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Rugby

19th Mar 2018

Stuart Barnes not happy about biggest omission from Six Nations’ best player vote

Patrick McCarry

In the end, Ireland won the 2018 Six Nations at a canter.

What started in nail-biting fashion, in Paris, was followed by a dominant home stand and a comprehensive win over England at Twickenham. Another Grand Slam in the bag.

Due to Ireland’s sheer ruthlessness and class in the championship, the nominations for the Six Nations player of the tournament were always going to have a green tinge. So it proved as, on Sunday evening, the tournament organisers released their six man shortlist for Best Player.

Keith Earls, Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray and seven-try sensation Jacob Stockdale  are all included, as are France captain Guilhelm Guirado and Italian flyer Matteo Minozzi.

Voting will be open until midnight on Tuesday and the winner will surely be Irish. For our money, Dan Leavy was very unlucky to miss out.

For Sky Sports and Telegraph rugby pundit Stuart Barnes won a lot of support for his firm stance on Tadhg Furlong:

After a rugby fan responded to the shortlist and dismissed it as ‘absurd’, English writer Sarah Mockford jumped in to defend the selections.

The thing about these polls and lists is that you will never please everyone.

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