For my last rugby union column of 2024 in print it’s only right that we hand out a couple of awards covering the last 12 months.
Rugby has seen an Olympic Games sit front and centre of the calendar while there have been some surprises in terms of domestic winners.
It wasn’t easy but I’ve picked my player of the year, team of the year, best moment of the year and worst moment of the year.
There were a number of contenders for this award. Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello has been outstanding for his club and country throughout 2024, winning player of the Six Nations.
Pieter-Steph du Toit was his usual world-class self yet again while Ilona Maher made a splash in Paris as the most followed rugby player in the world.
But for me it is hard to look past Antoine Dupont. The zippy nine won domestic and European titles for Toulouse and picked up the sevens title in Paris.
He has again proven to be a talismanic player and is worthy of my award.
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This one is more straightforward. There were calls for the French Olympic sevens squad, Glasgow for their astonishing feat in the United Rugby Championship, and Toulouse for their double-winning season.
But by far the best team of the year have been the Springboks. They have not won every game but they won a first Rugby Championship since 2019 and went unbeaten on their northern hemisphere tour for the first time in a decade.
Rassie Erasmus’s outfit have been by far the best team across the calendar year and deserve the accolade.
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In a nostalgic sense, one of the moments of the year was seeing rugby return to Croke Park; the Dublin arena is iconic for sport and holds significance in the history of rugby in Ireland, so seeing games there again was special.
But there was something unbeatable about France’s men, led by Antoine Dupont, winning the gold medals in front of 80,000 home fans at the Stade de France during the Olympics.
It wasn’t just a boost for sevens but for rugby as a whole, with the sport shining on the global stage.
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It is hard to look past watching a Steve Borthwick England side squander leads against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, but I am going to regardless.
Because what has been going on over the border in Wales has been shambolic. A winless calendar year for Warren Gatland has seen little progress at the Principality.
For such a proud nation it is a desperate situation for them to be in.
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Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11
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