It’s fair to say the boys have enjoyed a positive start to their campaign this season. With some exciting rugby on display, youngsters getting blooded and a brotherly harmony amongst the squad, it’s been impossible not to get behind what Toby Booth and the team has been building this year.
The Ospreys have exceeded expectations so far, the team are in the playoff hunt in the BKT URC and have a home play off in the EPCR Challenge Cup.
With all that considered, we took an in-depth look into the stats behind the season, from attack and defence to the player standouts, here are the numbers for all you stat aficionados out there.
ON THE BALL
It doesn’t take a stats whizz to surmise the set piece being one of the Ospreys’ main points of difference.
The team have the fourth best metres per maul in the league this season (3.0), along with the fourth best maul success rate (94.2%).
Ospreys have been excellent at retaining the ball this year as well, with the team conceding the second least turnovers per game (2.0).
The boys have been improving on the try scoring front every year since Toby Booth took the helm, in his first year in charge, the Ospreys scored 34 tries, in his second, 46, and last year produced a yield of 52. This year, the team have already hit 30, with them firmly on track to surpass last year’s total.
DEFENSIVE DYNAMOS
One of the greatest defensive players to play in the NFL, Ray Lewis, probably put it best in a post game interview: “We made it simple: if they don’t score they don’t win.”
A fairly obvious point you could argue, but nevertheless factual. When looking at any sporting team’s defensive success, one of the most important metrics to consider first is points conceded. The Ospreys have conceded the third least amount of points this season in the BKT URC which couples nicely with the team conceding the third least amount of tries per game (2.2).
It’s been hard to find a way through the Ospreys defence this season, and this can be put down to a number of factors. You can start by looking at the team’s 89% tackle success rate (4th in the BKT URC) and then the 2.9 turnover winning tackles per game (1st in the BKT URC).
That turnover tackle rate has been a crucial factor in the team being 3rd in the league in overall turnovers (73).
THE STAT STANDOUTS
Despite being injured since the Ospreys played Benetton in December, Max Nagy has been one of the stat stars for the Ospreys this season. He is the only player to have gained 100+ metres per 80 minutes in this season’s BKT URC.
Another standout has been Rhys Davies, who returns to the starting lineup for the Ospreys for the Munster game The lock had more turnovers than any other player in the 2023 calendar year in the league and is tied 4th in turnovers this season despite spending time out injured.
When it comes to tries, Keiran Williams (aka Keith) is the leader for the Ospreys and is tied 8th overall with five tries to his name. Jack Walsh is leading points scorer for the team this season, with 51, and is 13th overall in the league.
