Only one Crusader was selected in the Super Rugby team of the year, while Damian McKenzie was named player of the season and selected at first-five eighth ahead of Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett.
The side was posted to the official Super Rugby social accounts, which said it was “based on comprehensive statistics that monitor in detail every action of every match".
Seven NZ-based players were selected, a team-high four Chiefs - Brodie Retallick, Anton Lienert-Brown, Solomon Alaimalo and McKenzie - Crusaders winger George Bridge, Hurricanes halfback TJ Perenara and Blues loose forward Akira Ioane.
McKenzie was named player of the season with Super Rugby’s tweet saying the Chiefs star beat the most defenders in Super Rugby while also ranking in the top 10 for carries, metres, clean breaks, offloads as well as try involvements – McKenzie scored six and had eight assists.
The Lions also had only one player, hooker Malcolm Marx, despite reaching the final.
An explainer of the stats the team were picked on gave a score to each action a player completed, with a try outranking a tackle for example.
The points are weighted on the score at the time of the action and also the quality of the opposition with the explainer claiming, “the total match score is then weighted to take account of the strength of the opposition so that performances across many matches can be judged fairly.”
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