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Trying to get past Justin Tipuric on a rugby field has become as difficult as trying to solve Rubik’s cube in the dark.

While wearing a blindfold.

For those in any doubt, there is a statistic that deserves to be served up on a silver platter, garnished with rosemary sprigs and alternate slices of lemon, limes, oranges and slices of grapefruit, with a glass of vintage red to wash it down.

Drum roll, please.

Tipuric is now up 160 tackles without a single miss on a rugby field this season.

The dozen he came up with against Connacht last Saturday took him to 109 in the Guinness Pro12 in 2016-17.

He has also completed 20 in three European Challenge Cup matches and had a 100 percent return for Wales during the November internationals: 31 tackles attempted, every one nailed.

Indeed, Tipuric hasn’t let an opposition player past for close on 11 months, since the Six Nations game with Scotland in Cardiff on February 13 last year, to be precise.

Dan Lydiate — the undisputed Welsh tackling champion for so long — now has a rival for the title of best defensive player this side of the Severn Bridge.

Ospreys head coach Steve Tandy said after of Tipuric after the 29-7 win over Connacht: “It’s easy for me to sit here and say he’s unbelievable.

“He could play in the backs but he does all the hard graft and his work in the tackle contest against Connacht was outstanding.”

Tipuric has actually transformed the way he plays.

He used to regularly use his speed to get to the breakdown quickly and lock over the ball before relieving his opponent of possession or forcing the penalty.

But he doesn’t actually achieve that many possession switches that way these days.

Instead, his preferred modus operandi sees him wrapping himself around opponents like lagging and holding them up in the tackle. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to suggest Tipuric has held up more people this season than Dick Turpin circa 1735.

Against Connacht, he, Alun Wyn Jones, Olly Cracknell, Lloyd Ashley, Dan Baker and others frequently used this method to glue up opposition attacks and achieve the momentum shifts that are so vital to any game.

Tipuric, in particular, was to the fore.

On one occasion he and Ashley stopped Connacht’s Tiernan O’Halloran so emphatically it was as if the 6ft 2in, 15st full-back had careered into a brick wall. The inevitable followed. Four black-clad arms were wrapped around the Irishman, who found himself unable to reach terra firma: turnover to the Ospreys.

Not long after, Tipuric jumped high to pilfer an opposition line-out, then he tapped back Dan Biggar’s precise restart to trigger the move which culminated in Ashley Beck crossing for the bonus-point touchdown with the clock heading into the red.

But it was all underpinned by another first-rate defensive show.

In case there are those who are concerned Tipuric’s work in that area has been at the expense of his attacking contribution, they should have seen him last weekend.

The Sunday Times suggested: “He did everything conceivable for a flanker to do: running and passing like a back as well as winning line-outs like a lock and tackling like a Tipuric.”

Statistics don’t tell us everything.

But there can’t be many more amazing than the one at the top of this article.

Logic tells us it can’t be possible for a rugby player to play close on five months of a season without missing a tackle.

But logic has been turned on its head.

It has been said before but it is worth saying again — Justin Tipuric is an extraordinary rugby player.

TIPURIC’S TACKLES

Pro12

Zebre: 5-0

Connacht: 13-0

Treviso: 6-0

Leinster: 23-0

Ulster: 23-0

Blues: 8-0

Edinburgh 8-0

Scarlets: 6-0

Dragons: 5-0

Connacht: 12-0

European Challenge Cup

Grenoble 9-0

Newcastle 9-0

Lyon 2-0

Wales

Australia 10-0

Argentina 5-0

South Africa 16-0

TOTAL: 160 tackles, no misses