IRB Player of the Year nominees announced

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IRB Player of the Year nominees announced
(IRB) Wednesday 19 October 2011

IRB Player of the Year nominees announced
Piri Weepu has been named to the IRB's Player of the Year shortlist

AUCKLAND, 19 Oct. - The International Rugby Board has announced the shortlist of nominees for the IRB Player of the Year 2011 Award in association with Emirates Airline.

The winner of the prestigious individual accolade will be announced at the IRB Awards ceremony at Vector Arena in Auckland on Monday, 24 October, a day after the Rugby World Cup 2011 champions are crowned.

Four of the nominees are in the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final at Eden Park on Sunday with France captain Thierry Dusautoir joined by the New Zealand trio of scrum half Piri Weepu, flanker Jerome Kaino and centre Ma’a Nonu.

The other two nominees are Australia's flanker David Pocock and scrum half Will Genia, who will both play against Wales in the Bronze Final on Friday. Pocock has been nominated for the second year in a row, having missed out to New Zealand captain Richie McCaw in 2010.

“The IRB Player of the Year Award is the ultimate accolade for a player to receive in his career. It takes on added significance in a Rugby World Cup year and takes into account player performances in all major internationals, including matches in the RBS 6 Nations and Tri Nations,” said IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.

“The list of past winners of this prestigious award is very impressive and comprises players of the calibre of Schalk Burger, Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Bryan Habana, Shane Williams and Richie McCaw, the only player to have received the coveted award on more than one occasion.”

The IRB Player of the Year nominees were selected by the IRB Awards independent panel of judges, which is chaired by Australia’s RWC 1999 winning captain John Eales and is made up of former internationals with more than 500 caps and four Rugby World Cup winners’ medals between them.

The IRB Awards panel comprises some of the biggest names in the Game with Will Greenwood, Gavin Hastings, Raphaël Ibanez, Francois Pienaar, Agustín Pichot, Scott Quinnell, Tana Umaga and Paul Wallace having deliberated on every major Test played in 2011, starting with the opening RBS 6 Nations match and culminating with the RWC Final.

In total the panel have watched more than 100 hours of action, awarding points to the three players they thought stood out in each match. In order to recognise the importance of Rugby World Cup matches in determining the Player of the Year, an additional weighting has been applied to matches in the Tournament.

“This has been one of the closest years to date. In fact the result could be influenced significantly by the next two matches and that’s what it should be like in a World Cup year," said panel chairman Eales.

The IRB Player of the Year is one of 12 Awards that will be presented at the star-studded ceremony at Vector Arena, the others include the IRB Coach of the Year, IRB Team of the Year, IRB Sevens Player of the Year in association with HSBC, IRB Junior Player of the Year and IRB Women’s Personality of the Year.

Previous winners of the IRB Player of the Year Award:

2010 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2009 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2008 – Shane Williams (Wales)
2007 – Bryan Habana (South Africa)
2006 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2005 – Dan Carter (New Zealand)
2004 – Schalk Burger (South Africa)
2003 – Jonny Wilkinson (England)
2002 – Fabien Galthié (France)
2001 – Keith Wood (Ireland)

IRB

http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/news/newsid=2059599.html#irb+player+year+nominees+announced

The point scoring method as explained is why nonu is there. Has been a model of consistency all year. Cant understand how the same scoring got weepu there.
Cowan has started several.
I can see nonu or pocock named and probably generally accepted. Cant see the rest as the worlds best. Kaino perhaps next year.
Burger was better than weepu or genia i thought who had brilliant matches but also flat ones.

Notch wrote:

KiaRose wrote:A few years ago (2009) when every Irish fan expected BOd to win, I saw an explanation of how the winner was arrived at (I think it was on Sky, but can't remember).

The original post mentions the panel of judges watching all the internationals played in 2011. This they do and then give marks to the most influential players in that game in their opinion (they can give these to more than one player, it is not just a case of picking their MOTM). These are totted up and bingo you have a winner. Therefore, club games are excluded, hence why SOB would not feature also, why Ferris who played significantly fewer internationals this year is not there; also Warburton who has been developing this season, but was not as influential at the beginning as at the end and so on.

It rewards consistency over the whole year. This really means to be in with a shout, a player has to remain uninjured, be picked for their team regularly and play his heart and soul out in every game.

I simply do not believe this is the selection criteria in a RWC year. I don't trust em!

Me neither. I just can't understand how Weepu and Dusitoir have got in there. There's just way more deserving candidates.

Who do you think are more deserving Rodders? Im not saying i disagree but i am just interested.

I think dusatoir is a fair call though, or at least that an argument can be made for him.

Stand as I've said already O'Brien and Warburton have stood out more for me than Dusitoir. Parisse is another. Someone mentioned Brad Thorn as well.

Ritchie McCaw? Dan Carter? Conrad Smith? Jamie Roberts? Keiran Reid?

There's just no way for me that Dusitoir and Weepu have been two of the best players in the world this year.

Smith and Thorn i would agree with. Good calls.

Carter hasnt been at his brilliant best but even at that he could probably be in there. McCaw for me hasnt been the equal of Pocock and to my mind hasnt been as impressive albeit i thought he was excellent against Oz.

Roberts, Warburton and SOB all had ok 6N but not great. I would put them on a par with Dusatoir in that regard. Dusatoir for me has had the best RWC out of them though, its just that he hasnt been talked about as much.

Parisse isnt a bad shout though. I do agree that Dusatoir is only in there as France are in the final but i think he is a deserving player. I just feel he is unfortunate to be french in that he will be remembered (potentially as an RWC winning captain) but also the captain that lost of Tonga, italy and got humped by Oz at home.

I think if we view the picks the Aussies are rewarded for winning the 3N, the Kiwis are rewarded for their (probable) RWC win and remaining the Number 1 ranked team and the French are rewarded because they made the final

I wonder if Tana Umanga got to vote on Brian O'Driscoll.

Apologies for "hijacking" your thread Sin e, I've added a "who should win" poll to the OP.

Kiwireddevil wrote:Apologies for "hijacking" your thread Sin e, I've added a "who should win" poll to the OP.

Thanks! Should have thought of that myself!

2003 RWC winner Jonny Wilkinson
2007 RWC winner Brian Habbana
2011 RWC winner Piri Weepu