Halfbacks | Squidge Rugby Team of the Year 2021
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- Опубліковано 19 жов 2024
- The brains of the operation. In 2020, it was an all-French affair as Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack ran the dream team show. Will they repeat the feat in 2021, or is there a different duo in town?
If you've enjoyed any of the channel's content, you can also support Squidge Rugby on Patreon by visiting / squidgerugby , so I can afford things that aren't stickered 'Ali Price'.
Good to see Ali Price and Finn Russell get the recognition they deserve. They both really did add a sense of maturity to their game in 2021 and became reliable starting half backs rather than just sparking creative players tasked with coming off the bench.
"Lil piss boy himself, nick white " that cracked me up 😂
I can see where you would say Dupont wasn't as good this year given what we've seen from him before. But honestly even at 80/90 % he is still better than most 9s out there.
As a biased frenchman, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined
Zoot alors! DuPont was by far better than everything!!! From un ex scrum half Anglais.
@@thecapn1000 good one
That’s the most magnificently French comment I’ve seen on here. Encore! Magnifique!
@@douglasstewart3889 Agreed !
As a South African, somehow I'm also disappointed it wasn't Dupont.
I love watching the French Women trio Bourdon/Sansus/Drouin play. When you realise they are only in their mid-twenties it promises some fun years to come
Those absolute nutjobs are so much fun
Garbisi singlehandedly chucked Pollard out of that Montpellier 10 shirt 💀. Obviously injury didn’t help Pollard but you feel the club see Reinach and Garbisi as their future 9 and 10.
That's a pretty outrageous combo. Should be some fun rugby on the way.
I don't disagree with Squidge's selection of Barett, but I don't think there's anyone in the world I'd rather play with than Finn Russell. But not likely to happen as I'm a 54 year-old American.
felt like Ali price went from a good attacking scrum half who made too many mistakes to a genuine world class scrum half overnight. such a great year
So glad Ali Prices six nations was recognised on here, same with Chris Harris in the previous video. Two players most seem to overlook but both had incredible years.
Just come back from seeing bath finally win at the rec to now a squidge rugby vid, day complete.
As a Scotsexual myself I fully understand and approve you choosing Ali Price as scrum half of the year !
Also, I know club performance doesn't rank as highly as international but AJ MacGinty was incredible for Sale. Made the Sale attack tick and provided a vital bit of inspiration as Sale qualified for the Premiership semi finals for the first time in 15 years. When he didn’t play for Sale and Rob Du Preez played at 10, Sale looked half the team they were with MacGinty, especially in that Premiership semi final when unfortunately he was injured. Sadly, this brilliant season coincided with Marcus Smith's superstar breakout year for Harlequins but I'd say AJ is probably the second best fly half in the Premiership right now. Potentially third depending on how you rate George Ford.
I'd safely say AJ is the most underrated 10 in the premiership. The 9 and 10 combo of Faf and AJ was what made Sale last season and without them you can see there's a lack of attacking drive
My issue with AJ is purely he is better than the other Sale backs. You can see what he wants to do, and if he had better players around him more of it would come off. But due to being a level above sometimes he can get caught out, as no one has read what he is trying to do. Hopefully it goes better at Bristol. He is just as good as Smith or Ford in the premiership.
Huge fan of AJ, shame he was injured for so much of this year, really missed watching him with Sale and the Eagles.
This. We will miss him sorely despite Ford coming in
Are you going to reference a red card against wales every video? ;D
Good selections. People will gripe because that's what youtube fans do, but both players were consistently excellent all the way through the year.
Hopefully, we'll see the likes of Randall and Smith pushing hard for next years list.
THANK YOU for mentioning Ruben de Haas. The kid is incredible, and importantly he and AJ McGinty were not playing in the US vs New Zealand test, meaning the 9-10 combo was off. Instead the US had Nate Augsberger at nine, who by and large did a very good job (he scored the first try the Eagles have ever scored against the All Blacks), but who primarily plays wing, and with good reason. I dunno, I'm hoping McGinty gets released by Sale when he gets healthy again because a de Haas and McGinty halfback combo for the remainder of qualifying and into the World Cup sounds like pure magic.
i was so looking forward to see how AJ would go against the ABs
you can be talking about international rugby all you want, when it comes to defending, dupont is literally like a 9th forward, he was insane wih France + he won top 14 and european championship, and is carrying Toulouse since the start of the new season, its just the need to put someone else than dupont because the choice is not even a question.
