Well you can guess from this Telegraph article
Who is the best ball-carrying forward in European rugby?
Rugby nerd: Telegraph Sport digs into data from the Premiership, Pro14, Top14, Challenge Cup and Champions Cup to find the answer
By Jake Goodwill 21 December 2020 • 3:23pm
Getting over the gainline is as fundamental as ever to the game of rugby. Front foot ball is absolutely the key to breaking down defences that otherwise become organised and ready to sprint off the line.
Having individuals that can break tackles, and find metres where none should be found, is invaluable. Alfie Barbeary has brought a new dimension to Wasps with his abrasive ball carrying while Jake Polledri has been putting defenders on their backsides for fun over the last couple of seasons.
But who are the best forwards in Europe, statistically, at getting over the gainline? Some of the usual suspects make the list, alongside some players that you would not necessarily associate with ball carrying.
The stats used to assess this are from the Premiership, Pro14, Top14, European Challenge Cup and Heineken Champions Cup since the start of the 2018/19 season. All 1,026 forwards who have played 400+ minutes in that time have been ranked.
By average metres per carry
Peceli Yato, the dynamic Clermont back rower, tops this chart with only Barbeary within touching distance. This metric rewards power per carry, as opposed to the frequency of the work. Nevertheless, it is impressive for a player as young as Barbeary to be towards the top of the tree.
Guy Thompson, formerly of Wasps and Leicester, now at Ealing Trailfinders, was a leading light for Tigers during a relatively dark period. A fine player who packs a punch, as the stats show.
The other thing to note here is the effectiveness of Cameron Woki, the French flanker that was given a run at the end of the Autumn Nations Cup. Despite playing more minutes than anyone else on the list, Woki's ability to get over the gainline endures across a 40 game sample size. Impressive from the 22-year-old.
By carries over the gainline per 80 minutes
Barbeary takes the number one spot by this metric, illustrating he carries with frequency alongside with devastating power. He averages one and a half carries over the gainline more than the next best forward.
Georgian powerhouse Otari Giorgadze, who was extremely impressive in the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and Ulster's Marcell Coetzee are next in line - alongside Perpignan lock Michael Faleafa.
Worth noting is the work of young lock Ryan Baird, tipped to be the next big thing in Irish rugby, while Zach Mercer, who has been criticised for not being big and powerful enough to cut international rugby, comes out well.
By metres gained per 80 minutes
In terms of pure meterage, Barbeary and Yato dominate once more, with Nathan Hughes and Viliame Mata also near the top. Mercer, Giorgadze and exciting French youngster Jordan Joseph all feature.
This metric is perhaps less useful than the previous two, as the data can be skewed by one carry that makes a lot of ground.
By percentage of carries over the gainline
This last metric essentially shows who gets knocked back in the tackle with the least frequency when tackled. Interestingly, by this metric, a lot of the star names fall off the list - apart from Barbeary, of course. Henry (Brandon) Brown of the Southern Kings wins this category, with Italian veteran Alessandro Zanni a surprise second place.
Ronan Kelleher, the dynamic Leinster and Ireland hooker, makes the list, successfully getting the consistent gainline success that all front rowers desire.
Verdict
To summarise, the statistics produced by Barbeary are scarily impressive. He ranks top for metres gained per 80 minutes and carries over the gainline per 80 minutes, also ranking second for average gain per carry and fifth for gainline success rate. All this should be, of course, with the caveat that Barbeary's sample size is relatively small. For that reason, it would be wrong to proclaim the 20-year-old the best ball carrying forward in Europe. However, these statistics underlie what a special talent he is and the fact he may well be on the way to earning that accolade.
A word too for Yato, who is the only other player that can rival Barbeary by these metrics. The Fijian has the ability to decimate professional defences, as borne out by the statistics.
Topic: and the best ball-carrying forward in Europe is... (Read 1507 times)
Always a Wasp