The statement Cheetahs are making

STAT ATTACK: We are only two rounds into Super Rugby Unlocked, but the Cheetahs and their players are already making some big statements with their performances on the field.

The Bloemfontein side was always going to come into the tournament motivated after SA Rugby’s decision to dump them from the Pro14.

The Lions, Bulls, Sharks and Stormers set to be included in an expanded Pro16 for the 2021/22 European season.

This past weekend the Cheetahs beat one of their ‘replacements’ (the Bulls) 19-17 after a 53-31 win over the Pumas in Round One.

And Hawies Fourie will want his team to prove SA Rugby wrong again in the coming weeks with matches against the Lions, Sharks and Stormers (all away from home).

Looking at the stats after the first two rounds, it is the Cheetahs and their players leading the way in most categories.

The Cheetahs, Lions and Bulls have all played two games so far with the Sharks and Stormers playing one game each after early byes.

Cheetahs backs Malcolm Jaer and Rosko Specman are the leading try-scorers so far with three tries each. Jaer also has the most clean breaks (five) after the first two rounds.

Clayton Blommetjies has made the most carries (22) and offloads (six) with Specman topping the charts with a whopping 222 metres carried after just two games.

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In terms of overall tries, the Cheetahs lead the way with nine. The Pumas are the next best with seven tries.

Looking at the teams’ overall metres carried, the Cheetahs are well ahead with 971. That is over 200 metres more than the Bulls (754) and over 300 metres more than the Lions (666) after two games played.

Staying on attack, the Cheetahs and the Lions are joint top with 18 offloads. The Bulls have beaten 48 defenders with the Cheetahs in second with a tally of 37.

With a tough run of games coming up, it will be interesting to see if the Cheetahs can keep up the fight.

Selected team and player stats below:

Team stats:

Player stats:

Stats by Opta