With 2024 coming to an end, it’s time to announce our top 50 players from the past 12 months in a list that acknowledges the international, club and also Sevens game.
It’s been a thrilling year of domestic and Test rugby, one that saw the consolidation and improvement of the Springboks, the dominance of Toulouse in Europe and France, and of course, that Olympic Gold Medal for you-know-who.
Some hard choices had to be made – Marcos Kremer and Julien Marchand would normally walk into this list but have been injured for large portions of the year. How do you assess Owen Farrell given his Test retirement and Racing 92’s lack of form? Where do you place players from the lower part of the Tier One rankings when the top four are so far ahead of the rest?
Without further ado, here’s part one of our top 50 players of 2024.
50-26
50 James Lowe (Leinster and Ireland): An absolute glue player for club and country, Lowe is direct, powerful and abrasive. And probably has the best long clearing kick in the whole of the Home Unions. He’d be higher but for concerns about his pace just reducing with age.
49 Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks and South Africa): He is the starting Bok hooker with good reason – a peerless scrummager and magnificent lineout operator who does the basics better than any other. He is one of the emotional heartbeats of a team powered by mutual passion.
48 Charles Ollivon (Toulon and France): At his best, Ollivon is a World XV player – but he’s not been his razor sharp self in the early part of 2024, leading to a public rollicking about work rate from Fabien Galthie. Ollivon’s answer was a Player of the Match performance at number eight in France’s last Test v Los Pumas and he’s getting his mojo back at last.
47 Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints and England): Mitchell may well have been a lot higher had it not been for his troublesome neck issue. He’s way ahead of any other nine England have and he’s a sure fire certainty to be a Lion in the summer, fitness permitting.
46 Emmanuel Meafou (Toulouse and France): Our second player from the same club tells you something about how good they are. Big Manny is a focal point of clatter and carry for any team he plays for and is improving all the time.
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45 Davit Niniashvili (Lyon and Georgia): The 23-year-old flyer is world class either in the colours of Lyon or Georgia. Named as one of Midol’s Oscar winners this season, he’s one of the reasons Lyon remain such an attractive team to watch.
44 Maro Itoje (Saracens and England): Itoje at his best is a top 10 player in our list. He’s been good, but not quite at the heights of a few years ago. Nevertheless, he’s a big match player and he’ll have his eyes focused on a third Lions tour in the summer.
43 Rob Valetini (Brumbies and Australia): Big Bobby is at the heart of the Wallaby resurgence since he moved across the back-row to six. He was massive in the Autumn Nations Series and will be a pivotal part of the Australian challenge to the Lions.
42 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls and South Africa): The second of our many Springboks – and what a player! We’d like to have him higher on our list but he’s still not the first choice wing for the Boks. But is there a better finisher on either side? Box office.
41 Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster and Ireland): Like Itoje, not at his peak in 2024 and starting to look as if he’s in the autumn of his career, but a world class nine nonetheless. He’ll be keen to put the losses of the last two years behind him for both club and country.
All Blacks captain at 40
40 Scott Barrett (Crusaders and New Zealand): ‘Scooter’ might have featured higher on our list but for his love of attracting a card or two. But he’s the first of three outstanding brothers in our top 50 as he continues to lead the All Blacks with pride.
39 Jack Willis (Toulouse and England): It is so hard to rate Willis higher due to his self-imposed paucity of Test rugby, but there’s moments when you watch him and you think he’s the nearest thing to Richie McCaw that we’ve seen for a long time, such is his similarity in style to the greatest All Black.
38 Tomas Albornoz (Benetton and Argentina): A world class 10 who will get better and better. He destroyed some of the best defences in Test rugby during the summer as he recorded sensational wins against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, not the worst hat-trick for a young fly-half easing his way into the international arena.
37 Peato Mauvaka (Toulouse and France): Another player from the European champions and it’s also another hooker! Mauvaka is wonderfully mobile and penetrating with ball in hand, even if he doesn’t quite have the set-piece skills of Julien Marchand, his Toulouse colleague, who’d certainly be in our list if not for his horrendous injuries last season.
36 Will Skelton (La Rochelle and Australia): Skelton does things that others cannot. It’s all about size and intimidation with the massive man – but he’s slimmed down recently and his skills shine more brightly as a result.
35 Bundee Aki (Connacht and Ireland): Aki is starting to feel the miles on the clock and needs careful management by the Irish staff. After just inking a new one-year deal, expect some barnstorming displays for club and country until the end of 2025/26.
34 Wallace Sititi (Chiefs and New Zealand): The Kiwis have a production line of world class flanks and Sititi is the newest, and one of the best, products. It’s still early to define his best Test position but he’s been compelling so far in his caps during the Rugby Championship and Autumn Nations Series. One to watch closely, we suspect.
33 Pablo Matera (Mie Honda Heat and Argentina): When Matera fires, so does Los Pumas, it’s that simple. A man of huge power and passion, but perhaps one that can blow hot and cold at Test level. But when he’s hot, he’s simply unstoppable, as South Africa and New Zealand will attest.
Pumas back-row lauded
32 Juan Martin Gonzalez (Saracens and Argentina): Our last of the brilliant Puma back-rows and arguably the best of the lot. Supremely skilled and blessed with quicksilver footwork, he’s already a world class performer and getting better every year.
31 Theo McFarland (Saracens and Samoa): Again, a player plagued by injury who might well have featured higher, McFarland is the supreme hybrid 5/6 with basketball players hands and a sharp turn of pace.
30 Thibaud Flament (Toulouse and France): The former Loughborough University fifth team fly-half is shining in the back five of both his club and his country. A world class lineout athlete, a regular try scorer and a phenomenal work rate all add up to make up his skill-set. Just don’t go playing him at 10 any more.
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29 Kwagga Smith (Shizuoka Blue Revs and South Africa): If there was an award for best impact player in the world, Smith would have no competition. A tiny man by Bok standards, his ability to perform in the land of the giants shows just how good this man is.
28 Jordie Barrett (Leinster and New Zealand): Jordie has finally found his best Test position at 12 after flirting for so many years with the back three. His impact in Ireland is already evident and he continues to be the glue in the Kiwi backline that they’ve missed since the retirement of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith.
27 Codie Taylor (Crusaders and New Zealand): Taylor is our highest placed hooker on the basis of his standout work all season in the All Black shirt. He’s faced a lot of competition from the likes of Dane Coles and others over the years, but has made the hooker berth his own in recent years.
26 Damian Penaud (Bordeaux-Begles and France): Penaud has dropped off in form this season but still is one of the most exciting runners in European rugby. Needs to work on his defensive set and stay on point in attack to maintain his progress in 2025.
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