Pro12 Team of the Season

The official team has been announced, and the biggest surprise is seeing 2nd place Glasgow lose out to the lower ranked Welsh sides in terms of representation, as well as Ulster and Munster- although it is definitely true that their success is down to collective effort and skill as opposed to just star names.

Good to see a shout to the man Jeff Hassler who has been one of my favourite players to watch this year. He's a menace to brick walls everywhere. I think this is the first time in several years Tim Visser hasn't made it in. Edinburgh aren't represented at all, neither are the Italian sides, Connacht or Newport-Gwent Dragons.

Andrew Trimble is a good bet at this stage to pick up player of the year for the league as well as Ulster Player of The Year, although Robin Copeland pushes him close.

15 - Liam Williams (Scarlets)
14 – Jeff Hassler (Ospreys)
13 – Casey Laulala (Munster)
12 – Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors)
11 – Andrew Trimble (Ulster)
10 – Dan Biggar (Ospreys)
9 - Gareth Davies (Scarlets)
1 – Dave Kilcoyne (Munster)
2 – Sean Cronin (Leinster)
3 – Samson Lee (Scarlets)
4 – Johann Muller (Ulster) (captain)
5 – Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys)
6 – Rhys Ruddock (Leinster)
7 – Jordi Murphy (Leinster)
8 – Robin Copeland (Cardiff Blues)

What do you think of the team? Who would you pick?

Very surprised that Josh Strauss isn't in the side.

What about Johnny Gray in the second row?

I feel that several Glasgow players have been hard done by, especially with regards to their pack. Not a single Weegie in the pack of the season when they've been dominating all season...

That said the back row have all been excellent but so has Strauss.

As I always say at half time, We win as a team ...We lose as a team. Alex Dunbar should be ashamed of himself. Let's hope he's getting fined at training even as we speak.

Turns out Simon Thomas of Wales Online was involved in the judging process. Was wondering why the regions were overrepresented compared to the league table- I would have expected the team to be ruled by Leinster and Glasgow players (with them being clearly the two best sides in the league this season) but actually Ospreys and Scarlets have the same amount as Leinster and 2 more than Glasgow... hmmm.

Wonder who else was involved. Hopefully not more journalists.

I wonder if we could see that back row at any point during the summer tests for Ireland?

Oh crikey - I was in almost complete agreement with the team last year, but this year I really don't agree with a lot of this at all. It's always difficult to criticise these selections without the suggestion that you're also criticising the teams involved, but that's just the nature of this.

A lot of the calls are marginal ones of course, but in terms of what I think they got wrong:

10 - I think that Paddy Jackson is a more influential player and has had a much better season than Biggar.

9 - I like Davies but Brendon Leonard has single handedly (at times) hauled Zebre up by their bootstraps this season and has proven to be a natural leader and playmaker for them in what has been a good season for them, all things considered. I would have chosen him for being so influential to the entire team. Predictably, I would also say that Chris Cusiter has had an outstanding season, albeit with Davies probably more of a fulcrum for his team.

5 - Alun-Wyn Jones instead of O'Connell, Gray or Toner is really pretty strange, particularly given that a lack of leadership has been one of Osprey's major problems in what has been a pretty disappointing season for them. Doesn't offer the leadership of POC, the strength of Toner or the athleticism of Gray.

6 - Ruddock is just about worth the shirt but if you stuck Cornell du Preez in there, surely nobody could have objected. He carried the entire Edinburgh team on his back for far too many games to count this season.

8 - Copeland is in a purple patch and I've watched quite a few games with him in them, but to select him over Josh Strauss isn't really defensible. I would have preferred to keep Copeland at 8, with Strauss at 6.

Worth also adding:
- My player of the year is Trimble. Most improved player overall and best all round winger's game.
- Hassler has been great. Right place at the right time, almost every time.
- Lualala and Dunbar would be a firecracker midfield pairing.
- Visser broke his shin last October and only returned to action last week. If he plays this week, a small part of me still expects him to be this season's top scorer.

Have to say it is criminal that 2nd place Glasgow have only one player in there. There's 3 Scarlets players in there, and they came 6th!

Visser was injured for near 6 months this season so he was giving everyone else a chance!

Agreed on Du Preez, but he's fallen off his performance levels the last month or so because he's been completely knackered.  If this was done in March he would surely have been in there.

Pro 12 team of the year is always a tough one to pick as a large number of the better players in the league have probably only at most played 2/3rds of the games.

From a Glasgow fan point of view, its not that surpising to me that we only have one player. This season has been the ultimate team effort, with few individuals standing out above their team mates.

I would say Strauss is unlucky not to have gotten in, but as pointed out the back row is such a competitive area also, as Gray has been very good.

Take it they are having a laugh with this team?

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Take it they are having a laugh with this team?

J. Gray, J Strauss, C. Cusiter, M Bennett all can feel hard done by.

Take it the moron who selected this team is the BBC Wales ballroom dancing correspondent ?

If I were Toonie I would nail that team list to the dressing room door and tell them they have three chances to prove who are team of the year.  

Here's my team of the year;

1. James Cronin (Munster)
2. Sean Cronin (Leinster)
3. Martin Moore (Leinster)
4. Iain Henderson (Ulster) (Future Lions Lock No. 1)
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow) (Future Lions Lock No. 2)
6. Josh Strauss (Glasgow)
7. Jordi Murphy (Leinster)
8. Robin Copeland (Cardiff Blues)
9. Gareth Davies (Scarlets)
10. Ian Keatley (Munster)
11. Andrew Trimble (Ulster)
12. Alex Dunbar (Glasgow)
13. Casey Lualala (Munster)
14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow)
15. Jared Payne (Ulster)

That looks a hell of a lot more sensible notch   

Maybe they are trying to encourage some interest from the Welsh in the Pro12?

