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Steven Kitshoff keeps top spot in latest URC Top 100 player list

Springboks and Ulster prop Steven Kitshoff (Photo by Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images)

Steven Kitshoff continues to lead the way at the top of the URC’s Top 100. It was more than four months ago when the chart was last published and having since won his second Rugby World Cup with the Springboks and completed his move from the Stormers to Ulster, the loosehead has retained the No1 spot in a list where forwards occupy the top five places.

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A statement read: “Steven Kitshoff’s arrival at Ulster has grabbed the headlines and the World Cup-winning Springbok is certainly making his mark.

“The new Ulster prop remains at No1 in the updated URC Top 100, the ranking system that reflects performances across the BKT URC, EPCR competitions, Rugby World Cup and international rugby.

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“He was top of the pile back in September when the table was last published and he has held on to that position on the back of his contribution to South Africa retaining the Rugby World Cup and his performances for Ulster.

“The top five positions are once again all occupied by forwards, as was the case in September. Young Benetton flanker Manuel Zuliani is in second spot, with Wales World Cup captain Jac Morgan having shot up from 39th to third.

“The ever-consistent Dan Sheehan lies fourth, with prop Ox Nche fifth, closely followed by his Hollywoodbets Sharks pack pal Eben Etzebeth. Vodacom Bulls winger Canan Moodie is the highest-placed back in seventh, while the leading Scottish performer is new Six Nations co-captain Rory Darge.

“The top 20 features seven South Africans, six Irish, three Scots, three Italians and one Welshman in Ospreys flanker Morgan. There are 16 forwards and just four backs.

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“Powered by the StatMaster xP algorithm, the Top 100 identifies the most valuable performers across the 16 BKT URC teams by analysing every match they have appeared in during the last 12 months. StatMaster then applies an ‘expected points’ (xP) algorithm to each event in those games.

“Like ‘expected points added’ (EPA) in the NFL and ‘expected goals’ (xG) in football, this revolutionary new stat measures the impact each player has on his side’s chance of scoring. It is based on the idea that rugby is a team game and while the player who slots the ball through the posts or touches it down deserves plenty of credit, so do the 14 others who helped create that opportunity.

“For example, a player can gain points by doing things that increase his team’s probability of claiming the next score, such as crashing past defenders, nailing a 50/22 kick, earning a scrum penalty or even winning a crucial turnover on his own try line.

“On the other hand, if he makes a costly error, he can lose points. Crucially, the algorithm adjusts for lots of match factors, including a player’s position, his location on the field, the phase type, the time on the clock and the quality of his teammates and opponents. All this allows URC StatMaster to give the most accurate data-driven estimates of how much players are currently contributing to their teams.”

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URC Top 100 Top Ten
1. Steven Kitshoff (Ulster)
2. Manuel Zuliani (Benetton)
3. Jac Morgan (Ospreys)
4. Dan Sheehan (Leinster)
5. Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
6. Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks)
7. Canan Moodie (Vodacom Bulls)
8. Gary Ringrose (Leinster)
9. Finlay Bealham (Connacht)
10. Jack Conan (Leinster)

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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