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Just two non-Irish club players gain selection in the 2020/21 PRO14 Dream Team
By Sam Smith
Ulster have claimed four places in a 2020/21 Guinness PRO14 Dream Team where players attached to provinces in Ireland have gobbled up 13 of the available 15 places as champions Leinster, beaten finalists Munster and Connacht were awarded three selections each.
The only break to the pattern of Irish dominance was provided by Glasgow Warriors midfielder Huw Jones and Cardiff Blues back-rower Josh Turnbull. Otherwise, the Dream Team was an all-Irish selection.
Dan McFarland's Ulster had four representatives in full-back Michael Lowry, scrum-half John Cooney, loosehead Eric O'Sullivan and soon-to-depart No8 Marcell Coetzee, while the Leinster trio were left-winger Dave Kearney, tighthead Michael Bent and back-rower Scott Penny.
Munster's picks were midfielder Damien de Allende, hooker Kevin O’Byrne and soon-to-return lock Billy Holland, while Connacht's three selections were right-winger Alex Wootton, out-half Jack Carty and lock Gavin Thornbury.
A pool of 75-plus media - not including RugbyPass - from across the UK, Ireland, Italy and South Africa voted in assembling the final XV and all players had to make at least eight appearances in the 2020/21 season.
Many of the players selected featured prominently in the Opta stats. Wootton, Penny and Coetzee each scored nine tries, Cooney was the leading points scorer on 115 and he also topped the assists list with 13. Jones was third for offloads (14) and second for defenders beaten (36) while Turnbull led the competition for most tackles made (215) and Coetzee also led the offloads list with 20.
GUINNESS PRO14 DREAM TEAM 2020/21
15. Michael Lowry (Ulster)
14. Alex Wootton (Connacht)
13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors)
12. Damien de Allende (Munster)
11. Dave Kearney (Leinster)
10. Jack Carty (Connacht)
9. John Cooney (Ulster)
1. Eric O’Sullivan (Ulster)
2. Kevin O’Byrne (Munster)
3. Michael Bent (Leinster)
4. Billy Holland (Munster)
5. Gavin Thornbury (Connacht)
6. Josh Turnbull (Cardiff Blues)
7. Scott Penny (Leinster)
8. Marcell Coetzee (Ulster)
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Latest Comments
i think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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