It highlights that they have good players though - they are just not arsed.

just remembered - the year that Munster topped the league (2011), only 1 Munster player made the Dream Team and that was ROG who hardly played in it!

That's a hoot - the three Welsh teams who finish 5th, 6th and wherever get seven spots, three Irish teams who fill three of the top four places get seven and Glasgow (probably the most in-form team of the lot) get one. What were these idiots smoking when they say down to pick the team. Wouldn't argue too much with Notch's selection, maybe Kilcoyne over Cronin at 1, not sure about Laulala at 13, maybe Jackson over Keatley but not much apart from that. Absolutely agree with Henderson - this young lad is going to be humungous - thought he was fantastic last week v Leinster, up there with PJ as MOM

Not very happy with that team. Jordi Murphy at openside? i for one completely disagree.

For what its worth here is my team:

1 McGrath (honourable mention to Phil John)
2 Cronin
3 Lee
4 AWJ
5 J. Gray
6 Strauss
7 Barclay (would have been Heenan of Connacht if he didn't get injured)
8 Copeland
9 Leonard (great shout GC   )
10 Keatley
11 Trimble (hard to argue against this one!)
12 Dunbar
13 Laulala
14 Sarto
15 L Williams (close call with Henshaw)

jimbopip wrote:

21st Century Schizoid Man wrote:Take it they are having a laugh with this team?

J. Gray, J Strauss, C. Cusiter, M Bennett all can feel hard done by.

Cusiter and to a lesser extent Bennett, did not have the greatest of starts to the season.  Both have been excellent over the past few games, but not over the whole season.  Although I have not seen enough of the other teams in the Pro 12, to know wither the same could be said for a lot of the team who were selected.

Did they say what season it was?

Tommy Seymour as Notch points out - a good call. He has had a cracking season.

 Picked by rugby writers -

"three Irish, three Welsh, two Scottish and one."

http://www.irishrugby.ie/news/31713.php

Nel would surely be on the bench for this team?

A prop scoring 6 tries in a season in a team that is going backwards! Or was is scrummaging too much to overlook and thats why he lost his place?

Other than that, Jonny Gray must surley have been named but there was a typo in the report that was issued?

Sin é wrote:Maybe they are trying to encourage some interest from the Welsh in the Pro12?

It highlights that they have good players though - they are just not arsed.

just remembered - the year that Munster topped the league (2011), only 1 Munster player made the Dream Team and that was ROG who hardly played in it!

Which begs the question what are the arsed about?! It's hardly as if they've had a good run in the Heineken Cup or even the laughable LV Cup. None of their teams made the latter stages of either.

The obvious Glasgow omissions aside, I would say Nel and Du Preez are very unlucky not to get the nod in this team. They've killed themselves for the Edinburgh cause all season (Du Preez has scored 6 tries and Nel 9!) and suspect they'd be propping up the table but fro their hard slog.

Can i just remind our slighted Weegie fans of last years team, which contained four of their players despite finishing behind Ulster and Leinster with 2 and 1 player respectively:

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/news/11671.php#.U2jaioFdXTo

Mickado wrote:Can i just remind our slighted Weegie fans of last years team, which contained four of their players despite finishing behind Ulster and Leinster with 2 and 1 player respectively:

http://www.rabodirectpro12.com/news/11671.php#.U2jaioFdXTo

"Lock Al Kellock Glasgow Warriors"

If anything this proves the point that the judges must have been smoking crack that night.

Ah well, in terms of other Rabo season team awards, good to see that Glasgow has been shortlisted for the Collision Kings award for breakdown work, along with Connacht and Benetton Treviso.

Story here:

Rhino Collision Kings 2014 - shortlist announced
6 May 2014 11:34am

The Rhino Collision Kings Award is awarded each year to the team in the RaboDirect PRO12 which has shown most improvement at the breakdown throughout the regular season.

The trophy is a replica of the groundbreaking Collision King machine invented by Richie Gray, Rhino skills consultant and brand ambassador who was recently appointed breakdown coach to the Springboks through to next year's World Cup.

The selection panel for the Award is chaired by Galashiels-based Gray, who in addition to other duties has been a BBC Radio Scotland commentator throughout much of the PRO12 season.

This year the three teams on the shortlist for the Award are Glasgow Warriors, Connacht and Benetton Treviso.

Gray said: "The Warriors have continued to maintain the form at the breakdown that has underpinned a great deal of their success in recent years.

"Both Connacht and Benetton Treviso have however shown tremendous improvement in this vitally important phase of the game throughout the season, and this again has been a big factor in some outstanding performances from these two sides."

The Rhino Collision Kings Award was won in 2011-12 by Glasgow Warriors and in 2012-13 by the Scarlets.

Together with the Rhino Golden Boot Award for the competition's leading goalkicker, it will be presented at the RaboDirect PRO12 Awards on May 11 in Edinburgh.

Cannot believe we didn't give Gray a job ourselves. Mad that the Bokke have nabbed him for 2 years.

We had to give them someone in exchange for the Edinburgh squad.....

funnyExiledScot wrote:We had to give them someone in exchange for the Edinburgh squad.....

Surely four large boxes of Walker's Shortbread Wheels would have been sufficient recompense for that?

Presumably that's three and a half boxes for Du Preez.......

Yes why not just stick the MFL pack in the Rabo team of the year inc Denton at 8 - just wonderful !   Strikes fear into the bones of the other 11 teams - bit like how Munster last Saturday were paralysed.