Beauden Barrett has had his two best performances of the season in back to back weeks, and is rising up the 1st5R rankings.
The Hurricanes pivot was brilliant in a losing cause against the Waratahs, and is now second on the season rankings behind impressive Highlander Lima Sopoaga.
The 1st5R formula, created by Stephen Ryan, factors in linebreaks made and assisted, tries scored and assisted, defenders beaten, running metres per carry, tackling success, turnovers and goal kicking, while also taking into account minutes played and number of touches.
A rating of 50 is a par performance, with the scale running from 0 to 100.
Barrett scored a superb 73.44 1st5R in week 10, taking his season score up to 68.69 through seven matches.
Those are truly elite numbers, with anything around the 60 mark signalling a first-five at the top of his game.
Barrett's week 10 score comes on the back of a stunning running display, in which he tallied 176 running metres on 21 attempts while making four clean breaks and beating eight defenders.
One of those runs resulted in a try, with his chipped kick boomaranging back to him and his impressive speed doing the rest.
Barrett was nearly mistake free in his 80 minutes, but the one time he did turn the ball over it was costly. His pass at the end of the first half was intercepted by Peter Betham, coughing up a try and a halftime lead.
The only man above Barrett in the 1st5R standings is Lima Sopoaga, with the Highlanders man putting in yet another commanding display.
For the first time, two players scored identical scored on the same weekend, with Sopoaga and Waratahs pivot Bernard Foley both registering a 66.12 1st5R on Saturday.
Sopoaga's score came thanks to a try assist, six from six kicking from the tee and the vision to put his team mates into gaps.
Having averaged 35 running metres per game this season, Sopoaga only ran for five metres against the Blues in Dunedin, but let the other aspects of his game do the talking.
Foley, on the other hand, had two try assists in his side's victory over the Hurricanes, but he wasn't as efficient as Sopoaga with his touches of the ball, and only kicked four from six off the tee.
Cheetahs' first-five Joe Pietersen was the only other player to score over 50 this week, with a 52.81 1st5R against the Reds.
Blues' pivot Dan Bowden scored a strong 49.71 1st5R against the Highlanders, Colin Slade scored 40.70 for the Crusaders against the Chiefs, and Andrew Horrell scored a respectable 39.67 in the same game, replacing the injured Aaron Cruden.
Horrell's score dropped from what it could have been because of three turnovers, one of which fortunately led to a try to Chiefs loose forward Michael Leitch. His kicking was also off, otherwise he had a solid game.
Propping up the table is a new face, with Sharks replacement first-five Fred Zeilinga solid in last place with a 30.72 1st5R on the season, and 26.96 1st5R in round 10.
Since starter Patrick Lambie dropped injured in week eight, the Sharks have been woeful.
Lambie had led his team to four wins and three losses before his injury against the Crusaders, but they haven't won since. With Zeilinga in control of the backline, wins will be hard to come by.
We score first five-eighths' performance
from the latest round. Click column heads to rank
SUPER RUGBY
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R-10
PlayerCountryR10SeasonMarty BanksNZL-52.38Beauden BarrettNZL73.4468.89Martinez BoshoffRSA-45.69Dan BowdenNZL49.7144.35Daniel CarterNZL-45.11Demetri CatrakilisRSA48.5344.61Kurt ColemanRSA-65.17Quade CooperAUS-52.28Aaron CrudenNZL-60.69Jack DebreczeniAUS38.0538.50Sias EbersohnAUS30.5433.40Bernard FoleyAUS66.1261.01Nick FrisbyAUS38.2245.34Mike HarrisAUS-51.81Zach HolmesAUS-46.25Andrew HorrellNZL39.6739.67Karmichael HuntAUS-36.29Elton JantjiesRSA-47.14Patrick LambieRSA-60.88Christian Leali’ifanoAUS44.8644.86James MarshallNZL-50.98Damian McKenzieNZL-64.82James O’ConnorAUS-54.44Joe PietersenRSA52.8140.33Handre PollardRSA39.3959.27Willie Du PlessisRSA-45.36JL PotgieterRSA-38.64Colin SladeNZL40.7058.75Lima SopoagaNZL66.1271.74Frans SteynRSA-44.32Matt ToomuaAUS-54.11Ihaia WestNZL-41.89Fred ZeilingaRSA26.9630.72
