Turbo Teddy takes try of the year prize
SO 2020 is finally in the rear-view mirror and it’s all eyes on 2021 and what that can bring but, strangely, I am convinced rugby’s annus horribilis still contained much action that we will recall fondly in roaring pubs and clubhouses in years to come.
Perhaps our isolation and introspection heightened our appreciation of the precious action that was salvaged from the wreckage, but a number of tries in particular will remain seared in my memory. In that respect 2020 was a rare if quirky vintage.
Heading that list was that timeless beauty from Teddy Thomas for Racing at Quins a few weeks back; a mesmerising, gliding, swerving effort that made high-quality Quins players look like outclassed schoolboys. He was playing a different game, breathing different oxygen.
As with all sporting perfection the moment looked pre-ordained and in slow motion. Thomas has a whiff of Obolensky or Duckham about the way he dismisses the opposition and like that illustrious duo he is underutilised by his national side and arouses a certain amount of suspicion. It all looks too easy and mercurial. Where’s the effort and the grunt?
To date Thomas has won only 22 caps with a party boy reputation not helping, but at the age of 27 he might just be entering his pomp. France now boast a back division to feed his talent and you fancy
that if Les Bleus are to triumph at RWC2023 they will need some of his X-factor.
His languid running style disguises the absolute world class gas he has at his disposal. The word on the circuit is that when Thomas is in the mood, admittedly quite a big caveat, he is the fastest rugby player on two legs, just edging it from Jonny May. Cheslin Kolbe would feature prominently in that debate if we are talking over 30-40m rather than the length of the field.
Ah, Kolbe, another reason not to bin 2020 totally. Unlike many of his World Cup-winning colleagues from 2019, Kolbe saw a decent amount of rugby in 2020 and was never
less than enthralling.
Most critics have already acknowledged that one of the all-time greats is moving amongst us and lighting up our lives. No wing, ever, has stepped off his right foot more dramatically and effectively than Kolbe and the majority of his tries – save for his beautiful chip and chase efforts – originate with that dramatic high speed move.
Ulster are well acquainted with his skills. He scored two crackers against them in September in a delayed Heineken Cup game from last season and repeated the exercise with another sensational brace in Belfast last month in a pool game for the 2020-21 competition. All of them are etched in the mind but probably the best he scored last year came for Toulouse against La Rochelle in the T14 when he unleashed that right step twice at high speed before using his extraordinary strength to bump a huge would-be tackler and complete his sprint for the line.
And I haven’t even analysed May yet. He has good reason to remember 2020 fondly. His stunning pre-Covid brace of tries against France in Paris, after England trailed 24-0 in the first game since their World Cup humiliation, salvaged some respectability. Meanwhile his extraordinary near length-of-the-field effort in the Autumn Nations Cup against Ireland will feature prominently whenever the best-ever England try debate kicks off.
Personally, I rate it above the Chris Ashton effort against Australia in 2020 because he had much more to do. Certainly no time for looking up at the big screen and smiling at himself en route.
A big shout out also for Giorgi Kveseladze and his beautifully crafted and brilliantly taken try for Georgia against Ireland, a score that will certainly be talked about in Tbilisi in perpetuity while Antoine Dupont nipped in for three or four crackers, not least that beauty last month against Ulster who ran into a red hot Toulouse that night. Is there anybody in world rugby that runs better support lines than Dupont?
In the Premiership, Marcus Smith’s chip, chase, gather and sprint against Exeter would have brought the house down if a crowd had been present while Bristol scored any number of crackers with one sumptuous team effort finished off against Saints by Piers Connor lingering longest in the mind.
London Irish youngster Ollie Hassell- Collins got two scorchers – one against Bristol and one against Exeter – that have lodged in my mind even if they didn’t get the acclaim they deserved. His time will come.
So 2020 wasn’t all bad. A greatly trying time but also a time of great tries.