Will Greenwood My Premiership team of 2021-22

2022-06-04 -

15 TYRONE GREEN

Missed the back end of the season with injury yet still tops running stats. Rarely out of my team of week in the first four months. Fearless in the air or the tackle and lethal on the counterattack. Freddie Steward is fabulous but did not play enough.

Harlequins

10 GEORGE FORD

Marcus Smith will appear in this team for years to come but has come up against an old-timer in Ford who has steered his team to the top of the table with complete control. Ford has been the perfect player to build on the foundations laid by Steve Borthwick.

Leicester

4 FREDDIE CLARKE

As driving-maul specialists, Gloucester’s line-out has been a weapon and Clarke was always in thick of the action. Covers so much ground and, as they have transitioned to a side who front up every week, performers such as Clarke have helped the Shed find their voice again.

Gloucester

14 LOUIS REES-ZAMMIT

No one grabbed this slot this year. Louis Lynagh, Adam Radwan, Kyle Rowe and Sean Maitland put in good shifts. Max Malins unlucky not to get in but playing 11, 14 and 15 hurt him for my selection. But Rees-zammit’s blistering pace and finishing ability rattled defences.

Gloucester

9 DANNY CARE

Razor sharp, can run all day and has a top-notch skill set. Alex Mitchell unlucky to miss out. Has played 23 times for Northampton; on 16 of those I had him in top three scrum-halves of week. But Care has won games on his own and dug Quins out of any hole.

Harlequins

5 ELLIOTT STOOKE Wasps

Like Ben Earl, has been an ever-present. Proper shoulder-to-thewheel stuff when you think of the Wasps injury crisis and toll of playing every week in the second row. Dynamic, ball-carrying, ball-handling second row who gives everything.

13 FRASER DINGWALL Northampton

So many fabulous options. Chris Harris, Joe Marchant, Elliot Daly, Curtis Rona,

Alex

Lozowski. I have been supremely impressed with Dingwall. Effortless in everything. Sharp. Beautiful hands. Cracking defender.

1 ELLIS GENGE

First out, first to engage, first to charge. Joe Marler, another brilliant Quin, had an outstanding club season. Mako Vunipola was on fire until he got hurt. But Genge’s name just kept popping up on my loosehead lists. Captain of the team top of the table. Tough to argue with.

Leicester

6 HANRO LIEBENBERG Leicester

Brad Shields led from the front for Wasps all season and I have had his name written in at six for a while. But I have gone with Liebenberg. Line-out destroyer on opposition ball. Ball carry after ball carry. Super hands. Right at the heart of Leicester’s surge to the top.

12 ANDRE ESTERHUIZEN

Gargantuan in midfield for Harlequins. Gain-line dominator. But he is so much more than just a big man. Soft hands, great offloader, nice kicking game, chop-tackling, choke-tackling, jackal specialist. Has everything. Creates so much space for others.

Harlequins

2 GEORGE MCGUIGAN

Extraordinary. Newcastle have won only six games and yet Mcguigan has 14 tries. Having left out Malins, who has scored 15, I did not feel it was possible to omit a hooker from a bottom-end-ofthe-table side who has so many tries to his name.

7

Has not missed a game. Punchy stat that. Scores a hatful of tries. Never stops carrying, loves a tackle and flies in to breakdowns. I have not often picked two from the same club in the back row over the years. But Earl and Billy Vunipola have both been magnificent.

Newcastle

BEN EARL

Saracens 11

NEMANI NADOLO

Ollie Hassellcollins is a beast of a lad. Cadan Murley is unlucky not to get higher honours. Tom O’flaherty causes mayhem. But I had to pick Nadolo. Unplayable for three months. Extraordinary dominance of left side of pitch and terrifying up the middle.

Leicester

3 VINCENT KOCH

What a tough call. Some superhuman lads this year. Will Collier immense for Quins. Dan Cole, like Ford and Vunipola, another veteran who found fresh legs. Koch gets it by his sheer volume of contribution to the team.

8

Magnificent for Saracens. I was staggered not to see him get a look in for the Australia tour.

Huge on restarts, massive from the base, gain-line denting round the fringes, not afraid of a jackal or an offload. And the league table does not lie.

Saracens