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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
Brett, from my distant perspective, I hope you get to keep the Rebels. Any ideas of teams from Japan or Argentina are just crazy. Won’t happen. If you look at logistics, it is much easier to get to LA from Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne or Sydney than to Buenos Aires. All with direct non-stop daily flights. You may even get some “gringos” to watch the games, with some younger players compared to Giteau and Nonu who still “play” in the area. I think it is virtually impossible to get a competitive Argie team for SR. All Pumas are in Europe, almost all second tier players are also in Europe. Fringe players are in South American pro rugby tournament (and many still in the MLR!) but these players who might be most interested in joining a new Jaguares do not have the skills to compete. As I have been saying since the Jaguares joined, they should have had TWO teams to make logistics for visiting teams better and Argie player development improved as well. Jaguares/Pumas was not ideal. But this is where Pichot and his cronies did not think long enough. Further the country with he new president “No hay Plata” Milei is in a very difficult situation. Galperin, the richest man in Argentina owns the Miami franchise of MLR. I don’t think you can get him to invest in Argentina. Actually, he played rugby himself. He was a fly half. He is worth around $6 billion!
Go to commentsWell done Baby Boks we will take the Draw. No 9 senseless long passes in those conditions. let’s move on and hope for some good weather
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