Joe van Niekerk

Scoring is a floor. World Rugby's timeline credits some tries to nobody, so a match where the players' points do not add up to the score may be missing this player's. 16 of 33 of his matches add up; appearances and minutes are unaffected. Never used by the model.

Points of margin above what the side's rating expected, so opposition and venue are already removed, over the years between his first and last cap. A gap this size comes up by chance often enough, across the players tested, that it is not evidence about him. The method.

Only players in the same position for the same side are offered. Scoring in rugby sits in a handful of positions, so points cannot order a prop against a fly-half, and a career total says nothing about who is the better player — these are counts of what happened, not a rating. The heavier figure in each row is the larger one; the cards row is left unmarked, because more of them is not more of a good thing.