Milestones

A few players have their 100^th Super rugby match looming: Matt Giteau and Mils Muliaina have currently played 98 matches each, Mark Chisholm 97, Neemia Tialata 95, Bakkies Botha 95, Corey Flynn 92 and Jaque Fourie 91.

Andrew Hore, who passed 100 career matches earlier in the season, became the fourth Hurricanes player to reach 100 matches for the team against the Reds, following Tana Umaga, Rodney So’oialo and Ma’a Nonu. He played six matches for the Crusaders in 2001.

Morne Steyn currently has 887 Super rugby points and is poised to become the sixth player – after Daniel Carter, Stirling Mortlock, Andrew Mehrtens, Matt Burke and Tony Brown – to reach 900. Andre Pretorius is the nearest South African on the career list with 663 points – almost exactly 75% of Steyn’s total.

Stephen Donald currently has 795 career points and should become the seventh player, after the six named above, to reach 800.

Last season the Sharks broke the existing team record for penalty goals in a season by landing their 46^th in the last match of the round-robin but that mark was short-lived as the Stormers passed it in the semis and then the Bulls set the current season record of 52 during the final. That mark looks certain to go some time in the next few weeks as the Force (40) and Stormers (36) average four penalty goals a match. Morne Steyn’s individual record (51) is also under threat from James O’Connor, who currently has 38. O’Connor has goaled all 11 penalty attempts in his last two matches.