The greatest season in Irish Rugby history will draw to a close this weekend when Leinster head to the Aviva Stadium for the PRO14 final with the Scarlets.
The European Champions will be firm favourites to secure their first PRO Rugby title since 2014 after demolishing fellow finalists the Scarlets in the Champions Cup semi-finals last month.
17 of the province’s players that were named in their Champions Cup final squad also played for Ireland in their Grand Slam winning Six Nations campaign.
Leinster are undoubtedly the best team in Irish Rugby but how many of their players warrant selection in an Irish team of the season?
Rob Kearney started every game of the Six Nations but was he better than Simon Zebo?
Iain Henderson was a rock for Ulster but did he have a better campaign than the Scarlets Tadhg Beirne or Racing’s Donnacha Ryan?
Who was the best number eight out of Jack Conan, Jordi Murphy and CJ Stander?
There’s arguments to be made across a number of positions but here are our top 15 Irish players from the 2017-18 season.
15. Simon Zebo
It’s generally a style over substance debate between Simon Zebo and Rob Kearney but Zebo has had a magnificent season for Munster in his final campaign with the province and he would have almost certainly played a role in Ireland’s Grand Slam run if he was not leaving Irish Rugby for Champions Cup finalists Racing next season.
Kearney has also performed admirably but it’s hard to justify his inclusion here when he hasn’t scored a single try all season; for club or country. By comparison, Zebo has scored four tries in the Champions Cup alone and seven tries for the season.
He also has made more metres, more tackles, more linebreaks, has assisted more tries and has won more turnovers than Kearney.
More reason to justify his selection here.
Honourable mentions: Tiernan O’Halloran, Jordan Larmour, Joey Carbery.
14. Keith Earls
He was voted the Munster Player of the season and the Zurich Players’ Player Of The Year by his peers. Good enough for them, good enough for us.
Honourable mentions: Andrew Conway, Craig Gilroy, Barry Daly.
13. Robbie Henshaw
The centres are tricky as one of these spots have to go to Robbie Henshaw.
The Leinster centre has been immense at inside centre for the European champions and at outside centre for Ireland but we’ll slot him in at 13 here in favour of provincial teammate Garry Ringrose.
Ringrose endured an injury plagued campaign but he was immense for Ireland when he was drafted into Joe Schmidt’s squad for the tailend of the Six Nations.
However, Henshaw was the best player in Irish Rugby up until he dislocated his shoulder in Ireland’s Six Nations win over Italy in February.
He recovered to set new personal bests in speed and fitness according to Leinster senior coach Stuart Lancaster and it showed in his first game back for the province in last month’s win over the Scarlets.
If it had not been for a dislocated shoulder he may well have challenged Earls for Players’ Player of the Year honours but what we did see from him this season was great and was enough to warrant selection in our team of the season.
Honourable mentions: Sammy Arnold, Tom Farrell, Garry Ringrose.
12. Bundee Aki
Bundee Aki has been brilliant for both Connacht and for Ireland all season in a campaign that saw him claim the Supporters’ Player of the Year, which, you would imagine would prompt little argument over his selection here.
Aki scored four tries in 17 games for Connacht but he impressed from his very first match with Ireland and was a key cog in the Grand Slam run; particularly against England where he combined with Tadhg Furlong before turning back on his inside to send CJ Stander barging towards the posts.
It was another very strong campaign from Aki in a season where he made the jump to international rugby, but the question is how long can he stay there if Ringrose and Henshaw are hovering around the squad?
Next month’s international tour of Australia should provide more of an insight into how that trio will intertwine but for the moment Aki has certainly made himself a difficult figure to dethrone.
Honourable mentions: Rory Scannell, Stuart McCloskey, Noel Reid.
11. Jacob Stockdale
He equaled Tommy Bowe’s professional era mark of 20 tries for club and country and he set a new Six Nations record for tries scored in a single campaign with five scores in seven games.
If you don’t think he should be included here you should go kick rocks.
Honourable mentions: Andrew Conway, Craig Gilroy, Barry Daly.
10. Johnny Sexton
If you think there’s been a better Irish fly-half this season than Johnny Sexton you should join the Jacob Stockdale rock kickers above.
Honourable mentions: Ross Byrne, Johnny McPhillips, Ian Keatley.
9. Conor Murray
Murray enjoyed arguably the best season of his professional career with Munster and Ireland, and if it had not been for Stockdale’s record breaking Six Nations campaign, there’s a very compelling argument to be made that he was the best player in this year’s tournament.
His composure and poise has been evident for years, as has his crisp passing and precise box kicks, but this season he’s shown an ability to goal kick, an ability to cross kick and a great knowledge of the laws too as seen with his opportunistic try against Toulon in Munster’s Champions Cup quater-final win.
He has become the best scrum-half in the world and one of the very best players in the country.He’s a joy to watch.
Honourable mentions: John Cooney, Luke McGrath, Kieran Marmion.
8. CJ Stander
Jordi Murphy’s strong finish to the season makes him a very viable contender here, while provincial teammate Jack Conan has been excellent when given the opportunity this season, but Stander is still the standard bearer for Irish Rugby at the back of the scrum.
Stander probably hasn’t recaptured the same level of form that saw him win the Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year award in 2016 but he’s been consistently excellent.
