Indigo Prem defences caught in the Cross fire

Opposition defences have been left in the Cross-fire as the winger has raced over for five tries in his last two appearances. He scored twice against Swansea at the Arms Park in the last round of matches and raced over for a hat-trick against his former team, Bridgend in the round earlier.

He now leads the try scoring charts with 10 touchdowns. Aberavon’s Joe Gage, who had been the leading contender for the early stages of the season, now finds himself alongside teammate Ashton Evans and Llandovery’s Arron Warren as the nearest challengers with six tries apiece.

Ebbw Vale fly half Evan Lloyd looks the most likely to be the first player to burst through the century barrier. He is eight points short of the magical three figure milestone, 20 points ahead of nearest challenger Dion Jones (RGC).

Well -travelled Fijian international Nikola Matawalu is quietly becoming an increasingly influential member of the Pontypridd side. He leads the line-breaks with six but that figure doesn’t show the damage he normally causes when he decides to pull the trigger. Aberavon’s Stef Andrews and Cardiff’s Joe Goodchild are hot on his heals with five line-breaks.

All good defences are led by their flankers and Aberavon’s Joe Tomalin-Reeves and RGC’s Ethan Fackrell are certainly making their presence felt in the trenches.

Fackrell has won more turnovers than any other player, been involved in more ‘post-tackle’ involvements, made more jackal attempts and attempted more ball rips than any other player but Tomalin-Reeves has been leading from the front for the Wizards as no player has made more counter ruck attempts or choke tackle attempts than he has.

.Indigo Premiership statistics – 2022