After the first weekend of the second half of the Super Rugby season, it feels as though the current front-runners and playoff sides are really starting to pull away from the rest of the competition.
Once again this week, there were plenty of stunning performances across all teams, which means we have another edition of our Players of the Week list.
5. Damian McKenzie (1 Point)
The Chiefs were at their blistering best this weekend against Moana Pasifika, which will be a great way to carry momentum into the premier showdown with the Hurricanes this weekend.
One of the key figures in the win and domination of Moana Pasifika was their first five, Damian McKenzie, who has seemingly seen his name fall out of the All Blacks’ starting No. 10 race. However, his two-try performance and ability to guide his team around the park the way he did will certainly be a feather in his cap entering the second half of the season.
4. Isikeli Rabitu (2 Points)
The Drua returned to home soil and, as many would expect against a side like the Force, that meant a return to winning ways in what was ultimately a closer scoreline than I had predicted.
Personally, I thought the star of the show would be their left winger, Ilaisa Droasese, but instead it was the man in the No. 15 jersey who, in his 60-minute stint, really proved the difference. Isikeli Rabitu, with ball in hand, was almost impossible to stop for the Force. He was third for the Drua in metres made with 84, while also leading the game in defenders beaten and line breaks. It wasn’t just his work between the 22s either, Rabitu also got over for a try of his own, capping off a special performance.
3. Peter Lakai (3 Points)
Going from strength to strength, the name I have claimed to be New Zealand’s brightest prospect is Hurricanes loose forward Peter Lakai. This weekend against the Blues, he flashed his talent all over the park in just about every facet required of him playing at the base of the Canes scrum.
Lakai was superb with ball in hand, but his most prolific work came on the defensive side of the ball, where he was constantly stunting the opposition’s attack with his physical tackling and, most of all, his dominance at breakdown time. He was superb when it came to diffusing potent Blues attacks generating four ruck turnovers and getting his team more ball to play their counter-attacking footy.
Photo: Judah Plester / Photosport
2. Kyren Taumoefolau (4 Points)
It was a bit of a slow start for big-name summer transfer Kyren Taumoefolau, who, after starting the first couple of rounds, seemingly fell out of favour and rode the bench for a while before finding himself back in the starting XV over the past couple of weeks.
The quality we have seen from him since returning to a starting role is considerably better than what we saw at the start of the season. What made Taumoefolau such a big prospect was his ability to find the line for the likes of Moana Pasifika and the Makos, which has once again become a staple of his performances, including this past weekend against his former side.
In this one, he was flat-out dominant in attack, ranking among the top three or four in his side for metres carried, defenders beaten and line breaks, which of course led to him also getting over for a couple of tries.
1. Callum Harkin (5 Points)
Of course, another Hurricanes player finds himself at the top of the list this weekend after their demolition of the Blues on Saturday evening at home in what was hyped up as the biggest game of the season.
The best player on the park, and believe me there were plenty of contenders, was their fullback Callum Harkin. The second-year Super Rugby player may have put together the best performance of his career, where everything he touched turned to gold, starting with his game opening try after about four minutes.
His performance was complete from then on, being a nuisance on the attacking side of the ball, constantly breaking lines and creating chances for his side, while also being in the right place at the right time to score his second try of the evening and really seal the game for the Canes.
Week 9 Leaderboard
1st Fehi Fineanganofo (10 points)
2nd Callum Harkin (8 points)
3rd Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens (7 points)
4th Caleb Clarke (6 points)
T-5th Cam Roigard (5 points)
T-5th Will Jordan (5 points)
T-5th Billy Proctor (5 points)
T-5th Taha Kemara (5 points)
T-5th Miracle Faiʻilagi (5 points)
T-10th Kyren Taumoefolau (4 points)
T-10th Sid Harvey (4 points)
T-10th Filipo Daugunu (4 points)
T-10th AJ Lam (4 points)
T-10th Codemeru Vai (4 points)
T-10th Max Jorgensen (4 points)
T-10th Fraser McReight (4 points)
T-10th Charlie Cale (4 points)