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Rugby Heroes and Villains For The Year 2016
By Calum Henderson
We look back on some of the year’s rugby heroes and a few of its rugby villains.
It’s been a long and sometimes strange year in rugby. 365 days ago England were crap, Premiership clubs dominated the Champions Cup, and Beauden Barrett was the substitute number 10 for the All Blacks. Now England are the (second-)best side in the world, Premiership clubs are getting hammered by Pro12 sides everywhere you look, and ‘Beaudy’ is the World Rugby Player of the Year.
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No question, All Blacks first-five is top of the list of rugby heroes who emerged in 2016. Here is a by-no-means-comprehensive list of some of the other heroes and villains we covered this year:
Hero: Beauden Barrett
Even when he’s scuttling away from your defenders and crossing your tryline with his weird distinctive running style it’s hard not to love Beauden Barrett. Scotty Stevenson paid tribute to the world’s best Number 10 after he was crowned World Rugby Player of the Year in November.
Villain: Jaco Peyper
Irish fans got extremely mad at the South African ref following their side’s controversial loss to the All Blacks in Dublin.
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Hero: Andy Goode
Andy Goode looks more like a darts player than a professional rugby player, but he came out of retirement for Newcastle and earned a nomination for Aviva Premiership Player of the Year. Phenomenal.
Villain: Chris Ashton
Chris Ashton got banned for 13 weeks for biting Alex Waller, which seems bad…
Hero: Chris Ashton
… but maybe being rugby’s answer to Luis Suarez is actually good? Confusing.
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Villain: Aaron Smith
Hasn’t been the same since he had sex.
Hero: Marty Banks
The Highlanders utility is an inexplicably popular figure in New Zealand rugby and nobody loves him more than our own Scotty Stevenson, who penned a moving tribute.
Villain: Nick Phipps
Shoved a physio and threw a boot. People have gone to prison for less.
Latest Comments
The weather was dreadful but the playing surface was great so there is no real excuse for such another poor standard of play from both sides. Dragons just the better team. But, what a shocking decision by the TMO not to award the Fifita try. This pretty much sums up Welsh rugby with poor teams and poor officials. The WRU have a lot of work to do and it needs to be done quickly to avoid rugby being lost to our future generations.
Go to commentsNo chance of Borthwick selecting any young talent. He announced his selection policy from the outset with naming a poor OF as Captain, retaining an equally poor Youngs and Vunipola brothers when there were many better EQP in the Premiership. SB revival of Leicester was based on SA muscle and a terrific Welsh flanker he has generally ignored young English talent.
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