European Player of the Year longlist announced

here it is. French teams dominating, but 6 nationalities represented in the 15 selected so far.

Nick Abendanon (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
Steffon Armitage (RC Toulon)
Chris Ashton (Saracens)
Jamie Heaslip (Leinster Rugby)
Juan Imhoff (Racing Metro 92)
Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby)
Fritz Lee (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
Camille Lopez (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
Ian Madigan (Leinster Rugby)
George North (Northampton Saints)
Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro 92)
Aurélien Rougerie (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
Nicolas Sanchez (RC Toulon)
Dimitri Szarzewski (Racing Metro 92)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens)

The winner will be selected by a distinguished panel of rugby experts: Emmanuel Massicard (Editor, Midi Olympique), Stuart Barnes (Sky Sports/The Sunday Times), Alan Quinlan (Sky Sports/The Irish Times), Mick Cleary (Rugby Correspondent, The Daily Telegraph), Dimitri Yachvili (beIN Sports) In addition to the judges, the 40 clubs competing in Europe's top two competitions will also vote for contenders in the eventual shortlist, before the winner is announced directly after the EPCR's finals in London in May.

9 from top14
4 from AP
2 from Leinster

5 English (of which only 1 is considered for selection for England, although Joseph might find his way in given current injury crisis at 13)
3 French
2 Irish
2 Welsh
2 Argentine
1 Samoa

Pool Stage Form-guide

Nick Abendanon - rejuvenated following his move to France. Some brilliant counter-attacking during the pool stage and top of the Metres Made stats with 571.

Steffon Armitage - With the luxury of a gargantuan pack around him, Europe's turnover king has once again ruled the pool stage. He heads the Turnovers stats on 15 and has scored four tries into the bargain.

Chris Ashton - Last season's top try scorer in Europe, Ashton has once again been in razor sharp form crossing four times in Saracens' push to the quarter-finals.

Jamie Heaslip - The ultimate leader by example. The Leinster captain made an impressive 83 carries in his six pool games and only the evergreen Nick Easter of Harlequins made more.

Juan Imhoff - The electric Argentine wing was Racing's key strike runner in their impressive pool stage performance scoring five tries in five outings for the No 1 seeds.

Jonathan Joseph - Caught the eye in a sparkling Bath back division and was simply magnificent in the key away victory over Toulouse in Round 5.

Fritz Lee - Every side needs a go-forward merchant and No 8 Lee consistently makes the hard yards for Clermont. Was at the heart of the French club's defining Round 3 victory over Munster at Thomond Park.

Camille Lopez - If Clermont go all the way this season, Lopez will have made the difference. Intelligent game management and a solid place kicker, he has been unquestionably Europe's leading out half during the pool stage.

Ian Madigan - Top scorer in the Champions Cup to date with 80 points, Madigan may not yet be the finished article, but some of his attacking play this season has been sensational.

George North - The prototype modern back-three player. A threat from just about anywhere on the pitch and top of the Defenders Beaten stats with 24 from five games. Also a mere seven tries including four against the Ospreys in Round 2.

Jamie Roberts - Back to his direct, powerful best in the latter part of the pool stage and was outstanding for Racing in the Round 6 demolition of Northampton at Franklin's Gardens.

Aurélien Rougerie - 35 later this year, he remains Clermont's key influencer. Not quite as quick as before, but without him, the French contenders won't have the same inspiration.

Nicolas Sanchez - Clever and incisive, he has filled a problem position for the reigning champions since the retirement of Jonny Wilkinson.

Dimitri Szarzewski - The very soul of Racing's ambition. Aggressive, direct and as dynamic as ever with ball in hand and rowed in with a hat-trick of tries against Benetton Treviso in Round 5.

Billy Vunipola - Back to his barnstorming best for Saracens following a dip in form. Dominant in the comprehensive Round 5 victory over Munster.

