ERC Player of 2013 Shortlist Announced

Bogota

ERC European Player of the Year 2013

Official Shortlist

1. Julien Bonnaire
2. Jamie Heaslip
3. Wesley Fofana
4. Sitiveni Sivivatu
5. Jonny Wilkinson


Interesting that Jamie Heaslip is picked after all the abuse hes gotten recently. It just goes to show how unjustified it was.

irishbucsfan

Good man Jamie!

thomond2006

Sitivini Sivivatu

Any one of the Clermont players for me.

leakyboots

Heaslip? Christ.

Grimebox

Sitivini Sivivatu

I'm surprised Heaslip managed to make that list

trouttrout

Ya Heaslip has been good, but certainly not one of the top players in european competition imo

Podge_irl

Heaslip has been excellent for Leinster all season.

The award is Fofana's to lose in my mind though.

Tox56

Sitivini Sivivatu

The award is based on a fairly limited number of games, and off the top of my head he was excellent in Clermont and Exeter, and against Scarlets and Wasps... and Biarritz too of course. He's up there in a lot of their stats too, there's probably a better option somewhere tho

[Jackass]

Sitivini Sivivatu

Must be Fofana.

jamiedav2011

Great to see Jamie nominated.

Bonnaire to win it for me.

sydthebeat

Wesley Fofana

Jonny, his back must be sore carrying that toulon team

lologram

Sitivini Sivivatu

Fofana for me. He's unreal.

.ak

Jamie Heaslip

Heaslip has been top notch at European level all season, completely justified. Think of the Pool stages and the stats he was pulling in, turnovers, tackles, tries, carries. He has the lot.

But for me it's got to be Bonnaire. Yeah Fofana has been amazing, he's truly one of the best 12s I've ever seen in my lifetime anyway, but Bonnaire's work rate, his ability to turn a game on it's head, his ability to lead, his athleticism, his skill, his hands, his tackling... He's one of the hearts of the Clermont team and considering the pack has been doing all the damage before the floodgates open I'm going with Bonnaire.

Benny Cake

Jamie Heaslip

Heaslip? That's some joke.....

Buer

Sitivini Sivivatu

Benny Cake wrote: »

Heaslip? That's some joke.....

Not really. Take everything else out of it and concentrate on his season in European rugby. He was probably Leinster's best player in Clermont when they should have won. He was very good away to Scarlets and also in the last two pool games when he was making big yards and getting through tonnes of work. The Wasps and Biarritz games, he was excellent.

Benny Cake

Jamie Heaslip

Buer wrote: »

Not really. Take everything else out of it and concentrate on his season in European rugby. He was probably Leinster's best player in Clermont when they should have won. He was very good away to Scarlets and also in the last two pool games when he was making big yards and getting through tonnes of work. The Wasps and Biarritz games, he was excellent.

Call me a purist, but performances against disinterested opposition in the amlin, hardly counts the same as playing in the Heineken.....

decisions

Sitivini Sivivatu

Wasn't there a stat after the pool stages that Jamie hadn't missed a tackle.

PhatPiggins

Bogota wrote: »

ERC European Player of the Year 2013

Official Shortlist

1. Julien Bonnaire
2. Jamie Heaslip
3. Wesley Fofana
4. Sitiveni Sivivatu
5. Jonny Wilkinson


Interesting that Jamie Heaslip is picked after all the abuse hes gotten recently. It just goes to show how unjustified it was.

Owen Farrell, that is all.

Hard to pick a winner from the 3 Clermont lads tbh.

yimrsg

According to the ERC stats Heaslip is the top player.

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/statistics/amlin_opta_index.php

jamiedav2011

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Owen Farrell, that is all.

Hard to pick a winner from the 3 Clermont lads tbh.

Great to see some of Jamie's excellent European performances rewarded though. Top quality again on Sat.

conor1979

Benny Cake wrote: »

Heaslip? That's some joke.....

Care to elaborate?

Taken from ERC Opta Stats.

Top Forwards
Player Club Appearances Amlin Opa Index
Jamie Heaslip Leinster Rugby 7 2103
Julien Bonnaire ASM Clermont 7 1943

tolosenc

Jonny Wilkinson

Dunno, don't think Fofana has been nearly as good this year as he was last year. If Heaslip dominates the Amlin Final, he could well nick it.

Todd Toddington III

conor1979 wrote: »

Care to elaborate?

Taken from ERC Opta Stats.

Top Forwards
Player Club Appearances Amlin Opa Index
Jamie Heaslip Leinster Rugby 7 2103
Julien Bonnaire ASM Clermont 7 1943

Sure doesnt he have that stud in his tongue, and wear them fancy dan headphones...

