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Three Springboks, three All Blacks named in L’Equipe's Best XV 2024
By Liam Heagney
Six Rugby Championship players have gained recognition in the 2024 L’Equipe team of the year. Voted by fans of the French daily sports newspaper, the XV also has three Irish players along with a six-strong France representation headed up by Antoine Dupont – who received a whopping 5,034 of the 5,232 votes (96.22 per cent) for best scrum-half.
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South Africa, the reigning back-to-back Rugby World Cup winners, finished the year as World Rugby’s No1 ranked side following a Rugby Championship title-winning season and their exploits were recognised by the inclusion of Cheslin Kolbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Eben Etzebeth in the L’Equipe XV.
The three All Blacks voted in were Will Jordan, Jordie Barrett and Ardie Savea and they were joined by Ireland’s Bundee Aki, Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter.
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French players made up the remainder of the XV, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thomas Ramos joining Dupont in the back line. Up front, the three Les Bleus forwards named were Francois Cros, Emmanuel Meafou and Peato Mauvaka.
L’Equipe’s best XV greatly contrasted with World Rugby’s 2024 dream team where South Africa has seven players, Ireland four, New Zealand three and Argentina one.
L’EQUIPE TEAM OF 2024: 15. Will Jordan (New Zealand); 14. Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa), 13. Bundee Aki (Ireland), 12. Jordie Barrett (New Zealand), 11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France); 10. Thomas Ramos (France), 9. Antoine Dupont (France); 1. Andrew Porter (Ireland), 2. Peato Mauvaka (France), 3. Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), 4. Eben Etzebeth (South Africa), 5. Emmanuel Meafou (France), 6. Francois Cros (France), 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa), 8. Ardie Savea (New Zealand).
Clearly some bias in this selection but the fact that 3 SA players are included (non of whom are better than club rugby level players given neutral officials) makes it even more absurd.
Except for a buzz and comments like those already posted, I do not get the point of publishing a World XV chosen by chauvinistic fans who are more into the Top14 and the Champions Cup.
It would have been way more interesting to post the World XV chosen by l’Équipe’s journalists, where there are 6 Saffas, 4 Kiwis and 3 French players, excluding Dupont.
Better than Goode's team - but missing Lomax which is a slam dunk for that spot. Plus - way too many Frenchmen
Agree with Nickers. Aki dropped by Ireland but selected here out of position. Furlong at tight head? This is selection by committee at its worst.
On form it was not Ardie's best year . 2022-23 , the best . But he is a great. Jordie Barrett had a great year. Particularly pleased Will Jordan was selected and at Fullback. He came back late due to rehab and eventually was picked at 15, after being on the wing.Will is instinctive and intelligent as a 15. Codie Taylor is unlucky not to be picked. When he came back after a sabbatical to the Crusaders and during the AB's campaign he was inspirational. He had some stiff opposition in the All Blacks case to.
This team should be called the "2023 Form and Reputation with a French Bias XV"
Gotta love the French. Nearly half the team is French including a fullback at 10. :D
Agreed. They should do a News24 version. There’d be 12 springboks in the starting 15. And an all Bok bench.