WITH THE 2011 Rugby World Cup building to a climax, the International Rugby Board has taken the opportunity to announce its shortlist for this season’s Player of the Year honours.
Judged by a panel of prominent experts, including the likes of Francois Pienaar, Tana Umaga and Ireland’s own Paul Wallace, the award has been dubbed “the ultimate accolade for a player to receive in his career”.
All but one of the names in the running for this year’s award hail from the Southern Hemisphere.
Antipodean powerhouses New Zealand dominate the list with a trio of nominations– veterans Ma’a Nonu, Jerome Kaino and Piri Weepu– while Tri-Nations champions Australia are rewarded for their recent success with a pair of nominations, for Will Genia and David Pocock.
French flanker Thierry Dusatoir is Europe’s sole nominee.
Ex-Australia international John Eales, who chairs the panel of judges, told the official World Cup website that the tournament’s conclusion will likely prove decisive in determining the award’s recipient.
“This has been one of the closest years to date. In fact the result could be influenced significantly by the next two matches and that’s what it should be like in a World Cup year.”
The omission of New Zealand captain Richie McCaw from the shortlist brings to an end the openside’s recent domination of the award. After victories in 2009 and 2010, he had been bidding to secure an unprecedented third consecutive title.
Previous winners of the award include Schalk Burger (2004), Shane Williams (2008) and Keith Wood (2001).
Hard to care really about an award that has failed to ever recognise O’Driscoll in his 12 years of international rugby?!
What a joke, talk about southern hemisphere bias, no Jamie Roberts, no Sean O’Brien and as previous commenter stated no recognition of Brian O’D over last 12 years.
They gave BOD Player of the Decade. But I think they made it up to cover their shortsightedness
I think what should be remembered when talking about this is that club form is not taken into consideration. I believe it is just international performances that are taken into account. So any reference to Heineken Cup heroics, of which Sean O’Brien was indeed epic, is irrelevant.
Given that the Tri-Nations, and other internationals, get limited coverage in the Northern Hemisphere, I think many are just basing opinions on the World Cup and the Six Nations. Pockock or Kaino for me are the deserving winners.
http://shoehasnews.blogspot.com/2011/10/its-all-nearly-over-bar-shouting.html