Opta’s European Rugby Team of the Week: 25-27 April ...Middle East

The European Club Rugby Team of the Week returns. As the race for the play-offs heats up, find out which players made our XV,

After a Six Nations-enforced break, the Team of the Week returns, with the Opta supercomputer selecting the best XV across the Premiership, TOP 14 and URC. With all three leagues entering their final weeks before the playoffs and plenty still to play for, every game now matters.

This week’s Team of the Week features players from 13 different clubs. Only two sides have more than one representative – Gloucester and Racing 92 – who both enjoyed standout wins, with Racing dominant in the Parisian derby.

Opta’s Star Player of the Week

It hasn’t been a vintage season for Racing 92, but a big derby win against Stade Français keeps them within touching distance of both the play-offs and the Champions Cup spots in the TOP 14. Instrumental in that victory was Nolann Le Garrec who was directly involved in three tries, more than any other player in the TOP 14 at the weekend.

The French scrum-half was at his elusive best on Sunday, making two line breaks as well as assisting a further three line breaks for his teammates. In fact, his tally of five line break involvements was again the most of any player in the French top flight.

The Best of the Rest

Although Bristol were comfortably beaten, they still produced moments of magic in attack. On the wing, Gabriel Ibitoye put in another performance with ball in hand that might give Steve Borthwick something to think about ahead of England’s summer tour.

The 27-year-old beat 10 defenders and gained exactly 200 metres against Saints, the second time in his league career that he’s hit a double ton. Ibitoye is the first player to manage that on multiple occasions in the Premiership since Opta began recorded this data (since 2008-09).

200 – Gabriel Ibitoye gained 200m v Saints, just the second player to gain 200+ metres in a @premrugby game this season, after teammate Kalaveti Ravouvou (230 v in Dec 24); in fact, Ibitoye is the 1st player to manage that feat on multiple occasions in the Premiership since… pic.twitter.com/GjZIiCaPat

Ibitoye covered so much ground thanks to his ability to break the defensive line, which he did on four occasions – only Santiago Carreras (5), who also made our Team of the Week, managed that more often across the big three leagues at the weekend.

Carreras put in a fine performance for Gloucester in his 59 minutes against Exeter Chiefs. On top of his five line breaks he also assisted four tries. No player provided the decisive pass on more occasions in the last round of fixtures.

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (1 try, 2 assists), Taine Plumtree (1 try, 1 assist) and Kyle Steyn (1 try, 1 assist) were three of just five players to both score and assist a try in the URC at the weekend, with the trio all doing enough to make our XV.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was instrumental in the Stormers’ victory over Benetton, with the young Springboks star showing he has everything to be a great Test player. He was electric with ball in hand, beating five defenders, making three line breaks and gaining 89 metres.

He also slotted eight of 10 kicks at goal and was the only player to land a drop goal in the URC, his fifth of the season – more than any other player in the big three leagues.

Of course, we can’t forget the front row union, with Boan Venter catching the eye at the weekend, as he dragged his Edinburgh side back into the game against Zebre. His brace of tries helped the Scottish outfit get back into the game, eventually securing a draw to keep their play-off hopes alive.

On only four occasions in the URC this season has a prop crossed for multiple tries in a game, with Venter now having done so twice, after dotting down for two tries in the first of this season’s 1872 Cup games against Glasgow Warriors.

The South African front rower also beat five defenders from his seven carries, two more than any other prop managed across the weekend, not a bad shift.

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Opta’s European Rugby Team of the Week: 25-27 April Opta Analyst.

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