Statistics provided by Sanzar show the fourth-placed Highlanders are averaging just under 14 minutes of ball possession in games this year.
The side averages 13 minutes and 56 seconds of hands on the ball per game.
That is not a lot of time to score points but the Highlanders have done well enough to score 393 points in their 15 games so far, which is a season record for the franchise, although the season is longer than when the competition first began 18 years ago.
That possession statistic is surprising, especially when the Highlanders play half their games in the covered Forsyth Barr Stadium, where the ball is said to be in play more.
But the side has changed its game from last year, when it kept hold of the ball and ended up going nowhere.
This year, the side has chosen to kick more often and has not been going side to side as often as it did last year.
The sides they play are averaging a high of ball possession of nearly 18 minutes per game.
The Highlanders may not have the ball that much, but when they do, they are hard to put down.
They are the team who opponents find the toughest to tackle - opposing teams have only an 82% tackling success rate against the Highlanders.
The Highlanders' own tackling success sits at 86.4%, which is about middle of the pack.
The side is third from top in the number of defenders beaten but is third from bottom in ball carries.
It sits fourth in the rankings of clean breaks with 108 for the season. The Hurricanes lead with 145 clean breaks and the five New Zealand teams are all in the top six.
The table-topping Waratahs are the side that breaks up the New Zealand sides in the clean breaks category, lying just behind the Hurricanes with 142 clean breaks.
Yellow cards were the bane of the Highlanders last year.
They picked up 11 yellow cards throughout the season, which was far and away the worst tally of any side.
This year, the team has managed to stay much more disciplined with just five yellow cards.
The Brumbies are the worst offenders in the yellow card stakes, with nine issued to the men from the Australian capital this season.
Highlanders fullback Ben Smith is second in ball carries with 177 behind Waratahs back Kurtley Beale, who has more than 200.
The excitment around Highlanders centre Malakai Fekitoa is backed up by the numbers - the new All Black has beaten the most defenders of any player with 55. Smith is fourth with 47.
Smith has run the most metres of any player with 1182m, while Fekitoa is third in offloads with 24.
Waratahs fullback Israel Folau is way ahead with 43 offloads.
Loose forwards Shane Christie and Nasi Manu are second and third respectively in the tackling stakes with 177 and 173 tackles each.
Force captain Matt Hodgson is in front with more than 200 tackles.
Lima Sopoaga is the fifth-highest point-scorer in the competition with 166 points.
Sopoaga has set a point-scoring record this year for the Highlanders and, with his three penalties last Sunday in the losing effort against the Waratahs, has set a record for the most penalties for the season for the Highlanders.
He has kicked 36 penalties, two more than the previous high, set by Tony Brown in 2000.
Sopoaga had already set a record for the most conversions in a season, having kicked 24, three ahead of the record set by Brown in 1999.
