The Six Nations announced – before the last round of matches – a shortlist of 12 players to be considered for the player of the tournament accolade.
The dozen, those who TV pundits had given (let’s face it, subjective if not arbitrary) man of the match awards to, included four players from Grand Slam-winning Wales and not a single Englishman.
Alex Cuthbert crosses for Wales's only try in the 16-9 win over France - was it enough to make him the Six Nations' best player in 2012? Photo: Flickr, Sum_of_Marc
Even England’s away wins in Rome and Paris did not earn any of their player’s the MotM award, with Stuart Lancaster’s men likely to have suffered from a certain insularity on behalf of the host broadcasters there.
So, just before voting in the Six Nations’ official poll closes tonight, I have created my own shortlist of 12 players, including at least one from each nation as well as some of the more glaring omissions from the official dozen.
Only the five players marked with a double asterisk** were in that original 12.
An Early Bath 
Why isn’t Richie Gray in that list? I agree that Lydiate was awesome all tournament and is the type of player that teams are built on, but some of the names are there just because they are Welsh. Alex Cuthbert? Scoring a great individual try does not make you player of the tournament! Tommy Bowe scored more often and Ashton never got the ball! Ian Evans was far more important in the Wales France game so even on a one off should get his place. Picking a Lions team involves less Welsh players than first thought and definitely more Scots!
I put Gray in originally but swapped him for Rennie. Neither Alex Cuthbert or Leigh Halfpenny are there because they are Welsh (and there are as many English players as Welsh ones) – Cuthbert scored three tries but was not only included because of that: he was also immense in all three home games. Halfpenny was top pointscorer. I can hardly put Ashton on there just because he didn’t have the chance to prove himself, and Tommy Bowe is on there (unlike the official one). Ian Evans played very well, but you were complaining about there being too many Welsh players!
Halfpenny’s omission was one of the most baffling – his growth into a world class kicker has been nothing short of remarkable. I remember against England he slotted in as an emergency 10, and played brilliantly there as well – a seriously underrated player in this years mix of stars.
Baffling if they were doing a proper job of it – but to base it on who has won man of the match awards is ridiculous. Top pointscorer Halfpenny, being consistently impressive, is hence overlooked.
[…] in An Early Bath’s separate poll, Lydiate is also on course to storm to victory, having already won more than 80 per cent (87 votes) […]