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Justin Tipuric doesn’t miss many tackles. And when we say he doesn’t miss many, we mean barely any at all.
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In yesterday’s match with the Hurricanes the Welsh openside made 24 tackles. He missed none, bringing his the total number of tackles made on the tour to 59.
Out of 59.
Twenty-four tackles from Justin Tipuric this morning against the Hurricanes.
Not one missed.
Takes his tour tally to 59 tackles from 59.
— Gareth Davies (@GD10) June 27, 2017
In fact for his season for the Ospreys, Wales and the Lions he has made 346 tackles, and missed just seven. That’s a tackle success rate of 98 per cent for the season.
Justin Tipuric made more tackles (20) than anyone else during Hurricanes v #LionsNZ2017
Should he be in the 23 v #AllBlacks on Saturday? pic.twitter.com/l7i5XgABQo
— BBC ScrumV (@BBCScrumV) June 27, 2017
Why exactly he is not being talked about widely as a potential starter in the tests, with Warburton being widely touted as returning to the Test, is not clear.
The openside flanker made six appearances for the Lions on the 2013 Tour of Australia before gaining a bench spot for the decisive third Test in Sydney against the Wallabies.
His entry to the fray in the 55th minute coincided with a Lions blitz of three second-half tries that effectively sealed a historic series win.
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Since then Tipuric has been a key player for Wales, playing an influential role in their run to the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals in 2015.
He appeared in every single one of Wales’ games at that tournament, and after starting three 2016 RBS 6 Nations games at No.7 he completed the full set for the first time a year later.
