URC Awards: Turnover King and Tackle Machine confirmed

NEWS: Ulster lock Alan O’Connor and Ospreys loose forward Jac Morgan have scooped the Tackle Machine and Turnover King prizes respectively, kicking off three weeks of announcements in the build-up to the United Rugby Championship Grand Final.

Wednesday will see the winner of the Golden Boot crowned before the Top Try Scorer and Ironman to follow next week, along with the Fans’ Player of the Season, Next-Gen Star of the Season and the Dream Team.

Coach of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season will be announced in the week of the Final.

Here, we take a closer look at the first two award winners and the performances that led to their prizes, which were awarded using URC StatMaster data provided by Oval Insights:

Tackle Machine: Alan O’Connor (Ulster) – 195 tackles, 97.5 percent success rate

This award is given to the player who boasts the best tackle success rate among those who have attempted 150 or more over the course of the campaign.

Alan O’Connor takes home the prize having made 195 tackles at a success rate of 97.5 percent.

The lock’s figure saw him finish ahead of the Ospreys’ Will Griffiths (96.17 percent), Connacht’s Jarrad Butler (95.29 percent) and the Dragons’ Ollie Griffiths (94.92 percent) while Ulster teammate Nick Timoney – the man who has made the most tackles in the URC this season (247) – rounded off the top five with a rate of 94.64 percent.

Turnover King: Jac Morgan (Ospreys) – 24 turnovers won

Awarded to the player who has won the most turnovers during the regular season, Morgan edged his rivals to scoop the prize for 2021-22.

The Ospreys flanker racked up 24 for the campaign as the Swansea-based region finished top of the Welsh Shield.

He was pushed all the way by Deon Fourie of the Stormers, who finished on 23, while Ulster’s Marcus Rea (19), the Ospreys’ Morgan Morris (17) and the Dragons’ Ollie Griffiths (16) completed the top five.