The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Hogg and Russell in mix for player award
Rugby union: Scots duo have caught eye during six nations
Scotland full back Stuart Hogg and his colleague Finn Russell have been named on the shortlist for this season’s six nations rugby union championship player of the tournament.
Hogg, who won the award last season, is joined by England trio Owen Farrell, Joe Launchbury and Maro Itoje in the 12-strong group.
Players in every six nations match were awarded or deducted points based upon several different performance categories which cover all aspects of the game, with former South Africa and Italy coach Nick Mallett also involved in drawing up the shortlist. Wales also have two representatives in scrum half Rhys Webb and hooker Ken Owens, with France pair Louis Picamoles and Camille Lopez also being nominated.
Scrum half Conor Murray and flanker CJ Stander fly the flag for Ireland, with the list being completed by Italy captain Sergio Parisse.
Public voting is now open to decide the winner, closing at noon today.
The award has been dominated by Irish players since it was launched in 2004, with Brian O’Driscoll taking top honours three times, while the only previous English recipient was Mike Brown in 2014.
England head coach Eddie Jones, meanwhile, insists his four-year plan leading into the2019World Cup remains intact despite Saturday’s comprehensive defeat by Ireland.
The six nations cham_ pions headed to Dublin in search of back- to- back grand slams and a recordbreaking 19th Test victory only to barely fire a shot as they fell 13-9 to opponents whose performance was worthy of amore emphatic scoreline.
England are attempting to arrange an additional fixture with the All Blacks at Twickenham in November, but New Zealand’s media reacted with scorn to their failure to claim a place in history.
Among the words used to describe the display at the Aviva Stadium were “thuggish”, “brain dead”, “arrogant”, “wrecking balls in chains” and “back to square one”.
But Jones, whose aim is to depose New Zealand at the summit of the game, is adamant England are on course to peak at Japan 2019.
“This result doesn’t change the plan at all. Did you think we would never get defeated?” Jones said.
“It’s a game of rugby. We lost, we’ll move on, we’ll get better, we’ll learn.
“One game doesn’t change our plan. We’ve got aplan in place. Iknowwhat we’ve got to do to be at our best for theWorld Cup. One game doesn’t affect our perception of people, or the team.”