Who’s hot and who’s not: World Rugby Awards joy, confusion for Springboks and All Blacks legends bow out
Pieter-Steph du Toit was named World Rugby Men's Player of the Year while Warren Gatland's Wales lost again.
It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.
THEY’RE ON FIRE!
World Rugby Awards winners: Congratulations to Pieter-Steph du Toit, Ellie Kildunne and all of the other winners at last night’s awards ceremony in Monaco. Du Toit took the Men’s Player of the Year prize with Kildunne picking up the Women’s award, while the Breakthrough Player of the Year gongs went to All Blacks flank Wallace Sititi and Ireland’s Erin King. There was double joy for France as Antoine Dupont won the Men’s Sevens Player of the Year with his boss Jerome Daret claiming the Coach of the Year, while Maddison Levi was the Women’s Sevens Player of the Year. We should also mention Vickii Cornborough who claimed the International Rugby Players Special Merit Award.
Springboks: It was smiles all around for the South Africans who absolutely thumped Wales 45-12 in front of their own fans. This rounds out a season with 11 wins from 13 internationals as the world champions end 2024 as the world number one. Rassie Erasmus deserves massive credit for the way he has managed the squad and evolved the side, which used a whopping 50 players, as they have set the pace.
Springboks player ratings: ‘Brutal’ South Africa pack ‘obliterate’ Wales
All Blacks legends bow out: As the season rounds out so do the Test careers of two All Blacks greats, Sam Cane and TJ Perenara, who are both off to Japan to play their club rugby next year. Openside flank Cane really stood up for the All Blacks when called on as he made it past a century of caps – a fair reward for his commitment to the side. Scrum-half Perenara had fewer caps but was still massively influential throughout his time in an All Black shirt, as could be seen through his emotion as he led the haka for the last time. Two New Zealand legends.
Scotland: Finally we got the performance we have been waiting for from Scotland, who completely dominated Australia with a 27-13 win at Murrayfield where the visitors were never really in it. The Scottish pack was brilliant and set a great foundation for the backs who bossed the game with Blair Kinghorn particularly good on the day. It was a make or break game in terms of the year for Scotland so they’ll be delighted.
COLD AS ICE!
Springboks confusion: The success for Du Toit at the World Rugby Awards evening and seven of their players making the Men’s Dream Team has been somewhat overshadowed by confusion and frustration over Erasmus missing out on the Coach of the Year gong. This despite the Springboks claiming their first Rugby Championship title since 2019 in a year they won 11 out of their 13 Tests. Are fans right to be upset?
Wallabies: Just as we thought Australia were turning the corner they dropped a poor performance against Scotland in a game we expected them to be competitive. Ultimately, it was not the worst performance but it lacked life, venom and any real trouble for their opponents. This clearly shows there is a lot to do before the British & Irish Lions series next year as they now look to sign off 2024 with a positive in Dublin.
Warren Gatland: Wales extended their worst losing run of 11 to 12 this weekend as they went down to the Springboks in a meeting where they were nowhere near the world champions. Surely, and we mean surely, Gatland’s second tenure as Wales head coach has come to an end. He will forever be a legendary coach but his time at the top of the game is over; that is unless the Welsh Rugby Union see shoots of recovery.
Eddie Jones and Japan: If we are honest the Brave Blossoms were well off the pace against England with the expectation of a couple of bright plays. Jones speaks about rebuilding and recreating the team but, unfortunately, the drop-off is clear and the veteran coach does not have much of a leg to stand on after his stint with Australia. It is hard to gauge exactly where Japan are but Sunday did not offer good signs.
Joel El-Abd: While England may have gloriously run away against Japan at Twickenham, their defence was still a major issue and it looks as bad ever since the coach joined the staff. A main concern is that El-Abd has not used this type of rush defence before and is now trying to make it work. Clearly it isn’t and England will have big decisions to make in their post-autumn review where the blitz should probably be binned.
Sam Prendergast yellow: The Irish prodigy got the keys to the ship with his first Test start against Fiji in Dublin on Saturday. While he did marshal his troops well for the most part it was a dangerous tackle from him that caught the headlines. Prendergast caught Fiji flanker Kitione Salawa’s head with his shoulder early in the match, which should have been an obvious red card, but was only given as a yellow and not upgraded. It is yet another example of how inconsistencies around head contact are hampering our game as many questioned the call.
READ MORE: England v Japan winners and losers: Steve Borthwick edges ‘master v apprentice’ battle
