Orquera's golden boot

Luciano Orquera of Aironi created a new goal-kicking record in their pre-Christmas Italian derby game against Treviso.

Aironi ran out 27-13 winners at the Stadio Zaffanella with Orquera scoring all the points with 9 successful penalty kicks at goal out of 9 attempts.

This is the highest number of penalty goals by one player in a game in the 11 year history of the Pro 12 competition.

Orquera joins exalted company in his achievement moreover – Diego Dominguez kicked 9 penalties out of 9 for Stade Francais in the 2001 Heineken Cup Final, as did Thierry Lacroix for Perpignan in the same competition, both against Leicester.

Simon Mannix of Gloucester achieved the same feat in the Premiership in 2000 as has Andrew Mehrtens twice at test level. Mention must also be given of Chris Paterson’s achievement in kicking 8 penalties and 2 conversions out of 10 attempts in September 2009.

Orquera’s achievement further boosts the very strong goalkicking statistics across the board so far this season in the Pro12.

Currently the Golden Boot Award table is headed by Leinster duo Fergus McFadden and Jonathan Sexton with 95.24% and 86.96% success rate respectively. They are followed by Ronan O’Gara of Munster with 84.21%, Rhys Priestland of Scarlets with 83.33%, Duncan Weir of Glasgow with 82.46% and Greig Laidlaw of Edinburgh with 80.36%. Orquera’s achievement has helped his move into seventh place with 79.17%.

“I was delighted to score nine out of nine penalty kicks during the derby game against Treviso before Christmas because it meant achieving an important winm,” Orquera said.

“I only found out the day after the game that I had made a new kicking record in the Pro 12.”