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Once again All Blacks No 8 Ardie Savea has been unequivocally snubbed for the second year in a row after World Rugby announced their four nominees for Player of the Year: Lukhanyo Am, Josh van der Flier, Johnny Sexton and Antoine Dupont.
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The most questionable nomination of the four is Am, only because his season is incomplete. He is a great player but has played just five tests this year, and only three of those the Springboks actually won.
He was having a career year before injury struck in a loss to the Wallabies in Adelaide and has not played since. The Springboks will play 13 tests this year and he will feature in less than half.
There is no way Am can win the award based on that, in a season where his team hasn’t won any silverware to boot. Does he deserve recognition anyway? Maybe. Does he deserve that recognition over others? No.
At times the nominations for World Rugby’s most prestigious individual accolade can confuse, such as the brown-nosing selection of USA Eagle Joe Taufete’e in the 2019 crop.
No disrespect to Taufete’e, but the Eagles did not achieve much that year and none of their players are at the level of most tier one outfits.
An independent panel of rugby writers would never have dreamed to nominate him. Most probably wouldn’t have known his name, such was the notoriety of the pick.
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Then there are the ever-changing number of nominations year over year. That year six players were worthy of recognition, this year only four. In other years gone, five have been put up.
That inconsistency leads one to believe that the governing body will accomodate those who are deemed worthy if they put together the body of work. There is no stated limit on nominations.
This makes the omission of Ardie Savea in 2022 all the more puzzling as if there was a standout candidate, he would be it. At times he has been a one-man band, providing for the All Blacks in every facet of the game.
He is their best ball carrier, arguably their best jackler, a key line out option, and the X-factor playmaking force that has been producing tries and try assists all year long.
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Although the All Blacks eventually lost their home series to the number one ranked side, Ireland, there was a 42-19 victory in the first test where Savea was at his influential best.
Logging 16 tackles from 17 attempts in defence, Savea scored two tries including one of the best of year early in the second half where he beat centre Garry Ringrose cold on the outside.
After escaping the clutches of the Irish No 13, Savea beat Robbie Henshaw and Keith Earls to score a stunning individual effort at Eden Park.
Perhaps his case for Player of the Year nomination is boosted by the second test in Dunedin, where Savea was unable to return back onto the pitch after a substitution kerfuffle after a spate of cards. The All Blacks were outgunned as Ireland took advantage with the No 8 stuck on the bench.
Back on the field for the decider in Wellington, Savea helped stage a second half fightback by scoring the first try of the game for the All Blacks on a gritty pick and go, twisting and turning his way over. He provided the pass for two of the All Blacks line breaks, one of which led to a breakaway try to Will Jordan.
His biggest blemish was jumping the gun at the ruck to pounce on the ball that was judged to still be in the ruck, leading to a key penalty to Ireland and a maul try.
Overall, he was really one of the few shining lights of the Irish series from a New Zealand perspective, producing three tries, a try assist while being a carry machine and one of the few reliable forces in the forwards in defence over the two and a quarter tests he was on the field.
The Rugby Championship started with back-to-back games against the Springboks in South Africa, the first of which in Mbombela did not have much home to write home about for the visitors.
Savea still managed nine from nine tackles and a turnover in the loss as the All Blacks attack failed to take their opportunities in the 26-10 defeat.
Faced with extreme pressure at Ellis Park the next week and the fate of head coach Ian Foster in the team’s hands, Savea produced a key performance in the 35-23 win with backs against the wall.
He killed off two deep South African attacking raids with two clean steals at breakdown whilst providing a try assist for David Havili’s try, the one which took the lead in the final ten minutes.
He bumped away two Springbok forwards and had the presence of mind to push a late pass to Havili as the next Bok defenders engulfed him.
In the 53-3 win over the Pumas, Savea came up with a try, a try assist and 11 tackles from 11 attempts as they avenged the shock defeat a week earlier in Christchurch.
He missed the trip to Melbourne but returned for the second Bledisloe to add 12 from 12 tackles and another turnover in the 40-14 win where the All Blacks pack dismantled the Wallabies up front, piling on multiple tries from the maul.
In two tests on the Northern tour, Savea has continued his playmaking while showing why he is one of the best forwards in the game. Against Wales he was dominant with the ball-in-hand, bulldozing through and over Wales.
His stat line was ridiculous with 15 carries, one try, one try assist, six defenders beaten while on defence he made 11 from 11 tackles and added two ruck turnovers.
Against Scotland he had a clean ruck steal, a holding on penalty right on halftime and Scotland captain Jamie Ritchie conceded away another by over-rolling on the ground with the threat of Savea over the ball.
That was three turnovers that he could be attributed with, two of which were one metre from the All Blacks line saving them from conceding tries.
Frankly, there is not another nominee who has produced in as many areas of the game as Savea. Their workloads are about half of what Savea does in any given test, yet he produces just as many big plays.
