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Alun Wyn Jones wins Six Nations Player of the Championship
By Online Editors
Welsh second-row, Alun Wyn Jones, has been named as the 2019 Guinness Six Nations Player of the Championship. Jones captained his side to Wales’s first Grand Slam since 2012.
Wales’s began the tournament with a resolute comeback win versus France in the Championship opener in Paris. It was followed by an away win against Italy, a home win over highly-fancied England and then an away win over Scotland amidst uncertainty over the future of regional sides within Wales, with a mooted merger between the Scarlets and the Ospreys. That merger has subsequently been shelved by the Professional Game Board this week.
Wales secured the Grand Slam with victory against Ireland in a rain-sodden Principality Stadium, the build-up to which was dominated by the decision to leave the roof open for the match.
Wyn Jones beat three Welsh teammates (Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams and Liam Williams) and two English players (Jonny May and Tom Curry) to the prize. All six had been shortlisted by rugby writers and broadcasters before it went to a public vote.
On receiving the award Jones said, “I’m very flattered to be named the Guinness Six Nations Player of the Championship. For me as the captain, it’s a validation of what we’ve done as a squad throughout the campaign. To be up there as a nominee with three other Welsh players and two outstanding players from England would have been more than enough and I’m very grateful to the people who have taken the time to vote.”
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If a coach having Crusaders heritage is so sacrosanct, why did the Crusaders not pursue Vern Cotter as Scott Robertson’s replacement?
Go to commentsFinau is definitely operating on razor thin margins. He hasn’t done anything wrong… yet. But a player going into contact 6 inches lower than he is expecting, without him even knowing, will end in disaster. You can imagine a situation where the pass dies on Edmed and he has to bend down a little lower to catch it at the last second. Finau’s hit would have been catastrophic. The margins are just too fine. He needs to study how PSDT, at 6’7”, manages to drop his tackle height and exert just as much force with close zero danger of taking someone’s head off. Given how poorly NZ has adapted to lower their tackle height, and that this issue which has plagued the ABs for years and played a big part in them not winning the World Cup, I thought NZR and all SR coaches would be prioritising sorting this issue out. If I was Razor I would be on the phone to Clayton MacMillan and Samipeni Finau saying exactly that. Finau is a monster and shaping up to be the closest thing to Kaino since Kaino, but I wouldn’t risk selecting him for the ABs at the moment.
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