He had more carries than Murphy, made more tackles, beat more defenders, made more metres and conceded less turnovers in less minutes for Munster than Murphy received for Leinster.
Hard to argue with.
Honourable mentions: Jordi Murphy, Jack Conan, John Muldoon.
7. Dan Leavy
He started the season as Leinster’s third-choice openside flanker and he finished the campaign as the province’s Fans’ and Players’ Player of the Year winner.
Leavy impressed massively in a rare start against Munster on Saint Stephens’ Day and he was a difference maker for Leinster off the bench against Exeter in the Champions Cup, but when Josh van der Flier was ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury after Ireland’s opening round win over France, Leavy stepped up and asserted himself as one of Irish Rugby’s best players.
He regularly topped tackle counts and provided Ireland with a genuine threat at the breakdown as he offered some balance to a pack that was largely comprised of big ball carriers.
Leavy started the season on the peripheries of his own provincial squad but finishes the campaign with one of the best individual seasons from an Irish flanker in some time. Well deserved.
Honourable mentions: Josh van der Flier, Jack O’Donoghue, Nick Timoney.
6. Peter O’Mahony
The season ended how it usually has for O’Mahony over the past few seasons – leaving Dublin questioning how his side once again came up short at the final stages – but on a personal note O’Mahony enjoyed another strong campaign on the blind side of the Munster and Ireland scrum.
Rhys Ruddock was in terrific form to start the season and would have given O’Mahony his biggest test in an Ireland jersey since the arrival of CJ Stander to international rugby in 2016, but the hamstring injury that ruled Ruddock out of the Six Nations gave O’Mahony a clean run at the Six Nations and he certainly didn’t disappoint.
His work at the line-out, his defence and pilfering are all big strengths of his and he continues to grow as a leader for club and country.
Ruddock and Sean O’Brien may give him a serious run for his Ireland spot next season, but for the moment, O’Mahony is still Ireland’s best blindside flanker.
Honourable mentions: Rhys Ruddock, Eoin McKeon.
5. James Ryan
Grand Slam winner. Champions Cup final man-of-the-match. Undefeated in professional rugby. 21-year-old.
Ryan has already achieved in one season what most players spend their entire careers working towards and it’s becoming increasingly hard to contextualise his greatness this season.
Physically, he has all the tools of a world class second-row. Mentally, he has a phenomenal work rate and has shown no signs of being overawed or intimidated by the opposition or an occasion, and in terms of skill, he has the best set of hands that we’ve probably ever seen from an Irish lock.
He’s 21 and the scary thing is this could the be the worst season of his professional career; he should only continue to improve from here.
The sky, or maybe more aptly a World Rugby Player of the Year award, is the limit for Ryan.
Honourable mentions: Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, Iain Henderson.
4. Tadhg Beirne
Beirne had an exceptional season for the Scarlets this year and he’s become one of the best forwards in European Rugby.
His mobility, dynamism, ball carrying, try scoring and pilfering have made him a force for the PRO14 finalists and he could form what would certainly be one of the best second-row partnerships in world rugby should he scrum down beside Ryan this summer.
Beirne was nominated for the EPCR’s 2018 European Player of the Year award longlist earlier this year and he won the Scarlets’ Fans’ Player of the Season, the Players’ Player of the Season and the Try of the Season award for his sensational effort against Bath.
Honourable mentions: Donnacha Ryan, Devin Toner, Iain Henderson.
3. Tadhg Furlong
Furlong continues to go from strength to strength as a player and he followed a Lions call up last season with a Grand Slam winning campaign this term.
The Leinster tighthead has grown increasingly comfortable within the province’s attacking structure and has been leaned on as a playmaker within both the Leinster and Ireland attacks as Joe Schmidt and Stuart Lancaster and Leo Cullen look to take advantage of his varied passing skills.
His inside ball to Aki against England was atypical of what would be expected from your average professional prop, but needless to say, Furlong has shown that he has so much more to offer than the ‘average’ professioanl prop.
His scrummaging continues to improve but his work in the loose is almost unparalleled for his position.
Honourable mentions: Andrew Porter, Finlay Bealham.
2. Rory Best
Best has started to show his age with the amount of injuries he’s suffered this season but that’s about where signs of deterioration end.
The 35-year-old has been a constant presence for Ireland and for Ulster this season and he continues to be the physical, abrasive force that he’s been for most of his career.
You wonder if he can maintain the same sort of consistency through to next year’s Rugby World Cup, where he will be a 37-year-old hooker, but for this season at least, he’s shown that he’s still the best rake in Irish Rugby.
Honourable mentions: Sean Cronin, James Tracy, Rob Herring.
1. Cian Healy
He entered the season leaner, trimmer and more determined to reassert himself as Ireland and Leinster’s first-choice Loosehead prop and that’s exactly what he did.
Healy had spent the last few seasons supporting Jack McGrath off the bench but this term he wrestled the jersey back off the Lions prop and made it his own once again.
It’s hard to see Healy ever getting back to being the dominant physical force he was at the start of this decade but as he approaches the latter stages of his professional career he has developed into a reliable, mobile and impactful starter for both club and country.
The Healy-McGrath dynamic has been one of the most interesting sub-plots in Irish Rugby over the last few seasons but Healy has made the position his own this season and should continue to hold onto the jersey heading into next season and beyond.
Honourable mentions: Jack McGrath, James Cronin, Denis Buckley.
