Looking back on Round 2 of Super Rugby 2014, the first full Round where all three participating nations took part in Super Rugby, it might be good to look at some key factors coming to light in the Round.

The official SANZAR website, www.sanzarrugby.com brings you the seven key statistics over the second round of the 2014 season.

Defence important early

The Chiefs and Reds, the last two teams to win a Super Rugby title, and the newly defensive orientated Cheetahs, lead the way as the leading tackling sides in 2014, the only three franchises that boast better than a ninety percent plus percentage.

The champions made a remarkable 121 tackles in their clash against the Crusaders, while the home team only required 56, and while the Chiefs might have missed 13 tackles to the Crusaders seven, normally when a team concedes those sort of numbers they score more than one try.

The Crusaders crossed via Sam Whitelock early in the second half, but wave after wave of attack from the seven-time winners resulted in just the solitary score to the All Blacks lock, showing how illustrious the Chiefs defensive system has become.

In Canberra it was more of the same from the Reds, making 119 tackles to the Brumbies 63, while the 2011 champions missed just ten tackles as opposed to last year’s runners-up 14.

We cannot get enough of “The Bos”

Marnitz Boshoff has kicked 13 goals, cracked a half century of points, and has not missed a point’s worthy kick.

Thirty metres remains his shortest strike, while a sound 49.7 metre missile is the Lions playmakers longest, draping the Nelspruit born sensation in the sort of hype that is giving the Johannesburg based team the momentum that already has them as South African Conference leaders – a worthy tag irrespective of the infancy of Super Rugby in 2014.

The Lions playmaker isn’t a one trick pony, with Boshoff kicking 28 times in general play, third overall in the competition.

When he decides to run, watch out, his seven runs average nearly nine metres, with three beaten defenders to his credit.

The valuable turnover

Hurricanes flanker Jack Lam jointly led round two with five turnovers against the Sharks, whose fired up forward pack get made constant metres, but thanks to the effort of 2013 Samoan Player of the Year they were prevented from being unstoppable.

Matt Hodgson played a similar role for the Force, also making five turnovers which at times stemmed the Waratahs Wallabies pack.

Other teams have shown their hand at the breakdown, notably the Cheetahs and the Reds.

The men from Free State are the most prolific turnover unit, with their top six operators – Pieter Labuschagne, Phillip Van Der Walt, Francois Venter, Coenraad Oosthuizen and Adriaan Strauss making a collective 16 turnovers.

The Reds put together similar efforts, showing their new approach in shutting down play at its source, Liam Gill made four turnovers against the Brumbies while backs Mike Harris and Lachlan Turner twice forced possession to switch.

The year of the fullback?

Already six custodians have racked up over 100 running metres, with Willie Le Roux, admittedly over two matches, registering 222 metres over 25 attacking raids, while the Lions Chrysander Botha averages 9.71 metres per charge to lead Super Rugby.

In New Zealand, Ben Smith and Charles Piutau sparkled with 14 and 18 carries, while Israel Dagg’s 20 runs and 17 passes led the round, but lack of scoring punch led to Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder dropping his star this weekend.

However once again, it was Israel Folau who stole most of the headlines.

Folau scored three tries, most of which had been set up by other players, but the dual international’s positioning was precise throughout.

He added 16 runs for 116 metres, four clean breaks, four beaten defenders and four offloads. Enough said.

Lineout weakness not critical… yet

The Chiefs and the Highlanders both emerged as round two winners, yet Rhys Marshall and Liam Coltman boasted the worst lineout percentages of the weekend, with just 44 and 50 percent of their throws won respectively.

They are the only players without at least a 75 percent throw.

Strauss (22 won, two lost) and Bismarck Du Plessis (19 and one) are the premier lineout throwers, and hence their respective teams boast the cleanest lineouts of the competition so far.

The single best performance of the weekend came from Stephen Moore, losing just one of his 14 throws over a strong 67 minute performance.

Nothing beats defensive commitment

Shane Christie put in a mammoth performance for the Highlanders over the weekend, making a heroic 21 tackles, while prop Kane Hames was close behind with 19.

Chris King (15), Jarrad Hoeata (12) and Shaun Treeby (10) got in on the action as well, so while plenty of plaudits fell the way of the illustrious Smith’s, it was the work of the Highlanders defenders that lay the platform.

As for the Chiefs, they were immense in defence.

Their leading tackler?

Aaron Cruden, who not only guided his team around the park so well but made 13 tackles, most of the front on.

The final word, hold onto that ball…

In nine matches so far in 2014 Super Rugby, the possession has been turned over an incredible 291 times.

There are no parties guiltier than the other, although backs tend to be susceptible, with the Bulls Louis Fouche losing the ball eight times to ‘lead the competition’, while the likes of Ben Smith, Israel Folau and Beauden Barrett lost the ball on four occasions.

Interestingly the form team of the competition in the Sharks, has turned over the ball 36 times, perhaps Jake White’s troops early Achilles Heel?