Embrose Papier: SA's most elusive scrumhalf?
STATISTICAL SPOTLIGHT: The dust has settled on this season’s United Rugby Championship and teams will be in the boardrooms reviewing their campaigns.
Teams will be looking at overall performances and individual performances with a view to improving things ahead of the next season.
One of those teams will be the Bulls. Despite not going further than the quarterfinal stage, there will be some boxes that they have ticked in the season.
Interestingly, the Bulls are sitting at No.1, above the Stormers and Leinster, in the attack category in the URC’s stats section on their official website.
That ranking is based on a combination of points scored, tries scored, offloads, metres gained, defenders gained and clean breaks.
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And it reflects in the individual performances. According to Opta’s stats, utility back “David Kriel was the only player to gain 1000+ metres (1014) and also led the URC for linebreaks (18).
There is also an interesting stat related to scrumhalf Embrose Papier.
Papier found some form in the latter part of the season and he has carried that into the Currie Cup as well.
His awareness and speed on attack was there to see in the first half against the Cheetahs in the final round when he scored a fantastic try in the 27-31 defeat.
Opta has highlighted one stat from Papier’s performances during the URC season, which illustrates his elusiveness around the park.
“Embrose Papier was the only player to evade over 50 percent of the tackles that he faced in this season’s URC [55 percent, min.50 tackles faced],” said Opta.
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55% – @BlueBullsRugby’s Embrose Papier was the only player to evade 50%+ of the tackles that he faced in this season’s @URCOfficial (55%, min.50 tackles faced) – teammate David Kriel was the only player to gain 1000+ metres (1014) and also led the URC for line breaks (18). Flair. pic.twitter.com/mrLiXmozbf
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) June 13, 2023
Papier also scored four tries and made eight clean breaks in the URC this season. Sharks’ scrumhalf Grant Williams did better in those stats with 11 clean breaks and 10 tries.
Papier has not been included in the latest Springbok squad and it is unlikely that he will feature at the World Cup unless there are major injuries.
Stats provided by Opta & @URCOfficial
Embrose Papier is ELECTRIC ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/1BEkSET0Id
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) June 13, 2023