He has become the All Blacks’ best weapon in attack this year. He can ball-play, he can evade, he can offload, he can sit defenders on their backsides. He can carry in close or link on the end of a back line. He is a one of a kind all-round monster.
The All Blacks did not start the year well, but did in fact, win their second consecutive Rugby Championship title, retained the Bledisloe Cup, the Freedom Cup and are currently riding a six game winning streak.
Savea has been influential in achieving all of that, whilst he gave the best account of himself in the Irish series loss against the number one ranked side.
All these South Africans in the comments don't get the point...
Am is a great player, undoubtedly the world's best 13.
He played 5/13 tests. The award is only based on your play in international fixtures.
Even if he was MOTM 5 times, it's still not enough games... I'm a kiwi and I don't think Will Jordan should have been team of the year because he missed too much time and he still played 7 games...
My nominees would have been Dupont, Savea, JVDF, Beirne, and Etzebeth. The best and most consistent performers.
The best performances in a game I've seen this year were Beirne v NZ, Am v NZ and Ardie v Wales.
Maybe try an article just saying that Ardie should be there instead of taking aim at another player. BS is probably too buthurt from getting whipped by the Irish and French lol
Writes article about why Savea should be nominated over Am. Doesn't have a good reason other than Am's injured.
Lover of all kinds of excrement, BS has outdone himself once again in demonstrating his staggering stupidity at all things rational, reasonable, true, beautiful, good, and basically everything above the microbial level of intelligence. Thus, no other comments need be directed at this human enema.
On the other hand, DuPont should not have been included as he didn’t play in the summer internationals (not because of injury) and wasn’t even France’s best player in getting the Slam. Sexton’s an honorific at best. By all means include Ardie, but probably due to his monstrously dumb dummies that people still keep falling head of heels for, he ostensibly didn’t get included.
I also would have selected Eben Etzebeth ahead of Am.
These nominations are always contentious.
Was also shocked to see that Stacy Fluhler's try in the final was not selected for Womens Rugby try of the year nominations.
Ardie wont be too bothered. Hopefully fire him up this weekend
Xenophobic much?
Ben Smith, total dickhead.
I'm starting to think a South African made a cuckold of Ben Smith. Nothing else can explain his level of contempt for anything South African, and his inability to hide it despite being in a profession that requires objectivity should one wish to be respected. Yes Ardie Savea deserves to be there, but at least you can make a case for Am, while his season was short, his form was sublime - the gulf between him and any other centre in the world this year was far greater than that between Ardie and other loosies. Sexton, on the other hand, had no business being nominated just as he had no business being nominated when he won in 2018. The reason for this is quite simple - there are a number of teams Sexton would not start for. He wouldn't start for the All Blacks, he wouldn't start for the boks when Pollard is fit and he wouldn't start for France. Some might argue with this, but many wouldn't - and that, is the point. The best player in the world walks into any team, undisputed. Think Dan Carter, Barrett in 2017, Schalk Burger in 2004, McCaw every time he won it - nobody, and I mean no rugby fan, would have argued for a second that they wouldn't make an international side. The obvious bias in selecting Sexton was never more evident than when the highlight reels for the nominees in 2018 was played. Reel after reel of incredible moments on the field that season - that of a player in the same position as him, Beauden Barrett, was nearly a minute long and showed him breaking the line, pulling off ridiculous offloads, pin point cross kicks, incredible speed on defense and attack. Then we get to Sexton's...25 seconds of him kicking for poles and throwing standard passes...that's it. The audacity to even nominate him when those are his best moments of the season and then...to award it to him! That's what you should be writing about Ben, how the Northern Hemisphere own World Rugby and continually snub SH players, as they did last year and this year not just with Ardie, but with Malcom Marx and Eben Etzebeth too, in favour of their golden boy who has never made it past a world cup quarter final. But you wouldn't, would you? Because they own rugbypass too.
Am had a great year!.
Van der Flier had a great year!
Savea had a great year! should have been included for his contributions in a struggling AB team, but not at the cost of Am.
Dupont had a great year!
ardie isn't one of the best 4 players in the world, he's just one of the best 4 back rows
we need to seriously move away from the situation they have in football where only players in certain positions can be nominated for or win awards, and at times it has seemed like the world rugby awards have only been for guys playing 7, 8, 9 or 10.
The reality with Ben Smith is that, if there were 100 nominees and out of the 100 only one South African, he would call that one South African unworthy of nomination. It really looks like he has unhealthy abhorrence for the Springboks and South Africa. I was also shocked by the omission of Ardie Savea from the nominees - he did have a incredible year and he is a great player and he does deserve the award. What you did not say (and given your strong feelings towards South Africa) is that another player omitted this year and last year, and who had an equally good year (sometimes even better than Savea) is Eben Etzebeth. But I wouldn't expect Ben Smith to acknowledge any South African.