Firstly, congratulations to Shane Williams for being named IRB Player of the Year for 2008 but I must say as a rugby fan that I am surprised that All Black captain, Richie McCaw was not the winner of the award but he was not even part of the shortlist of the players! The list included: Shane Williams and Ryan Jones from Wales, Scotland scrumhalf Mike Blair, Italy captain Sergio Parisse and New Zealand flyhalf Dan Carter. Now surely you can not tell me that Blair and Parisse had a better year than McCaw.
Italy finished last in the six nations and Scotland finished second last but both Parisse and Blair are on the list. I have no problems with Williams and Jones as they were part of the Wales team that won the six nations.
There is no doubting McCaw’s ability on the rugby field and his record says it all. Just take a look at the year in question: Richie led the All Blacks to winning the Tri-Nations and is one game away from completing the Grand Slam when New Zealand take on England this weekend. That will mean the skipper would only have lost 2 games this whole year for the All Blacks. At a Super Rugby level, he led the Crusaders to the Super 14 title. And he even had the time to play a couple of games for his province, Canterbury, and even helped them win the Air New Zealand Cup. Really, what more does a player have to achieve to get recognition?
I can not remember a time this year when one can say that McCaw has had a bad game. I think the problem is that Richie is so consistently good that it maybe easy to take his brilliance for granted.
Then I asked myself, “Who came up with this IRB shortlist?” And I found out that a panel of ex internationals sat down and watched footage and came up with the list. The panel comprised of Tana Umaga, Raphaadiel Ibanez, Will Greenwood, Francois Pienaar, Agustin Pichot, Gavin Hastings, Scott Quinnell, Paul Wallace and convenor John Eales. All great rugby players I highly respect but how could they fail to see McCaw?
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6 comments
Guru says:
Nov 25, 2008
I would also like to add Jean De Villiers to this list. This man has also had a very consistent and solid season for the Stormers, Boks and Western Province.
However, where I disagree with Ron is the issue of someone being part of a winning team in order to be listed. I have to disagree and state that some players may just look good because they are part of an all round winning team. A typical example for me is a player like Juan Smith who loyally plays for the Cheetahs, an unglorified team that barely has the resources and players and really struggles at S14 level and yet no matter how badly they play, his starting spot is guaranteed. Then on the other hand you look at a player like Jean Dysel who had a cracker of a season, won the CC and was part of a winning team and yet he found himself not making the squad. For me it’s a simple case of being able to distinguish between team dynamics and individual brilliance.
So the criteria in selecting the player of the year should NEVER be based on a team’s results but rather a player’s ability to stand out even when in a losing team. Based on that alone, my player of the year for 2008 would be Jean De Villiers! (I know I will be shot down for this one, I’m bracing myself)
Ron says:
Nov 25, 2008
Guru, why do you have to get my blood pressure up so early in the morning!!!
Richie is the worlds best player and even if he was not part of such a successful outfit as the Sader and AB’s he would still be the best if you just want to base it on individual ability. The fact that the teams he plays for are highly successful is largely due to the fact that they have such a world class player as Richie at their disposal. Richie has BOTH team dynamics and individual brilliance.
It is not our fault that the AB’s and Saders do not loose neither is it Richie’s, so yes, some players may stand out when they play for poor teams but a great player stands out on a winning team. As they say: No one remembers you if you come second. So no matter how great a player you are but you come second, you are not the best.
So now lets look at Jean de Villiers: yes he is a good player and had a good year. He in my books is SA’s Player of the year but he won nothing! No Super 14, no Currie Cup, no Tri-Nations. As Boks fans you go on and on about the World Cup you won, and what is the WC? It is a trophy… correct? And you pride yourselves on winning silverware and you call yourself the best! Now what silverware does Jean have? Nothing! I do not think he was even given a WC winners medal as he got injured. He def does not have a Super Rugby medal let alone a Currie Cup. I don’t know, maybe he has some medals from his days as a Baby Bok.
The point I am trying to make Guru is that I feel your statement that you should NEVER look at a team’s results to base a players ability, is wrong and I disagree with it.
We are all fans of others sports here so I will take my reasoning across to the game of soccer. If you look at the players who have been named the World Footballer of the Year, they always come from 4 teams: Juventus, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Why is that the case? Because those are the teams that win silverware! This year Ronaldo is more than likely to win, why.. because not only was he good playing this year but he won trophies to top it off.
I could go on and on so I will take a break here.
Guru says:
Nov 25, 2008
Point taken, and I agree with you Richie is outstanding. You may have misunderstood me, I was not implying that McCaw is good coz of the Saders or the AB’s, he is a world class flanker hands down. On that one we agree fully.
However, where I disagree is the issue of having players taking the world player of the year coz of their team’s success. Maybe we could agree to disagree by agreeing that in rugby there are some positions that are more likely to produce a world player of the year than others. For example, a winger that can finish of and score tries is more likely to get the award than a labouring prop who does all the hard work. Similarly, it is very possible to have to have a very good player being overlooked simply because he plays for a team that does not win anything. Ron, that’s why we have a team of the year award. We cannot rule out players just because they have not won anything. Shane Williams himself played for a team that has lost to SA 3 times, lost to NZ and Aus in 2008 yet he still got the award. He certainly does not play for the best team in the world.
Ron says:
Nov 25, 2008
Okay Guru, let us look at the past winners of this award:
2001 – Keith Wood – Ireland
2002 – Fabien Galthie – France
2003 – Johnny Wilkinson – England
2004 – Schalk Burger – South Africa
2005 – Daniel Carter – New Zealand
2006 – Richie McCaw – New Zealand
2007 – Brian Habana – South Africa
2008 – Shane Williams – Ireland
Out of the 9 winners, 4 or forwards and 5 backs., so they do give recognition to the forwards once in a while.
Okay in 01, Wood won it (I dont know why!!), 02 was Galthie and France won the six nations grand slam that year, 03 it was Johnny and we know they won the WC that year, 04 it was Burger and Boks one the Tri-Nations that year, 05 it was Carter and All Blacks won Tri-nations, like wise 06 when Richie won it. 07 is was Habana and he won the WC. 08 it was Williams and they won 6 Nations grand slam.
So with that said, you have to have won something, either a WC, Tri-Nations of 6 Nations with a grand slam to be named player of the year so clearly Jean de Villiers was not a contender!
Guru says:
Nov 25, 2008
List only has 3 forwards but I think we agree that the backs tend to get more recognition.
Regarding the issue of needing to have won something, I guess then that explains it. The system is designed to favour winners and I guess I disagree with how it works because in mu opinion, McCaw and Jean Div were much more valuable to their teams. But then again, I did not follow the 6 nations at all so I am not in a position to be making such a call I guess.
Ron says:
Nov 25, 2008
My bad, yes 3 forwards. With regards to Shane Williams and the 6 nations: Wales vs England, Williams did not score, Wales Vs Scotland – 2 tries by Williams, Wales Vs Italy – 2 tries by Williams, Wales Vs Ireland – 1 try by Williams. Wales Vs France – 1 try by Williams.
So all in all he got 6 tries in 5 games. Not a bad return.