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 has 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 on home soil.
Yesterday we ran through our 50-26 list but today it’s all about 25-1. Here we go!
25-1
25 Mark Tele’a (Blues and New Zealand): Making metres in crowded spaces is Tele’a’s superpower and he’s a master of scoring when it matters in congested and physical Test matches. His worth to New Zealand is seen when things get tight and he’s usually the man to get them out of jail.
24 Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland): A silky centre that unlocks the best defences, Jones seems to be a shoo-in alongside his club colleague, Sione Tuipulotu for the Lions Test partnership. A midfield of those two and Finn Russell? Where do we buy the tickets please?!
23 Fraser McReight (Queensland Reds and Australia): One of the key men for the Wallabies in recent times, McReight is improving all the time and on his way to becoming one of the best back-rowers in the world. At the heartbeat of the Australia turnaround and brilliant in the autumn.
22 Ben Earl (Saracens and England): Eight or openside? Doesn’t really matter as he adds immense value, huge carries and bristling aggression wherever he plays. A world class athlete and it will be interesting to see how England choose to use him this season.
Planet Rugby’s Big Quiz of 2024 featuring the Springboks, Antoine Dupont and the Six Nations
21 Josh van der Flier (Leinster and Ireland): A sumptuous runner and brilliant link man, the former World Rugby Player of the Year is maturing like a fine wine. He will be an integral part of the Lions in 2025 and one of the key leaders on the pitch.
20 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles and South Africa): Surely the hardest working man in the game? His ethic around training and fitness leads the debate in the Springbok camp and that’s credit to this wonderful and much-improved professional.
Marcus Smith at 19
19 Marcus Smith (Harlequins and England): A magician, a genius and one hell of a rugby player. But is he the man for England’s 10 shirt? Only time will tell – but whether at full-back or fly-half he is compelling viewing.
18 Gregory Alldritt (La Rochelle and France): Like Ollivon, Alldritt was off colour post World Cup, looking short of fitness and form – or as Ronan O’Gara put it – absolutely f**king knackered. At his best, he is the most abrasive eight in the world and he’s looking like he’s returning to his prior form with every match this season.
17 Tadhg Beirne (Munster and Ireland): Beirne is so consistent that many just take his excellence for granted. It will be interesting to see where the Lions see his optimal position – lock or on the blindside. Given the competition for back-rows and the lack of standout locks, we’re sure he’ll be in the engine room – but what do we know?
16 Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers and South Africa): How can it be that the rest of the rugby world take a double world champion 10 for granted in the manner they do? Criminally underrated outside of South Africa (and by some inside also!) his calmness under pressure defines him. If you had one man to kick for your life it would surely be Pollard and that says it all.
15 Francois Cros (Toulouse and France): Cros says that every time he wears the Toulouse shirt he carries the legacies of his heroes and mentors, Jerome Kaino and Thierry Dusautoir, with him. A man that works in the shadows and a master of the dark arts it says something about his recent impact that he’s now mentioned in the same breath as those that preceded him.
14 Louis Bielle-Biarrey (Bordeaux-Begles and France): In the last six months, Bielle-Biarrey has gone from promising to truly world class. His finishing, often characterised by his brilliance with the kick and gather himself, is in a league of its own in France right now and considering he plays in the same team as Damian Penaud, that’s saying something.
Newbies of the Year: Nine stars that caught fire in 2024 including a ‘barnstorming’ All Black and ‘generational’ Springbok
13 Will Jordan (Crusaders and New Zealand): Now fully fit, Jordan finds gaps that others can’t even see. Whether on the wing or at full-back, he terrorises defences and has a real habit of picking off wandering tight five players in the key defensive channels – just ask Ellis Genge and Andrew Porter! Jordan is on his way to breaking the New Zealand Test record of tries scored, testimony to his genius when the goal line is in sight.
12 Damian de Allende (Saitama Wild Knights and South Africa): The most consistent backline Bok there is. He makes metres when he shouldn’t, tackles when he cannot, and breaks the line when it seems impossible. He’s improved greatly his distribution, especially off his left hand, and at the time of writing, is at the peak of his considerable powers.
11 Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors and Scotland): If Caelan Doris is our first name in the Lions forwards, then Tuipulotu goes on next, even given the claims of the mighty Russell at 10! Tuipulotu is one of those centres like Yannick Jauzion or Conrad Smith that simply makes everyone around him look better. World class and improving with every game he plays.
