The Planet Rugby selection panel consisting of Jared Wright, Dylan Coetzee, David Skippers, Louis Chapman-Coombe, Adam Kyriacou, Colin Newboult and James While sat long into the early hours, deliberating their dream team of the Rugby Championship season.
After hours of deliberation, lobbying and arguing, the votes are in and counted and we are ready to give you our line-up.
Rugby Championship Team of the Year
15 Aphelele Fassi (South Africa): Full-back was hotly contested with Tom Wright, Beauden Barrett and Juan Cruz Mallia all having compelling claims. It was a difficult decision, but we all agreed that Fassi deserved it on balance.
14 Will Jordan (New Zealand): Definitely one of the easier selections. Jordan was always in our team, it was just a matter of wing or full-back. The lethal finisher was one of the first names on our team sheet.
13 Jesse Kriel (South Africa): Lucio Cinti was close to selection after a wonderful Rugby Championship, whilst Anton Lienert-Brown played in both All Blacks centre positions in the tournament, but Kriel again proved his world class credentials.
12 Santiago Chocobares (Argentina): What, no Damian de Allende, we hear you cry? Well, even the diehard Bokke boys in our selection team admitted that Chocobares was absolutely world class, continuing his Toulouse form at Test level and again, it was pretty much unanimous that he’d been the standout 12, with De Allende a hair away from selection. This time it goes to Los Pumas, a vindication of their great season.
11 Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa): Pretty much a shoo-in although Mateo Carreras, Caleb Clarke and Kurt-Lee Arendse really impressed us and none of our selectors would have minded the Pumas speedster in our side. But Kolbe is world class and back to his best, so we switched him to the left wing here.
10 Tomas Al𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧oz (Argentina): What an absolute baller of a player! We were lucky to see two quality 10s break through and had Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu avoided injury we may well have picked him. A word for Noah Lolesio, who was much improved, and Beauden Barrett, criminally underused at fly-half by New Zealand while Damian McKenzie showed flashes of brilliance.
9 Cortez Ratima (New Zealand): A really hard choice as so many changes took place at nine from all the teams. Ratima keeps out his pal TJ Perenara, whilst Jake Gordon, Cobus Reinach and Jaden Hendrikse had their moments without getting consistency into their game, possibly down to selectorial whims.
Ardie Savea and Siya Kolisi miss out
8 Juan Martin Gonzalez (Argentina): He had to be in our back-row somewhere and the fact he gets in above the World Rugby Player of the Year, Ardie Savea, says everything about this brilliant player’s athleticism. Joaquin Oviedo, Harry Wilson, Jasper Wiese and Elrigh Louw all had impressive tournaments, but Gonzalez was absolutely exceptional.
7 Pablo Matera (Argentina): We asked ourselves who would you want to go into trench warfare with and we all agreed that Matera was the man. He had three huge performances in the tournament, a couple of iffy ones, but when he fired so did Los Pumas. Siya Kolisi, Kwagga Smith and Fraser McReight all deserve mentions, but Matera was a colossus.
NB: He’s numbered in the traditional way here, given Argentina play left and right flank over blindside and openside.
6 Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa): Du Toit was something else. We even considered picking him at lock, such was his presence there. Magnificent. Wallace Sititi, Marcos Kremer and Ben-Jason Dixon all did well, but PSDT was something else.
5 Ruan Nortje (South Africa): An unsung hero of the Bok pack he was Mr Reliable all campaign. Tupou Vaa’i showed great improvement and Nick Frost also shone at times, but Nortje was another unanimous selection.
4 Eben Etzebeth (South Africa): Any comment needed? Out on his own, said all our judges, with a nod to his nearest challenger, Scott Barrett. Etzebeth went up another notch towards the end of the tournament.
3 Tyrel Lomax (New Zealand): Just sneaks in ahead of the great Frans Malherbe on his tackle and carry count. It was a close run thing however, with arguments to and for either man.
2 Codie Taylor (New Zealand): If Malcolm Marx had achieved even 65% completion on his lineouts then we’d have gone the way of the Bok. Even then it was hard to find a winner between Taylor, Bongi Mbonambi and Julian Montoya, but we felt the All Black had an exceptional campaign.
1 Ox Nche (South Africa): We so wanted to give Australia one place in this side, and that would have been Angus Bell, who was outstanding. But when South Africa needed game changing moments it was the prop that provided them, domination every tighthead he faced. Peerless.
Bench Special Award: One player astounded us every time he took the pitch. He played in four different positions, including some time in the centres in one game, yet upped momentum and delivered a world class display every time he walked on. So, we decided to create a special category for him alone – the amazing and brilliant Kwagga Smith, untouchable as an impact player.