:-P

Buer

Sitivini Sivivatu

Benny Cake wrote: »

Call me a purist, but performances against disinterested opposition in the amlin, hardly counts the same as playing in the Heineken.....

Which is why I mentioned him being the best player in Clermont and also performing strongly in other HEC games.

As others have mentioned, his performances were backed up by the facts. If I recall correctly, he was something outlandish in the pool stages at over 50 tackles made and zero missed as well as carrying the ball more times than any other player in the tournament.

Buer

Sitivini Sivivatu

tolosenc wrote: »

Dunno, don't think Fofana has been nearly as good this year as he was last year. If Heaslip dominates the Amlin Final, he could well nick it.

Nah. Heaslip has been very good but it's a token nomination as they always do for the teams in the ACC final. The winner will be from the HEC. I don't think anyone should look beyond the three Clermont boys. For me, it's Sivivatu. He has been electric.

molloyjh

Buer wrote: »

Which is why I mentioned him being the best player in Clermont and also performing strongly in other HEC games.

As others have mentioned, his performances were backed up by the facts. If I recall correctly, he was something outlandish in the pool stages at over 50 tackles made and zero missed as well as carrying the ball more times than any other player in the tournament.

Would you go away with your facts you. The guy is a show pony who regularly goes missing. We all know that.

.ak

Jamie Heaslip

leakyboots wrote: »

Heaslip? Christ.

Benny Cake wrote: »

Heaslip? That's some joke.....

Good reasoning there lads, didn't think of that!

P_1

It won't be Heaslip to be honest. Looking back I'm nearly certain that the winning player was on the winning team of the HEC.

decisions

Sitivini Sivivatu

Fofana has had a fantastic season, but if JW manages to beat Clermont I think he has a very good shot.

its_phil

Sitivini Sivivatu

Benny Cake wrote: »

Call me a purist, but performances against disinterested opposition in the amlin, hardly counts the same as playing in the Heineken.....

I really wouldn't say Biarritz were disinterested seen as they won it the year before and had not qualified for the Heineken Cup. Just beaten out the gate by a good Leinster team and after the Nacewa try just lost interest.

Podge_irl

Biarritz were about as far from disinterested as it is possible to be. They simply weren't good enough.

P_1

Podge_irl wrote: »

Biarritz were about as far from disinterested as it is possible to be. They simply weren't good enough.

Ah now they were fairly interested for the first 37 minutes to be fair

Swan Curry

Sitivini Sivivatu

Tell Ngwenya he was disinterested after making two try-saving tackles.

Fireball07

Sitivini Sivivatu

I don't think Heaslip has been one of the 5 best players in Europe tbqh. He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been absolutely brilliant either. Don't know if he's even been Leinster's best player in Europe.


I'd go for Fofana, I just think he's pure class although if Bonnaire won it, there couldn't be many complaints.

corny

I'd go for Sivivatu or Bonnaire but i wouldn't be surprised to see Wilkinson take it.

Dr Nic

Podge_irl wrote: »

Biarritz were about as far from disinterested as it is possible to be. They simply weren't good enough.

Maybe some were but Harinordiquoy was lounging by the pool...

Tox56

Sitivini Sivivatu

Fireball07 wrote: »

I don't think Heaslip has been one of the 5 best players in Europe tbqh. He hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been absolutely brilliant either. Don't know if he's even been Leinster's best player in Europe.


I'd go for Fofana, I just think he's pure class although if Bonnaire won it, there couldn't be many complaints.

I'd say he has been Leinster's best player in Europe, between him and Healy for sure

Sivivatu or Fofana for me.

If I was Gatland I would've been trying to figure out some way to convince the Aussies that Fofana qualified as a Lion, because having him outside Sexton with Davies / BOD / Tuilagi available as a second centre would have given Gatland licence to try about 400 different routes through the Aus defence.

desertcircus

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Sivivatu or Fofana for me.

If I was Gatland I would've been trying to figure out some way to convince the Aussies that Fofana qualified as a Lion, because having him outside Sexton with Davies / BOD / Tuilagi available as a second centre would have given Gatland licence to try about 400 different routes through the Aus defence.

If we changed it to the European Lions, we could bring a backrow of Gorgodze-SOB-Parisse and put Parra inside Sexton as well.

andrewdcs

Sitivini Sivivatu

desertcircus wrote: »

... and put Parra inside Sexton as well.

And another European, Dr. Heiter, could perform the operation. :eek:

North Vs South was a one off game way back when wasnt it?

errlloyd

Jonny Wilkinson

andrewdcs wrote: »

And another European, Dr. Heiter, could perform the operation. :eek:

North Vs South was a one off game way back when wasnt it?

Think it was for tsunami victims? We got thrashed anyway.