets) 9

TURNOVERS WON –

Wyn Jones (Scarlets) 5
Dan Leavy (Leinster) 4
Clive Ross (Ulster) 4
Marco Barbini (Benetton Treviso) 4
Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) 3
Phil Burleigh (Edinburgh) 3
Jack O’Donoghue (Munster) 3
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) 3

For more statistics, please visit www.pro12rugby.com/powered-by-opta