You're right but i think the top 14 was not broadcasted in the UK last year (maybe every year too? Idk...). Most of the time people only see french sides with the european cup. But the way Dupont carries Toulouse is unfathomable.
Ntamack at fly-half is dangerous 🔥
never heard squidgemeister general be so positive about scrum halves before, thought he (correctly) despised them. great pics as always
Dupont is by far the n°9 of the year and the best player in the world at the moment.
Already know this will be a class video
I do think your choices are great all the time, and i know this is biased towards international play but please, have you seen dupont play this year for toulouse? I mean even for france he was possibly better than Price so like how?
Considering he's been in Squidge's team for the last two years and he won World Rugby player of the year, I reckon Squidge thought Dupont was too obvious a pick to choose. Picking Ali Price is much more of a Rugby edge lord choice 😂 I say fair play Ali Price, I'm willing to let him have this one. I'm just glad that Dupont won World Player of the Year, definitely deserved it 👏
true, i do get it, but then again farell did get a spot three years on the run from 18-20. but i also feel it gives less credibility to the rest of the squad, even though the choices are pretty good
@@fraserposford144 Spot on, Dupont's got enough honorus and talked-about time, I didn't follow enough rugby to know Ali Price and it's thanks for this le'ts-put-dupont-aside attitude that I got to get to know him.
From France's UBB fan, also supporting Scotland, Wales (and whoever plays England).
He explained why, Dupont had a poor (for his standards) 6N, whereas Price was in career best form for Scotland and the Lions
@@achillerouot9238 Well try and remember that this isn't a best XV of the year, it's just a bunch of players that Squidge really enjoyed
Great video and astute analysis as ever. I totally agree Ali has been great this year, let’s hope he has a good 6N in a few weeks.
Good to see DC getting this recognition , and I thought it was just me seeing such.. Man is a BEAST
When everything with Toulouse and grew in leadership with the french national team, becoming captain!
My 10 would have been Finn Russel. As soon as i saw price i thought he would be ur no 2 and dupont with be ur no 1. When you mentioned Barret I was surprised cause he did not stand out to me as much as pervious years. Finn is the messiah LMAO
Finn is great but he wasn't totally at his best this year. Got carded twice in the 6 nations and was a bit off the boil. Was good for the Lions and seems to be getting back on form now. Hopefully it continues for the next few months!
@@Malky24 Tbf both cards were pretty unlucky, particularly the one against France and he actually had a pretty good six nations overall; though I do still think Squidge has got it right with his picks.
I wished you dropped a little note for Jalibert. He’s been quite outstanding last year
Hum... in which aspect? Which game? At a international level, he's done a good job at most.
That was bold, but well argued. Great vid as always ;)
“Little piss boy himself” 😂😂 I love it
Two Scotland players in the back line. My how far we have come….
Weird thinking about how we are one quality 12 and winger off of having one of the best back lines in the world (not thee best so don't worry non Scots)
3 if I remember correctly (Hogg, Harris, Price)
@@Malky24 Am
Malky24 I thought the same but squidge quiet rightly had Am at 13
C W think if redpath has a decent run at 12 that will help a lot. Graham could be that winger too maybe?
Breaks my heart to agree I don't think Mo'unga can flourish under Foster. That said, rather than wrestled away, he relinquished his hard won starting position when he stayed in New Zealand for the birth of his daughter
Mounga is the only 10 we have with the passing game that could unlock a rush defense but he’s going nowhere under foster
Mec tes vidéos me régalent 👍👍👍
Let me join the chorus : Dupont deserves the number 9 shirt in this list. He has been stellar, way above any other 9 in the world. Sometimes going with the obvious is the right call.
