On Monday the nominees for the Nevin Spence Young Player of the Year Award were announced.
The nominees were James Ryan – the 21-year-old lock who has yet to lose a game of professional rugby – Jacob Stockdale – the winger that became only the second player in the 137 year history of the Four/Five or Six Nations to score multiple tries in three consecutive games – and Jordan Larmour – the full-back that did this to Munster on Saint Stephen’s Day.
Straightforward selection right?
The winners of these awards are never really followed by any great fanfare but it will be interesting to see how the players view three of the most outstanding talents to enter Irish Rugby in sometime.
Larmour will be a distant contender given the fact that he failed to start any of Ireland’s Six Nations matches while he remains on the sidelines of Leinster’s Champions Cup matches, but Ryan and Stockdale have had two of the most impressive debut campaigns that Irish Rugby has ever seen.
How do you separate the two? The rugby players of Ireland will have to ultimately decide between the two but here’s a case for each player in the interim.
James Ryan
Alarm bells rang loudly when Ryan was included in Ireland’s tour of the USA and Japan as a 20-year-old last summer.
The Leinster lock had captained the Ireland U20’s to a historic victory over New Zealand at the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in the summer of 2016, but apart from that small feat, he had played for his country before he had made his senior debut for his province.
When he eventually made his senior debut for Leinster, he received just 21 minutes off the bench against the Dragons.
Leinster won that game and have won every single game that he’s featured in since.
Part of that streak has to do with the eastern province producing a ridiculous crop of young players alongside him, but another part of it has to do with the presence of Ryan and just how good he’s been.
A standout for Ireland in the Six Nations, Dan Leavy has carried his form into the Champions Cup…
A try he started a finished, excellent score from the Leinster's number 7️⃣ pic.twitter.com/CyndSn4sbu
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 1, 2018
The 21-year-old frequently topped both tackle and carry counts for Ireland and was always one of the first names Joe Schmidt mentioned at his post-match press conferences.
He was the first player the New Zealander mentioned when asked who had impressed him in the win over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium last month, and unsurprisingly, Schmidt already knew the extent of the amount of work he got through.
“There were a couple of players who worked incredibly hard,” said Schmidt.
“James Ryan was immense again. I think he had 13 tackles and 13 ball carries. CJ Stander had 12 tackles and 12 ball carries, Garry Ringrose had 90 running metres and 11 tackles; covered the ground incredibly well for a guy that’s probably not up to full fitness yet. But I thought he was super.”
Ryan was super this season. Whether it was his carrying, his tackling, his movement in the line-out or his offloading, which caused opposition teams nightmares on more than one occasion, he was immense and already has multiple former internationals talking about him as a potential 100-cap player.
He doesn’t turn 22 until the end of July and he’s already one of the most complete players in the country.
Jacob Stockdale
Jacob Stockdale is not a complete player – his defensive lapses against both Teddy Thomas of France and Larmour of Leinster earlier this season were well documented – but he has still scored nine tries in 17 games for Ulster, 11 tries in nine games for Ireland and has a Six Nations Player of the Year award to his name from what has been one of the all-time debut seasons by any international player, Irish or otherwise.
Where do you start with Stockdale?
Do you begin by looking at the intercept tries against Scotland and Wales? The chip and chase against England to ultimately seal the Grand Slam? The intercept, fend and rounding of Jayden Hayward against Italy?
Stockdale has scored a wide array of tries at pivotal times against important opposition. That matters. They’re not a couple of easy scores against Canada or Fiji, and even when they are against Italy, they’ve been spectacular tries.
Brian O’Driscoll, Denis Hickie and Tommy Bowe – the players that rank first, second and third respectively on the list of Ireland’s all-time top try scorers – crossed for five tries through their first 18 combined games in international rugby. Stockdale scored six tries in his first six games and has only improved his strikerate since.
Bowe referred to him as a true finisher during the Six Nations and he is – whether it’s chipping the ball over Mike Brown before regathering and scoring, stepping Hayward in cover defence or cutting back inside the Scottish defence to score on the shortside – Stockdale has the chance to become Ireland’s greatest ever try scorer if he can sustain his form and stay injury free.
His defence should improve over the next few seasons but as it stands it’s hard to separate his season with Ryan’s. They’ve both had spectacular campaigns.
Stockdale will make the highlight reels while Ryan will be less of a target in the video analysis room and that may be the difference.
Two great players with outstanding careers ahead of them and the potential to add more silverware to an already trophy-laden campaign.
ZURICH PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2018
Keith Earls Munster
Tadgh Furlong Leinster
Conor Murray Munster
Jonathan Sexton Leinster
NEVIN SPENCE YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2018
Jordan Larmour Leinster
James Ryan Leinster
Jacob Stockdale Ulster
VOLKSWAGEN TRY OF YEAR 2018
Andrew Conway Munster v Toulon Champions Cup
Jacob Stockdale Ireland v Wales NatWest Six Nations
CJ Stander England v Ireland NatWest Six Nations
THE MASON ALEXANDER SUPPORTERS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2018
Voted by the public via https://www.rugbyplayersireland.ie/
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