Dan Lydiate was the overwhelming choice for the best player of the 2012 RBS Six Nations Championship.
The Wales flanker and tackling demon received a quarter of votes cast, more than twice as many as second-placed Irish outside half Jonathan Sexton.
Italy’s Number Eight and captain Sergio Parisse finished third.
Dan Lydiate (centre of picture), player of the 2012 Six Nations championship, in training with Jonathan Davies, Lloyd Williams and Adam Jones (pointing). Picture: Flickr, Sum_of_Marc
Lydiate picked up the man of the match gongs in the Millennium Stadium victories over Scotland and France, and was particularly instrumental in the Grand Slam decider against Les Bleus. His tackle on Thierry Dusautoir led to a turnover which provided the platform for the only try of the game, via winger Alex Cuthbert.
He also brought down Wesley Fofana at a crucial stage in the second half which earned his side a penalty, converted from inside his own half by Leigh Halfpenny to give Wales a crucial seven-point advantage.
The official Six Nations player of the tournament voting was deemed by many to be flawed, based as it was on a shortlist made up solely of those who gained man of the match awards during the first four rounds of games – meaning neither a single Englishman nor stars such as Wesley Fofana (France), Halfpenny and Tommy Bowe (Ireland) featured.
But 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) of the total number of votes cast.
Halfpenny is second on 10 votes (9 per cent) while another Welshman, Cuthbert, is in third on 3 votes (3 per cent).
An Early Bath 
[…] Dan Lydiate was the player of the Six Nations last season according both to a poll here and also on the Six Nations’ official site. […]
[…] A simply brilliant player of the tournament in the 2012 Six Nations who has been picked entirely on reputation rather than form. Let’s see if that pays off for Gatland. Worth watching the clip below, by the way, just to hear how many times in one match Jonathan Davies says “Oh, Dan Lydiate”, before chuckling to himself […]
[…] tackles after initial line breaks, and at other times France threw away try-scoring chance. But Dan “Chopper” Lydiate, replicating his 2012 form, Sam Warburton and Gethin Jenkins put in brilliant shifts in the […]