Judging Panel: Emmanuel Massicard (Editor, Midi Olympique), Stuart Barnes (Sky Sports/The Sunday Times), Alan Quinlan (Sky Sports/The Irish Times), Mick Cleary (Rugby Correspondent, The Daily Telegraph), Dimitri Yachvili (beIN Sports)

Previous winners: Ronan O'Gara (Munster Rugby - best player of first 15 years of European club rugby tournaments); Sean O'Brien (Leinster Rugby) 2011; Rob Kearney (Leinster Rugby) 2012; Jonny Wilkinson (RC Toulon) 2013; Steffon Armitage (RC Toulon) 2014

Lee, Armitage, Lopez and Sanchez have been the standout players for me. Not really sure what North and Heaslip are doing on there tbh.

John Joseph for me, he's been sensational this year.

I have no idea how Ashton or North are in there though, no matter how much BT/Sky try to talk them up they've been average this year. Surprised Burgess has missed out!

Oh and Roberts off the back of one good game where his opposite number was concussed from about 50mins onwards? WTF?

NO Jonny Gray He has been fantastic this year.

Is this based on this years Champions Cup performances only? So only players from clubs who have reached the quarter finals will be considered? Not sure that I agree with that and I do think that there are guys who have been more consistent across all the pool games than Roberts, Ashton and North.

Also think it would have been respectful to put some of the standout players from the Challenge Cup in there.

Yappysnap disagree about Ashton being average. He's there because of his two strong performances at home vs Munster and Clermont where his tries were hugely influential.

Also it looks like this list is based only on teams still in the competition anyway.

Possibly Beshocked, and yes he's been good and done his job. But he's not really done anything special, Strettle is just as good to my mind and often smarter.

Amazed that there is no BT sport represenative on the panel.

What a load of nonsence - can we just give it to Armitage and be done with it.

He will need to be very very good to win in 2 years in a row.

Had he been available since the start of the campaign another player who should have been included is Francois Louw. Awesome last 2 rounds vs Toulouse and the weegies

Heaslip

The problem for the french sides is that they rotate so much so the best players don't always match with the most dominant sides.

Been really impressed with Nathan Hughes and Haskell at Wasps and Chris Masoe at Toulon. Cudmore was immense in the back to back with Munster too.

Heaslip is a fair enough shout on the basis of consistancy but am not really impressed by this list.

So many sides have lost more than one game so its hard to find players who've been consistant.

Cudmore, eh?
Agree he has played very well. Probably not the player of the Euro tournament, but I would like to see him get some recognition. He is one of my favourite players,

yappysnap wrote:Possibly Beshocked, and yes he's been good and done his job. But he's not really done anything special, Strettle is just as good to my mind and often smarter.

Ashton has been better in this competition than Strettle.

Both scored two tries vs Clermont but Ashton bagged two vs Munster and played well.

It wasn't just about the tries. Ashton caught the ball well and kicked well for territory, linked well in the backline. I thought he was one of the best Saracens players on the pitch.


Obviously Billy Vunipola got the plaudits with his massive ball carrying but it was mentioned in the post match analysis that his poor ball control from the back of the scrum prevented Saracens from making the most of their scrum.

Ashton is not a winger who makes searing breaks or smashes people with his size but he's got a poaching instinct and does seem to score against the big sides in Europe. He's the kind of winger that if the team is playing well - he'll continue to stick the knife into the opposition.

He's done this vs Clermont,Munster,Ulster,New Zealand,Australia,Italy, Scotland etc.

I still think Ashton has a lot to offer to England but only if they decided to utilise him properly.

Ashton was largely a bystander vs Clermont on the weekend through no fault of his own.

If George North is in it cannot be for his play for Northampton which has been good but not spectacular.

4 trys vs ospreys

quinsforever wrote:4 trys vs ospreys

That is one match.

he was quite good in it though

wingers can have quiet matches more easily than players in most other positions to be fair.