Vodacom United Rugby Championship Top 100 – How It Works?

Sep 16 • General News, International, National, South Africa, South Africa, United Rugby Championship • 1094 Views • Comments Off on Vodacom United Rugby Championship Top 100 – How It Works?

Welcome to the Vodacom URC Top 100: A new dynamic player ranking system that combines recent performances across the Vodacom United Rugby Championship EPCR competitions and international rugby.

When it comes to measuring player impact the URC Top 100 which is powered by the StatMaster xP algorithm will identify the most valuable performers across the 16 Vodacom URC teams at time during the season.

The rankings work by analysing every match that players have appeared in during the last 12 months, including the Vodacom URC, European competitions and internationals. Then StatMaster applies an “expected points” (xP) algorithm to each event in those games. Like “expected points added” (EPA) in the NFL and “expected goals” (xG) in football, this revolutionary new stat measures the impact that each player has on his side’s chance of scoring. It is based on the idea that rugby is a team game: though the player who slots the ball through the posts or touches it down deserves plenty of credit, so do the 14 others who helped create that opportunity.

For example, a player can gain points by doing things that increase his team’s probability of making the next score — such as crashing past defenders, nailing a 50/22 kick, earning a scrum penalty or even winning a crucial turnover on his own try-line. On the other hand, if he makes a costly error, he can lose points. Crucially, the algorithm adjusts for lots of match factors, including a player’s position, his location on the field, the phase type, the time on the clock, and the quality of his teammates and opponents.

All this allows URC StatMaster to give the most accurate data-driven estimates of how much players are currently contributing to their teams. The ratings can also be broken into skill types. This means that we can look at the best prop at scrummaging in the Vodacom URC, the best flanker at defending, the best fly half at goal kicking or the best winger at carrying.

All the ratings have been scaled so that an average Vodacom URC player scores 80, with the very best performers in the league reaching over 90. As the season progresses, and players shuffle in and out of the top 100, StatMaster will be on hand to analyse the biggest movers and shakers.

The Vodacom URC Top 100 will live on unitedrugby.com and will be updated monthly.

For the reveal of the initial Vodacom URC Top 100 players based on the last 12months, please follow #URCTop100

The #URCTop100:

#URCTop100United Rugby Championship (URC)URCVodacom United Rugby ChampionshipsVodacom URCVURC

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