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John GriffithsFebruary 2, 2015
Who is the best No 8 in England? Ed Davis, England
Premiership Rugby recently circulated a fascinating slew of individual statistics compiled by Opta. The figures cover all players in all matches in the Aviva competition, which has just passed the half-way stage. The stats reveal that Nathan Hughes is a lead performer, and by some way the outstanding No 8 this season to date.
The Fijian-born Wasp, who is also qualified to play for Samoa and becomes eligible for England on residency in 2016, currently features among the top-fives across four categories.
He stands second behind Exeter's Tom Waldrom for most carries made (154) and is third on the list for defenders beaten (42) behind Sinoti Sinoti and Semesa Rokoduguni, who are both wings.
Hughes has made 22 successful offloads, only one fewer than Quins' Nick Easter, and he is joint-leader (with Newcastle's Ally Hogg) in the turnovers won category (13).
Billy Vunipola, Easter and Waldrom are the only other out-and-out No 8s cited more than once among the top-fives in the selected statistics.
John Griffiths is a widely respected rugby historian and is the author of several sports books, a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and co-author of the IRB International Rugby Yearbook. He has provided insight for Scrum.com since 1999.
