What the Springbok squad would look like if selected solely on statistics

The Vodacom Rugby App has made its own calculations to produce the SA Stats XV team.

The Vodacom Rugby App incorporates data from all 16 rounds of this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby tournament and then uses an algorithm that rates each player according to the statistics that are important for their position.

The SA Stats XV has been selected from players that played for the South African franchises throughout the 2015 Vodacom Super Rugby season. The Stats XV algorithm weighed each position according to the categories and the team. Some positions have been given extra credit for some categories and penalised more for others.

The app has produced interesting results with some of the players that ranked high on the app missing out on a call-up into the extended Springbok group. Namibian international Torsten van Jaarsveld, for example, made it into the SA Stats XV ahead of Springbok hookers Bismarck du Plessis and Adriaan Strauss. While Du Plessis may have ranked higher than Van Jaarsveld in some categories, he was penalised for the red card he received earlier in the season leaving Van Jaarsveld at the top of the app’s ratings.

The DHL Stormers, winners of the 2015 South African conference, have the largest representation in the SA Stats XV with five of their players making it into the final team.

Four Stormers are in the backline with the midfield combination of Juan de Jongh and Damian de Allende, fullback Cheslin Kolbe and flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis making it into the team.

Loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff is the only Stormers forward in the pack that is dominated by Toyota Cheetahs and Emirates Lions players.

Emirates Lions flyer Ruan Combrinck and Cell C Sharks speedster Lwazi Movo are the two wings in the side while the Vodacom Bulls’ Rudy Paige is the choice scrumhalf.

The Emirates Lions’ loose trio of eighth-man Warren Whiteley, flankers Warwick Tecklenburg and Jaco Kriel have rightfully been installed as the SA Stats XV’s loose trio.

The Toyota Cheetahs’ second-row combination of Francois Uys and Carl Wegner join Van Jaarsveld in the forward pack with Vodacom Bulls tighthead prop Marcel van der Merwe completing the front-row.

South African Stats XV:

15. Cheslin Kolbe (Stormers),

14. Ruan Combrinck (Lions),

13. Juan de Jongh (Stormers),

12. Damian de Allende (Stormers),

11. Lwazi Mvovo (Sharks),

10. Demetri Catrakilis (Stormers),

9. Rudy Paige (Bulls),

8. Warren Whiteley (Lions),

7. Warwick Tecklenburg (Lions),

6. Jaco Kriel (Lions),

5. Francois Uys (Cheetahs),

4. Carl Wegner (Cheetahs),

3. Marcel van der Merwe (Bulls),

2. Torsten van Jaarsveld (Cheetahs),

1. Steven Kitshoff (Stormers).

How will your Springbok winning team look like? Leave a comment below.