GUINNESS PRO12: Round 6 Preview

The exciting and record-setting rugby on offer in the GUINNESS PRO12 this season has driven up the anticipation for the championship’s first ever ‘Big Weekend’.

The tournament organisers have taken the GUINNESS PRO12’s tribal clashes and new rivalries and grouped them into six rounds across the season to give supporters an unprecedented showcase of rugby within Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales.

Some of the biggest rugby stadiums across Ireland and the UK will host fixtures in round 6, including the Aviva Stadium, Liberty Stadium and BT Murrayfield. The Big Weekend will also seek to create new rivalries between the Italian and Scottish teams outside of their own national derby games.

The Big Weekend should provide teams from the PRO12 with the best possible preparation for European competition ahead of the first rounds of the Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup.

Ulster remain the only unbeaten team in the PRO12 after five rounds, but they will have a tough challenge going up against defending champions Connacht, who finally claimed their first win of the season against Edinburgh last Friday.

The Scots will now entertain Benetton Treviso in Edinburgh and with both sides having won just one game each so far, they will be battling it out to get some rhythm going ahead of their European campaigns.

Leinster and Munster will meet at the Aviva Stadium, the venue for this season’s PRO12 final, with each province enjoying strong form with four wins out of five.

Zebre will hope that their strong home performances can translate into a first victory of the season as they host Glasgow Warriors, who lie in sixth position but are just five points away from league leaders Ulster.

GUINNESS PRO12 – ROUND 6 FIXTURES:

Friday, October 7 –

CONNACHT (9th) v ULSTER (1st), the Sportsground, 7.35pm (live TG4/BBC 2 Northern Ireland)

Edinburgh (10th) v Benetton Treviso (11th), BT Murrayfield, 7.35pm (live BBC ALBA)

Ospreys (5th) v Cardiff Blues (4th), Liberty Stadium, 7.35pm (live BBC 2 Wales)

Saturday, October 8 –

LEINSTER (3rd) v MUNSTER (2nd), Aviva Stadium, 2.05pm (live Sky Sports 1 HD/TG4)

Zebre (12th) v Glasgow Warriors (6th), Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, 5.05pm local time

Scarlets (7th) v Newport Gwent Dragons (8th), Parc y Scarlets, 7.35pm (live S4C)

TOP PERFORMERS IN GUINNESS PRO12 AFTER ROUND 5 (Powered by Opta Statistics):

TOP POINTS SCORERS –

Sam Davies (Ospreys) 42
Tyler Bleyendaal (Munster) 36
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 35
Gareth Anscombe (Cardiff Blues) 34
Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) 32

TOP TRY SCORERS –

Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 7
Sam Parry (Ospreys) 4
Ben John (Ospreys) 4
Tom James (Cardiff Blues) 3
Niyi Adeolokun (Connacht) 3
Michael Allen (Edinburgh) 3
Josh van der Flier (Leinster) 3
Conor Murray (Munster) 3
Dafydd Howells (Ospreys) 3

TOP TRY ASSISTS –

Sam Davies (Ospreys) 5
Lloyd Williams (Cardiff Blues) 3
Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 3
Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) 3
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 3
Rhys Webb (Ospreys) 3

METRES GAINED –

Dan Evans (Ospreys) 424
Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons) 385
Liam Williams (Scarlets) 364
Tom James (Cardiff Blues) 358
Charles Piutau (Ulster) 316

MOST CARRIES –

CJ Stander (Munster) 60
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 54
Ed Jackson (Newport Gwent Dragons) 51
Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues) 48
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 46

CLEAN BREAKS –

Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 12
Tom James (Cardiff Blues) 10
Darren Sweetnam (Munster) 10
Dan Evans (Ospreys) 9
Louis Ludik (Ulster) 8

DEFENDERS BEATEN –

Ben John (Ospreys) 19
Bundee Aki (Connacht) 18
Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh) 18
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) 18
Tom James (Cardiff Blues) 17
Charles Piutau (Ulster) 17

MOST PASSES –

Ruan Pienaar (Ulster) 450
Rhys Webb (Ospreys) 297
Sarel Pretorius (Newport Gwent Dragons) 261
Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 255
Luke McGrath (Leinster) 253

MOST OFFLOADS –

Charles Piutau (Ulster) 10
Rey Lee-Lo (Cardiff Blues) 9
Ian Keatley (Munster) 6
Josh Matavesi (Ospreys) 6
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 5
Hallam Amos (Newport Gwent Dragons) 5
Noel Reid (Leinster) 5
CJ Stander (Munster) 5
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 5

KICKS FROM HAND –

Duncan Weir (Edinburgh) 75
Rhys Patchell (Scarlets) 68
Sam Davies (Ospreys) 66
Tommaso Allan (Benetton Treviso) 57
Jack Carty (Connacht) 49

MOST TACKLES –

Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 79
Billy Holland (Munster) 78
Sean Reidy (Ulster) 75
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) 70
Nic Cudd (Newport Gwent Dragons) 61
Josh van der Flier (Leinster) 61

LINEOUTS WON –

Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) 25
Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) 20
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) 20
Rory Thornton (Ospreys) 20
Jake Ball (Scarlets) 19

TURNOVERS WON –

Clive Ross (Ulster) 7
Hamish Watson (Edinburgh) 6
Josh van der Flier (Leinster) 6
Dan Leavy (Leinster) 5
Federico Ruzza (Zebre) 5

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