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Fans suprised at all backs shortlist

Faf de Klerk

The shortlist for the RPA Players’ Player of the Year has been announced, and it has been the cause for many questions from fans.

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There are some notable inclusions on the list, none more so than England pariah Danny Cipriani. The Gloucester fly-half has been overlooked by England head coach Eddie Jones all season to the disbelief of many fans and pundits. His position in this list is an indication of how well he has played this season, and it has only increased the wave of support for him to wear the Red Rose again.

Likewise, another interesting topic for discussion is the fact that two South African scrum-halves have made it onto the list, Sale’s Faf de Klerk and Northampton’s Cobus Reinach. Many feel that both of these need to be selected by the Springboks for the World Cup.

Two Exeter players comprise the rest of the list in England’s Henry Slade and Santiago Cordero. It is hard to gauge who is the favourite to claim the award amongst fans on social media, as there are calls for each player to win the coveted accolade.

However, what has alarmed many fans on Twitter is the fact that there are no forwards on this shortlist. Of course, the list is selected by players, which is the fairest indication of who the best players are, but that has not stopped some fans questioning the list.

A number of players, such as Exeter’s Matt Kvesic, Gloucester’s Ben Morgan, Harlequins’ Chris Robshaw and Saracens’ Will Skelton are all names that have been suggested as contenders for the title, and are worthy of a place on the shortlist after fantastic seasons with their clubs.

This is what the fans have said:

https://twitter.com/RichardBains/status/1123601788303740928?s=20
https://twitter.com/Tim_Cockers/status/1123560008849985536?s=20
https://twitter.com/Buddyboy51/status/1123554899202064385?s=20
https://twitter.com/BarlettaAbigail/status/1123539816510107648?s=20
https://twitter.com/craigmorley/status/1123596737870999552?s=20
https://twitter.com/RussBrookes1981/status/1123564411267031040?s=20

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As some fans have suggested, this is actually a positive reflection of where rugby is at currently, with the smaller, more skillful players dominating the shortlist. However, that still does not mean that there is no place for forwards.

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sorrel 47 minutes ago
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The whole thing was absolutely delightful from a scrummaging perspective. Both teams were 100% certain they could just push the other team off the ball and both teams scrummed like it. I love the dark arts tactical battles, but there’s something really refreshing about a game where both the teams in the pushing contest just want to push. But, yeah, South Africa were the clear winners of that part of the game.


Scrums went as follows in the first game (I’m going from a handy dandy compilation video I made from screen recordings so I don’t have exact ref calls)

1. Canadian feed - Reset. On second feed, Canada gets the ball away, but South African scrum pushes into them

2. South African feed - South Africa gets the ball away clean

3. Canadian feed - Free kick to South Africa

4. South African feed - South Africa pulls the ball forward in the scrum a few meters, gets advantage, and gets the ball away clean

5. Canadian feed - Canada gets the ball away clean.

6. South African feed - South Africa push Canada backwards, but give away a penalty

7. South African feed - South Africa pulls the ball forward in the scrum maybe 10ish meters, gets advantage, and gets the ball away clean

8. South African feed - Free kick to Canada

9. South African feed - South Africa gets the ball away clean

10. South African feed - South Africa makes meters in the scrum and gets the ball away clean

11. South African feed - Reset. On second feed, South Africa makes meters in the scrum, gets advantage, and gets the ball away clean

12. Canadian feed - South Africa push them backwards, but give away a penalty

13. Canadian feed - 75 minutes into the game, Canada pulls the ball forward at the scrum and get advantage


I haven’t done such thorough analysis for the second test, but if you enjoy scrumming at all, you should really watch these games. They’re the sort of games where you look forwards to knock ons because the scrums are so good.

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