Johannesburg - The classy touches of two of the country's leading flyhalves made all the difference for the weekend's Super Rugby matches which saw South African teams return to winning ways.
The Toyota Cheetahs, Cell C Sharks and Emirates Lions were victorious in their matches while the DHL Stormers had to work hard to force a stalemate against the Sunwolves in Singapore.
Sharks pivot Pat Lambie made an encouraging return to the line-up after recovering from a shoulder injury topping the Points stats on the All Out Rugby App, powered by Vodacom.
Lambie scored 20 of his side's points in their narrow 25-22 victory over the Jaguares in Argentina where he slotted a conversion and six penalties including the match-clinching kick at the death.
Although it was a concerted team effort, a few players stood out for the Lions in their impressive 43-5 rout of the Hurricanes in trying conditions in a wet and cold Johannesburg.
Lions flyhalf Elton Jantjies was masterful in his team's victory displaying the qualities of a potential Springbok flyhalf.
He did not put a foot wrong tactically and had a hand in three of his side's five tries to top the try-assist statistics over the weekend. A constant standout in the midfield this season, Lions centre Lionel Mapoe also strengthened calls for his Springbok call-up scoring a hat-track of tries for third place on the weekend's points category.
Mapoe also topped the Clean Breaks stats sharing the top ranking with Ben Smith (Highlanders) and Matt Faddes (Highlanders) with four each.
Jaco Kriel lead the Lions' charge up front with the loosie also cracking the top five in terms of Clean Breaks sharing second place with seven players from other teams including Cheetahs flyer Sergeal Petersen with three apiece.
Kriel was also among the top scavengers winning three turnovers with the Kings' Stefan Willemse, Teboho Mohoje of the Cheetahs and the Reds' Liam Gill doing the same.
The fleet-footed Cheslin Kolbe of the Stormers shares second spot with Kriel and Joaquin Tuculet of the Jaguares in the Defenders Beaten category where they bamboozled the defence on six occasions.
Towering Stormers lock Pieter-Steph du Toit displayed his attacking ability beating five defenders for a third-placed ranking along with Michael van der Spuy of the Cheetahs.
Bulls centre Jan Serfontein was the top South African defender making 16 tackles along with Luke Jones (Rebels), Elliot Dixon (Highlanders), Callum Gibbins (Hurricanes) and Faatiga Lemalu (Sunwolves). His teammate Jannes Kirsten made 15 while Lions lock Franco Mostert made the third most tackles along with Bulls flanker Lappies Labuschagne with 14 each.
All Out Rugby stats review -
Round 12 Points:
1 Pat Lambie (Sharks) 23
2 Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders) 16
3 Lionel Mapoe (Lions) 15
4 Fred Zeilinga (Cheetahs) 14
5 Tusi Pisi (Sunwolves) 12
Carries:
1 Israel Dagg (Crusaders) 19
2 Pablo Matera (Jaguares) 18
3 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Stormers) 17
4 Agustin Creevy (Jaguares) 15
Toma Lavanini (Jaguares) 15
5 Jaco Kriel (Lions) 14
Damian de Allende (Stormers) 14
Clean Breaks:
1 Lionel Mapoe (Lions) 4
Ben Smith (Highlanders) 4
Matt Faddes (Highlanders) 4
2 Sergeal Petersen (Cheetahs) 3
Akahito Yamada (Sunwolves) 3
Jaco Kriel (Lions) 3
Chris Feauai-Sautia (Reds) 3
Israel Dagg (Crusaders) 3
Jason Woodward (Hurricanes) 3
Tomas Lavanini (Jaguares) 3
Colby Fainga'a (Rebels) 3
Defenders Beaten:
1 Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders) 7
2 Cheslin Kolbe (Stormers) 6
Jaco Kriel (Lions) 6
Joaquin Tuculet (Jaguares) 6
3 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Stormers) 5
Michael van der Spuy (Cheetahs) 5
4 Hendrik Tui (Reds) 4
Israel Folau (Waratahs) 4
Jan Serfontein (Bulls) 4
Chris Feauai-Sautia (Reds) 4
Rohan Janse van Rensburg (Lions) 4
Vince Aso (Hurricanes) 4
Matt Faddes (Highlanders) 4
Metres Run:
1 Israel Dagg (Crusaders) 144
2 Rob Horne (Waratahs) 122
3 Matt Faddes (Highlanders) 115
4 Ben Smith (Highlanders) 111
5 Cheslin Kolbe (Stormers) 109
Turnovers Won:
1 Liam Gill (Reds) 3
Jaco Kriel (Lions) 3
Stefan Willemse (Kings) 3
Teboho Mohoje (Cheetahs) 3
Tackles:
1 Luke Jones (Rebels) 16
Jan Serfontein (Bulls) 16
Elliot Dixon (Highlanders) 16
Callum Gibbins (Hurricanes) 16
Faatiga Lemalu (Sunwolves) 16
2 Jannes Kirsten (Bulls) 15
3 Franco Mostert (Lions) 14
Lappies Labuscagne (Bulls) 14
4 Adam Thomson (Rebels) 13
Warwick Tecklenburg (Lions) 13
Stephen Moore (Brumbies) 13
Rynhard Elstadt (Stormers) 13 - African News Agency (ANA)