Why Reinach is king and Faf is not
STAT ATTACK: The Springboks are blessed with some great scrumhalves, all in their prime at the moment.
Rassie Erasmus’ side was the envy of many at last year’s World Cup – with Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach and new livewire Hershel Jantjies in their ranks.
De Klerk was Erasmus’ first-choice in the tournament with, Jantjies providing back-up on the bench.
Reinach was the third-choice scrumhalf in the squad, but he did get a few opportunities to show his worth against some lesser opposition.
Cpoint is Reinach’s performance against Canada, when he caused the opposition plenty of problems on attack and scored the fastest hat-trick in World Cup history.
However, for this story we now cast our eye to England’s Premiership – where Reinach (Northampton Saints) and De Klerk (Sale Sharks) often stole the headlines over the last few seasons.
Debates raged in England about which one of the two is the best in the league, which often left England’s own scrumhalves in the shadows.
According to Opta‘s stats, Reinach has been the top scrumhalf in England.
Since he joined the Saints from South Africa’s Sharks, which was ahead of the 2017/2018 season (the same time De Klerk joined Sale), Reinach “has scored more tries (21), beaten more defenders (98) and made more breaks (55) & metres (1807) than any other scrumhalf in Premiership Rugby”.
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21 – Since he joined @SaintsRugby in rugby 2017/18, @c_reinach has scored more tries (21), beaten more defenders (98) and made more breaks (55) & metres (1807) than any other scrum-half in @premrugby. Farewell. pic.twitter.com/ZPIUFmTRYD
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) June 3, 2020
It is impressive stats for a player in one of the world’s toughest leagues.
It also makes him one of the best, if not the best, signings made by an English club over the last decade.
Reinach will not be able to add to those stats as it was announced that he will be heading to France to join French Top 14 giants Montpellier.
However, we are confident he will dazzle French supporters as well.
Additional source: Opta Stats
