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Rugby World Cup 2023 featured three countries from the Americas. For the first time there were three from South America and also none from North America. Who were the top players?
POINTS SCORED (67)
With 67 points to his name, Emiliano Boffelli was the top point scorer from the Americas. The winger from Duendes in Rosario finished the Bronze Final as the third highest point scorer in the tournament behind England’s Owen Farrell (75) and France’s Thomas Ramos (74). Nicolás Sánchez finished 11th with 39 points.
TRIES SCORED (3)
Two players from the Americas were tied for most tries with three each. Uruguay’s Baltazar Amaya and Argentina’s Mateo Carreras touched down there times each. Amaya scored against France in Lille and twice against Namibia in Lyon. Carreras scored a hat-trick for Argentina against Japan in Nantes.
DROP GOALS (1)
When the Americas trio had all played their final matches of the tournament there were five players across the twenty countries who had landed drop goals at Rugby World Cup 2023. Two of the five were from England with George Ford’s three against Argentina being the tournament record. Owen Farrell landed two while three other players landed one. Uruguayan Felipe Etcheverry landed one. This made him the only player from the Americas to do so at the tournament.
BALL CARRIES (67)
Argentine fullback Juan Cruz Mallía was the stand-out ball-carrier. Prior to the Final he carried more than any other outside back, being second only to Ireland’s New Zealand center Bundee Aki. Santiago Carreras finished the Bronze Final with the fourth most carries with 63. Marcos Kremer and Thomas Gallo were the leading forwards for Argentina with 59 and 56 respectively. They were 8th and 9th in the World after the Bronze Final.
OFF-LOADS (8)
In case you missed it, Juan Cruz Mallía had a fantastic World Cup. In addition to being places so highly in ball carries he also ended the Bronze Final on the podium for off-loads. The Córdoba fullback made 8 off-loads in the tournament. Only two players made more. France’s Antoine Dupont and Tonga’s All Black Charles Piutau both made 10.
CLEAN BREAKS (8)
The Bronze Final concluded with Argentina having two players in the World Cup’s top ten for clean breaks. Mateo Carreras finished 7th in the tournament with 8 and Emiliano Boffelli finished 9th with 7. Uruguay’s Nicolás Freitas also played high. Freitas made 5 clean breaks in the tournament.
TRY ASSISTS (56%)
When Uruguay completed their four matches Felipe Etcheverry was placed number one in the World Cup for try assists. Etcheverry had five try assists, a mark matched by Ireland’s Garry Ringrose and New Zealand’s Cam Roigard. Etcheverry was placed well ahead of both with 56% of Uruguay’s tries involving a try assist from the Miami Sharks bound fly half.
ATTACKING RUCK EFFICIENCY (98%)
Data releases on October 03 showed that Fiji’s Selestino Ravutaumada was the only player with a 100% attacking ruck efficiency. He had 100% win or 22/22. Argentina’s Eduardo Bello was second with 98% (41/42) and Uruguay’s Santiago Civetta joined All Blacks Scott Barrett and Ardie Savea as tied for third with 97% or 35/36.
TACKLES (92)
Marcos Kremer made the most tackles of all players at the World Cup. The flanker from Enter Ríos smashed the World record by setting a new mark of nine tackles more than the previous best at a Rugby World Cup. Julián Montoya and Juan Martín González also placed highly. Both made 58 tackles to give them a tie for 11th overall at the conclusion of the Bronze Final. Thomas Gallo made 48 while Chilean captain Martin Sigren completed 52 tackles.
TURN OVERS (8)
Uruguay’s Manuel Ardao won four turnovers in Los Teros loss to Italy. This was a tournament high. He won a total of eight turnovers at Rugby World Cup 2023. This was also a record. His jackals saw him named as statistically the leading open side flanker in the tournament’s pool stage.
MAN OF THE MATCH (2)
Players from Argentina and Uruguay won Man of the Match awards during the World Cup. Santiago Arata was Man of the Match for Uruguay against Namibia. Mateo Carreras was Man of the Match against Japan and Nicolás Sánchez was Man of the Match against Chile. Emiliano Boffelli was Man of the Match twice. He won the award in Los Pumas’ pool win over Samoa and Quarter Final win over Wales. Ohio native Sam Underhill was Man of the Match for England against Argentina in the Bronze Final.
