Newcastle Falcons fly half Jimmy Gopperth is all set to become the Guinness Premiership's official hot shot for 2009-10, as he lines up for the final game of the season next Saturday against London Wasps.
The Kiwi is 20 points clear of nearest rival Nicky Robinson in the race for rugby's golden boot, having scored an incredible 210 points in his 20 league outings to date.
"It's not something I had really picked up on to be honest, but a few of our fans and the press have mentioned it to me over the past few weeks," said the 26-year-old, who scored all but five of his side's 32 points last weekend at Sale Sharks courtesy of a first-half try try and eight from eight with the boot.
"A few of our supporters have said they had a bit of a punt on me at the start of the season to finish top of the scorers' chart, and I think there are a few summer holidays resting on them getting their winnings!
"It's something that gives me a lot of pride, especially in my first season in England, but at the end of the day it's a team game and I'm just the guy taking the kicks on the back of everybody else's hard work.
"Having said that, there's only one game to go next Saturday at home to London Wasps, and if I could finish up on top of the points table after that one then it would have to be regarded as a great honour both for myself and for the club."
The former Blues and Hurricanes star is in a rich vein of form, having slotted his last nine kicks at goal.
In fact Gopperth's overall strike rate for the season has risen to over 70 per cent, placing him ahead of renowned marksmen like Olly Barkley, Glen Jackson, Derick Hougaard and Nicky Robinson in the Premiership percentage stakes.
"Overall 70 per cent is a stat that I'm not too over the moon with, but when you consider I missed a few at the start of the season which I should have kicked, then I'm pretty happy with my strike rate over these past couple of months," said Gopperth, who also tops the European scoring charts with 74 points in his seven Amlin Challenge Cup outings to date.
Plundering a total of 284 points from 28 games in all competitions for the Falcons, the Taranaki native's personal haul includes two tries, 23 conversions, a single dropped goal and a massive 75 penalties.
With two years still to run on his current contract though the Junior All Black international is certainly not resting on his laurels, insisting: "There's plenty still to come.
"The boys are on a little bit of a high after the 32-30 win down at Sale Sharks last week, but we're still down at tenth and we're all definitely keen to improve on that next season.
"In fairness to the club they have retained the bulk of the side, many of our key players have just signed contract extensions and we're also being very ambitious in terms of our recruitment to add to what we already have.
"That all bodes well for the future here, and with the fans really getting behind us I've got every confidence that we'll come back bigger and better for the coming seasons."
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