SuperRugby.com, with thanks to Opta, brings you the seven key statistics we saw over the fourth round of the 2014 season.

New Zealand lineouts faltering

The top lineout operators in the Kiwi conference are the Hurricanes and Crusaders, tied in eighth spot with an 80.6% success rate, nearly five percent behind the seventh team in the Cheetahs.

The Chiefs are the fifteenth ranked team, winning just 69.6% of their throws.

This is in dramatic contrast to the finest units in Super Rugby, with five teams claiming over 90 percent of their throws, with the Brumbies winning a remarkable 93.5% - the Bulls in 2013 led the season with 89.2%.

The likes of Callie Visagie (Bulls, 43 won, five lost), Bismarck du Plessis (Sharks, 29 won, three lost), Nathan Charles (Force, 38 won, three lost) and Stephen Moore (Brumbies, 35 won, three lost) are the finest performing rakes so far this campaign when measuring their skills as a thrower.

Rhys Marshall (Chiefs, seven won, five lost) and Liam Coltman (Highlanders, 12 won, six lost) are the lowest ranked, with the Hurricanes Dane Coles being the best lineout throwing number two in New Zealand so far with 23 won and four lost.

Big call carriers come running

The Bulls threw their heavy artillery at the Blues over the weekend and it has resulted in three of their forwards breaking into the top eight for ball carries so far this season.

Jacques du Plessis and Jurgen Visser top the carry table with a combined 83, while Jono Ross comes in at eight with 34.

The three big men are uncapped at Test level, showing perhaps that once again the three-time champions are going to put aside a massive squad turnover and keep producing quality from their age grade and academy systems.

While the visitors relied on their backline for forward momentum, the Bulls ran 392 metres with 109 carries, a barrage that eventually yielded a bonus point try.

‘Under’ tier of New Zealand flankers supporting their teams

Luke Braid, Jack Lam, Shane Christie, Nasi Manu and George and Luke Whitelock have been the high performers for their respective franchises, it is quite understated how well the team’s understudies perform due to the slow start of some All Blacks.

Lam leads the tournament with eight turnovers, while Braid’s 30 carries, 43 tackles (missing just one), eight beaten defenders and six offloads ranks him as arguably the highest performing back row forward in the campaign.

While Matt Todd has stepped up in Richie McCaw’s absence and has made more metres (95) and more average gains (5.59 metres) than any other back Kiwi back rower.

Ben Mowen would make the Wallabies tomorrow

Some believe that Mowen saw the writing on the wall with so many competent loose forwards in Australia, but while David Pocock is out for the season, the incumbent Test skipper has continued where he has left off.

Already a confirmed departure at the end of the 2014 Super Rugby, the number eight is equal with the Bulls Flip van der Merwe with 20 lineout wins to lead the competition.

With 23 runs Mowen is also relied up as one of the Brumbies main runners - and with just 1.48 metres per carry, the 1.95m, 114kg forward is underrated as one of the better attacking back rowers to get the ball out of very heavy traffic.

Defence is something of an anomaly

While there has been plenty of evidence that Super Rugby’s defensive systems are as competent as ever, it is a difficult area to predict so far.

The Reds and the Cheetahs played out the highest scoring match of the season so far in a fixture some might have said showed how secondary defence can be.

However the hosts still have the best tackling percentage of the competition, with their 90.7 just ahead of the competition’s usual benchmark in the Stormers (90.4).

Further to this, the men from Free State have seven players in the top 13 of the tackle charts, while man for man the Reds back row is the hardest working defensive combination in the tournament.

Meanwhile the table topping Sharks have the 14th most efficient defence in the system, just ahead of the Brumbies who miss one of every five tackles – yet both sides have shown they are early title threats.

Willie le Roux and Cornal Hendricks aren’t in the top tackling charts, but have missed 15 tackles between them, which undoes the statistically efficiency of their forwards.

Again watch out for that Izzy

Israel Folau’s brilliance was put into more perspective during the bye.

With just two matches, Willie le Roux and Charles Piutau are both high up in the performance charts, but Folau’s averages put everyone to shame.

In roughly 140 minutes, Folau is averaging per match nearly 14 carries, 113 metres, 8.6 per carries, three beaten defenders, the same number of clean breaks and almost five offloads.

Someone isn’t suffering second year syndrome and will be one to watch in Round 5.

No wonder the All Blacks rate this guy

While Israel might edge out the 22-year-old Wesley College product with some numbers, Piutau is carving out a reputation as world rugby’s hardest man to tackle.

So far in 2014 Super Rugby the ten-Test All Black has beaten 12 defenders, better than any other player.

Last year, the Junior World Cup winning former Under 20s rep beat 60 players throughout the season, again, more than any other.

Also in the top five for carries and metres, so far the Blues backline has looked it’s best when spearheading their attack around a player many believe is a future long term All Blacks centre.