10 Ox Nche (Sharks and South Africa): When South Africa need to change gear, it’s Ox that does it. When they need to dominate early doors, it’s Nche that destroys world class tightheads. This tiny (5’8″) prop punches so far above his weight it’s untrue and has bolted on some serious handling and defensive skills to his scrummaging. Salads might not win scrums, but Ox wins plenty of them.
All Blacks baller
9 Beauden Barrett (Crusaders and New Zealand): He’s reaching the autumn of his phenomenal career and after a century of Tests we haven’t tired of watching his genius. For us, he’s best at 10 where his experience can shine and it’s clear, after the Rugby Championship and Autumn Nations Series, that New Zealand see him best utilised there. Let’s celebrate this baller whilst we can – he’s entertained like few others.
8 Caelan Doris (Leinster and Ireland): The Lions captain elect, but his short-term focus will be on getting some much-needed silverware into the empty Leinster cabinet. Doris’ footwork around carries is something out of the highest drawer and this season, his try scoring has been as prolific as ever. A world class player who leads two world class teams in Leinster and Ireland, and will surely add a third in the British and Irish Lions to his CV very shortly.
7 Thomas Ramos (Toulouse and France): A rugby genius who is world class at 15 and brilliant at fly-half. His achievements with Toulouse last season, mostly as a stand-in for Romain Ntamack, demonstrated that he’s far more stable in match control than in previous years and his goal-kicking record speaks for itself. A marvellous rugby player from the very highest drawer.
6 Finn Russell (Bath and Scotland): Russell’s maturity is now obvious to anyone that watches Bath or Scotland regularly. He’s finding ways to win games he’d previously not have found and he is the first to admit that learning pragmatism from Johann van Graan has assisted him greatly. World class in every aspect of the fly-half art and at the pinnacle of Test performance right now.
5 Cheslin Kolbe (Tokyo Suntory Goliath and South Africa): When it comes to our final five, we could pick them in any order – and Kolbe could feature from one to five in our list. He never stands still in terms of learning – he’s an innovator, a thinker and an entertainer, someone always looking to move the rugby art forwards whether with impish penalty moves, incursions into lineouts (!) or insane charge downs. But most of all, he is, in simple terms, the best finisher in the game and one that puts more bums on seats than virtually any other.
4 Ardie Savea (Moana Pasifika and New Zealand): Even when you think he’s quiet you look back at the stats and simply go ‘wow’! You can bet your house he’s hit 20 tackles, five turnovers and 10 carries as a bare minimum standard and on a good day, he’ll improve all those numbers by some 50%. A wonderful back-rower, maybe compromised by many being unsure of his best position, but a world class athlete nonetheless.
3 Pieter-Steph du Toit (Toyota Verblitz and South Africa): It was an almost impossible task to separate our two behemoth Springboks at two and three, especially considering PSDT is the reigning World Rugby Player of the Year. This season, he’s bolted on new attacking ambition to his incredible defensive work and has doubled his strike rate at Test level, this despite him playing a number of Tests as a lock in recent months. Like Eben Etzebeth, he’s a player that moves the standards of his position forward and he’s aging as well as a fine Cape wine. World class in every single aspect of his play.
2 Eben Etzebeth (Sharks and South Africa): E for Eben, E for enforcer. Arguably the greatest Springbok, a double world champion and one of the best thinkers on the brutal art of being a Test lock the game has ever seen. He, like Kolbe, is always looking to how he improves – whether that be charge downs, ruck disruption or simply a competitive edge via an intuitive understanding of the laws. Etzebeth has set the standard for Test locks for some 10 years and he continues to do so. Separating a lock and a scrum-half at the top of our list takes some doing, but it says something about the genius of the Shark that he’s elevating the role of a second-row to that of a half-back.
1 Antoine Dupont (Toulouse and France): Those who question the ranking of Dupont simply haven’t watched him closely enough. Mercurial at his best, brilliant at his worst, he does things on a rugby pitch that astound the most experienced of watchers. His six minutes of genius in the Olympic Sevens final was breathtaking – a player who changed the course of a final. A tiny man, he tackles, carries and jackals like world class back-rowers, yet finishes like Test wings and has the kicking game of the very best 10s. His trophy cabinet is full to brimming – with only one omission – and you can bet your bottom dollar he’ll be focusing every effort on overturning that anomaly in the coming years. There’s little doubt that he’s the best player in the world and by the time he’s finished, he may very well be the greatest the sport has ever seen.
READ MORE: The Year in Numbers: Including Eben Etzebeth’s Springboks record, Antoine Dupont’s impressive trophy haul and more
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link
