France scrum-half Antoine Dupont has been named World Rugby’s men’s player of the year, beating the short-listed Australian duo of Michael Hooper and Samu Kerevi to the accolade, while England’s lock Zoe Aldcroft has taken the women’s award.
The stocky and explosively quick Dupont has been outstanding for France in the past two seasons, helping Les Tricolores become a competitive side once again under coach Fabien Galthie after years of mediocrity.
The 25-year-old was outstanding in orchestrating attacks as France ended the year with a 40-25 win against New Zealand to end a 14-match, 12-year losing streak to the All Blacks.
He also captained the side in the Autumn Series in the absence of skipper Charles Ollivon.
“Shoot for the moon,” the Toulouse player wrote in English on his Twitter page, then continued in French: “A big thank you to everyone, and especially to the staff and my teammates.”
Dupont is the third Frenchman to clinch the award after Galthie won in 2012 and flanker Thierry Dusautoir in 2011.
He outdid Wallabies captain Hooper, centre Kerevi and England lock Maro Itoje in the public voting.
The women’s winner Aldcroft helped England win a third successive Six Nations title this year and secure back-to-back wins over New Zealand.
The 25-year-old captained England for the first time in an 89-0 win over the United States that extended the Red Roses’ unbeaten Test run to 18.
“It was an honour to be nominated in the first instance and I’m absolutely over the moon,” she told the Six Nations website.
“Individual awards are a reflection of a team effort and I’d like to dedicate this to all of the teammates, coaching and management staff that I work with.”
She won the public vote ahead of England backrower Poppy Cleall andthe French pair of scrum-half Laure Sansus and winger Caroline Boujard.
Aldcroft is the fourth Englishwoman to win the award following winger Michaela Staniford (2012), backrower Sarah Hunter (2016) and versatile back Emily Scarratt two years ago.
“To follow in their footsteps is an amazing feeling,” Aldcroft said.
Pete Samu's Tucked Shirt
Roar Rookie
Liked your last sentence. And thus why Will Jordan was never going to win it. Pure finisher, which is needed in every team, but defence is average. However his overall game will improve. Yes he scored a lot of tries yet look at the opposition they were against...yes, it's expected someone of his attacking finishing flair to rack up a lot of points, but he struggled against better quality opposition.
Pete Samu's Tucked Shirt
Roar Rookie
Harsh on Hooper considering his workrate stat's are high. Not sure you'd call him a dud to his face... But ok, who would you replace him with, and why?
Geoff
Guest
aww you poor dear , does it grind your gears your boy didn`t win it ? Maybe if he could beat the ab's he`d be rated a slim chance. A word of advice, stop clutching those pearls take it on the chin and move on!
Matt
Guest
' Hooper makes no impression on the game , he runs around getting rag dolled and getting in the way. ' Been saying this for 6 years. Hooper is a dud player.Not test standard.
Chris
Guest
Hooper was never going to win, he was just a political pick.Quade was more deserving of a nomination as he has a 100% win rate, Hooper has a 50 % win rate.
Harry Jones
Expert
A bit harsh on Hooper, mate!
Phil
Guest
Kerevi was lucky to be nominated,but certainly not Hooper.While Kerevi was wonderful for the few games he played for the Wallabies,how he could be nominated on the limited appearances,I cannot understand.Hooper was justified just on being the most consistent performer for the whole year. Dupont was a certainty to win and no arguments from most people.
JC
Roar Rookie
Apparently, Dupont won by a landslide — UK media is claiming he won two-thirds of the public vote. Even given the bigger rugby landscape and population in Europe, that’s an incredible result.
Ex force fan
Guest
Although McCaw is surely a deserving winner.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Ah, I see. They found me and touched me up to sign up. Was in £ and the content they used to tempt me was on UK rugby so I just assumed
The Neutral View From Sweden
Roar Guru
Not a UK site, mate. Rugbypass is owned by SKY NZ and their content is pretty heavily weighted towards SH rugby.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Totally with you. The list is massively flawed and skewed in favour of NZ players. Any list that misses Smith and Ella isn’t doing it’s job. Just that I think you underestimate how much NH judges think of Hooper. They love him way more than we do and perhaps more than he deserves. I’m not a fanboy, I see his weaknesses. This year he was consistently outstanding though - probably due to the quality and complimentary skills of the 6 and 8 we picked.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Thanks for that link…Firstly I do not see Hooper being a better player than George Smith.. Smith actually provoked World Rugby to implement Law Changes to counteract him..He was that good ….And there was another South African , Heinrich Brussouw who imo was also better than Hooper but not on that list. ….By the way Fitzpatrick listed on that page as best hooker all time, is nowhere near the best hooker .. Captains yes , ….But we can argue about it forever and guess some stage have to call a truce.. I do acknowledge the excellence of Hooper , I do not acknowledge him being a great.
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
The right guy. Regardless of the outrage about missing names, Dupont has achieved the trifecta peak............himself, club, and country. At least WR got that right
Unders
Roar Pro
I mean that's just false; Hooper is the 3rd best 7 ever to play the game after Mccaw and Pocock. Pretty sure England's previous lack of an out and out 7 was fixed by youngsters actually modelling their game on Hooper and co etc.
Chan Wee
Roar Rookie
it has almost always been confused - like when Mccaw got it when Thiery deserved it :laughing:
Chan Wee
Roar Rookie
"underrated in the voting ?" he wasnt even nominated :sick:
Chan Wee
Roar Rookie
not now - these two yeras AD has been better but must take into account the age gap - and the resulting experience.
Chan Wee
Roar Rookie
it was a 2 horse race between EE and AD. not sure anyone else had consistent performances for an entire season. for eg Jordan scored a lot of tries , when he played , but he didnot play all matches. same goes for J Barrett, B Barrett R Mounga, S Kerevi, M Itoje, LRZ, Hogg, et al. i think while AD deserved the win - EE shud have got it considering the many times he travelled and spent inside bio bubbles without mentally breaking down. dont know of rugger - but several cricketers just gave up matches citing bubble fatigue !!! something the general public will find hard to grasp
Ex force fan
Guest
Yes we missed out….especially watching the World best 9 playing in Australia. Even the AB supporters will agree on this statement- although for a different reason. Du Pont is a deserved winner and brought a new dimension to the #9 game and not out of place with previous winners. Maybe the nominations should also be by popular vote as the experts clearly got the nominations wrong this year.