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Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello scoops top Six Nations award
By PA
Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello has been voted player of the 2024 Guinness Six Nations, with Ben Earl the only England star to make the team of the tournament.
At 21 years old, Menoncello is the youngest winner of the award and only the second Italian after Andrea Masi in 2011 to come out top in the poll decided by 146,000 fans.
Menoncello took 33 per cent of the vote, beating fellow shortlist nominees Earl, Ireland centre Bundee Aki and Scotland wing Duhan van der Merwe.
“This is a huge surprise and honour. It is truly special to represent my country, and to wear the Italy jersey alongside my friends and team-mates,” Menoncello said.
“To then deliver performances that hopefully inspired the fans is what dreams are made of.”
Menoncello helped Italy achieve their best ever Six Nations performance of two wins and a draw through his big hits in defence and muscular carrying.
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Latest Comments
I'm honestly not so sure. I initially thought just reckless mainly because no player should be capable of doing that intentionally.
There's a strong argument that he's working both the eyes. It's his left hand he uses which is furthest from the ball he's contesting. His fingers are also clenched which I don't think is a natural way to try and rip a ball.
Go to comments"I see those teams, SA in particular, as only improving their performances in EPCR."
well, its gone the opposite direction so far!
"I don't like your model that requires them to reach Semi Final level in the Challenge trophy, given the bottleneck that will be URC with 16 teams playing for only 4 places."
my model would have given SA 3 spots in a 16 team CC this year, which is the same number as they have in the 24 team version that is actually taking place. But yes, if they keep getting worse it would get harder for them to get places. It would also get harder for you to argue that they deserve places though!
"I suggest by giving say Englands two semi finalist first seeds of the english teams, then the next best 4 on the league table as much better (it catches improving teams faster)."
interesting argument, but it doesn't always go that way. Gloucester are improving, but they improved in cup competitions before league fixtures started going their way. The same is true of Sharks, and the same was true of la Rochelle. I think maybe this is just an argument for allowing more teams to qualify via the challenge cup!
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