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Black Ferns star and Italian fullback named Breakthrough Players of the Year
By Ben Smith
Black Ferns star Ruby Tui and Italian fullback Ange Capuozzo have been named World Rugby's Breakthrough Players of the Year for 2022 at the annual awards.
Fan favourite Tui completed a switch back to 15s to compete at this year's Women's Rugby World Cup to help the Black Ferns claim their sixth title in front of a record crowd at Eden Park.
The 30-year-old outside back was one of the shining lights on and off the field during the tournament, playing on the wing and at fullback for the Ferns during their campaign.
Tui took home the Breakthrough Player award for her efforts, her second prestigious award after taking the 2019 Sevens Player of the Year crown.
Breakout Italian star Ange Capuozzo was named the Men's 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year after bursting into the spotlight during the Six Nations to help Italy break their winless streak over Wales.
The diminutive No 15 came up with the play of the game with time almost up on the clock to break through multiple defenders to set up Italy's game-winning try in Cardiff to end years of misery for the Italians.
Capuozzo showed his game-breaking ability over the weekend with another stunning try against the Springboks, slicing through the line to outpace the cover defence for a classic try.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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