World 15s Player of the Year 2019 – How on earth do you decide?

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The five nominations are:

Emily Scarratt (England)
Katy Daley-Mclean (England)
Kendra Cocksedge (New Zealand)
Pauline Bourdon (France)
Sarah Bern (England)

There can be few arguments about this quintet; they have all had an outstanding year, but that’s where clarity ends. Who on earth do we choose? On what grounds?

Here are some possible categories:

Influence on team
Influence on results
Ability in their position
Personal favouritism – surely not!

That’s where things grow tricky. Can we put aside national preferences? It’s not easy.

And how many games have we seen each player compete in?

And we must remember we’re dealing only with the year in question – or are we?

Pauline Bourdon has had a stellar year. If we’re allowed to break that last ‘rule’ and include late 2018, she has been intimately involved in two defeats of the world top-ranked nation, New Zealand. She can play in two positions, scrum-half and fly-half, with equal facility; she is inventive, is a talented but not (yet) masterly kicker; her running is a constant threat.

 

Kendra Cocksedge has been at the top of the game since 2007. An outstanding competitor, she belies her diminutive size with the strength and variety of her play. During the recent Super Series she underlined her central role in the Black Ferns cause, linking, running, kicking, tackling and inspiring. She won this award in 2015.

Then we find three Red Roses in contention. Two, Emily Scarratt and Katy Daley-Mclean have been around for over a decade. Sarah Bern is the youngest of the five.

 

Emily Scarratt has an all-round game given to very few. From the time she scored 12 tries in her first 12 appearances for England as a teenager she has been a leading figure in women’s rugby. She has strength, pace, handling and kicking skills that have allowed her to be the only player to figure in the Dream Team of two consecutive World Cups. Without her individual efforts in last summer’s Super Series England would have been in a pickle.

 

Katy Daley-Mclean has been a pivotal figure in England’s success ever since 2007. In this year’s 6 Nations she became only the third English player – after Jonny Wilkinson and Owen Farrell – to top 500 points for her country when she converted Jess Breach’s opening try against France at Doncaster. She is a fly-half with all the skills, reading the game instinctively to keep the opposition on the back foot. She has a wide variety of passes, kicks with devilish accuracy and maintains a pace few 33-year-olds can match.

 

Sarah Bern represents the other end of the experience-scale. Just 22, she has already established herself as one of the leading tight-heads in the world. Few, if any of them, can match her other skills of pace, footwork and handling that add an extra dimension to her team’s performance. Her 6 Nations campaign was remarkable: five tries and a commanding all-round game in attack and defence.

 

Decisions, decisions

How on earth do we decide?

Do we respect age, or is it irrelevant? Do we pick KD-M because it might well be a last chance for her, or ignore that completely?

Do we say that Bourdon (23) and Bern (22) can afford to wait?

Do we limit ourselves to this year’s performances or allow ourselves a glance back over glittering careers?

Do we say ‘once and once only’, thus omitting Cocksedge from consideration?

We will find out on Sunday evening.

The nominating panel comprised Melodie Robinson, Danielle Waterman, Liza Burgess, Lynne Cantwell, Fiona Coghlan, Gaëlle Mignot, Jillion Potter, Karl Te Nana and Stephen Jones.