Highlanders’ points record on Sopoaga’s radar
IT is touch and go whether Highlanders first fiveeighth Lima Sopoaga will leave the franchise as its highest individual pointsscorer.
Sopoaga (27) bagged 19 points in the side’s 2928 win over the Bulls in Pretoria on Sunday. That boosted his total for the season to 82 points and overall he sits on 783 points for the franchise.
The individual pointsscoring record is held by Tony Brown who scored 857 points for the Highlanders from 1996 to 2004 and then again in 2011.
Sopoaga has piled on the points in the past few years after an injurydisrupted start to his career.
He scored a season record in 2015 when the Highlanders won the title, grabbing 191 points, and went close to that total a year later, bagging 186 points as
the Highlanders made it all the way to the semifinals of Super Rugby.
At the start of the season he was on 701 points, so he needed 157 points to pass Brown before he leaves the Highlanders to pursue his career in England.
Sopoaga signed a deal in January to play for premiership club Wasps.
With the regular season for the Highlanders now at the halfway mark, Sopoaga looks on track to reach the total if injury does not get in the way.
As he is heading to England at the end of the season, he will not be selected for the All Blacks so does not have to worry about the compulsory two rest games potential All Blacks have to take before the June tests.
Sopoaga has started in every game this season. He bagged seven kicks from seven attempts at Loftus Versfeld against the Bulls in what were admittedly great conditions for goalkicking — no wind and rarefied air.
Sopoaga has eight games left in the regular season and, should he play in all of them, at his current rate he looks set to reach Brown’s tally.
However, pointsscoring also becomes more difficult as the season heads into winter and teams become more disciplined and accurate in their play.
A nasty hamstring injury limited his involvement with the side last year and he spent nearly three months on the sideline.
Dan Carter has scored the most points in Super Rugby with 1708 points.
Meanwhile, Bay of Plenty midfielder Terrence Hepetema, who joined the Highlanders when midfielder Thomas UmagaJensen was injured at the end of last year, turned up on the Blues bench in Auckland on Saturday night.
With the Blues decimated by injury and unavailabilities, Hepetema joined the squad late last week and took his place on the bench for the match against the Jaguares. He did not get on the field as the Blues lost to the South Americans.
He has not made an appearance for the Highlanders this season. UmagaJensen has been back training having had an operation on his shoulder but has yet to play a game at any level.