That has been true the vast majority of the time but not last year. Dupont had some genuinely poor games in the 6N. Price didn't.
At this point idk even care who makes the team I just love watching these videos😅🔥
I thought including Price was a bit of banter you'd pull down after 5 seconds, Dupont has just been on another planet last year.
Dupont by his own standards had some bad moments in the 6N for sure that said he was still well ahead of everyone else, he was literally in every team of the week/tournament of every major publications. He also won everything with Toulouse. Just to give you an example, this season, Toulouse has a 90% win rate with Dupont and 45% win rate without. I get that picking him a 3rd time would be a bit repetitive but no coach in the world would currently pick Price over Dupont.
this isn't a world XV...
no it's a team of the year, so quite similar
He explained in the first video that this isn't a world xv, so while I completely agree that no coach would pick Price over Dupont, that isn entirely irrelevant in the context of this team.
@@achillerouot9238 Not a best team of the year though. It'd not all about performance
So Squidge, you chose violence today. Good luck sweet prince.
I remember watching BOD's reaction to the Lions squad on some Irish youtube show and him just absolutely panning Price's selection. Couldn't understand why he'd gotten in, put it down to the fact that Townsend was fighting his corner rather than his play (he did this with most of the Scottish selections). Like he hadn't easily been the best 9 in the Six Nations. Madness.
look bod was a great player but he comes across as a clown a lot of the time after retirement
He was spot on, Harris and price had had solid 6N campaigns but shouldn't have been on the plane.
@@jeffrey89095 who would you have instead so? Can't say that and not give the replacement
Harris you could debate. Price isn't debatable. Only Lions qualified scrumhalf who came close to his level was Tomos Williams who *should* have been in ahead of Gareth Davies.
@@alexcooney1443 Care would be the most obvious and I'm not English so that pains me. Beyond that I'd have Gibson park too who had started ahead of Murray all 6 nations but somehow Murray went too?
Ali price did nothing notably wrong at all now ...he's just so god damn meh. Solid, quickish pass.
Just imagine a Squidge Barbarians XV take a real international side on.
That's Ali Price *clap clap*
careful Squidge. I've seen it in other sports. There's a moment when an analyst is getting attention that they get tempted to the dark side of making controversial hot takes to boost the engagement on their videos. Saying Dupont wasn't even the best at his own position this year is just mad ...
100% this
Yes I can't agree at all with Dupont not being the best this year. He's out of this world. Price has been good, smart...but it isn't enough, otherwise he would have been the best player of 2021.
There's no other way to be the best scrumhalf than to be the best at all, regarding what Dupont is capable of...
That's not what he's saying. Go back and watch the first video, or the videos of previous years. He is not selecting the player he thinks was the best in each position
@@rorybessell8280 came to say that too.
@@rorybessell8280 yeh definitely needs to go back and watch the first half of the first video (the back 3) then it starts to make alot more sense.
Care has been absolutely outrageous. Not sure anyone saw this coming at this stage in his career. Hard to see how England are passing up on someone in form with so much experience...
Yep, day just got better
Lifelong Ali Price fan: Yes. Yeeeeeeeesss.
I'm very disappointed that you didn't reference Samuel Marques, who plays 9 for portugal, and played some beautiful rugby this year.
Also personally I thought, Michael Baska was a better scrum half for the Eagles
What about Randall being up there with some of them names along with Arata, when he gets the game time at casters
It’s crazy how we’re all talking about the ABs as if they’ve fallen off, and yet as they do pretty much every year, they walked through the Rugby Championship.
im so confused here, DuPont gets IRB player of the year but doesn't get it here.?
I guess this is my selection of the team of the year:
1.Steven Kitshoff
2.Malcolm Marx
3.Tight Furlong
4.Eben Etzebeth
5.Maro Itoje
6.Pablo Matera
7.Ardie Savea
8.Micheal Hooper (c)
9.Antoine Dupont
10.Finn Russell
11.Makezole Mapimpi
12.Samu Kerevi
13.Lukanyo Am
14.Will Jordan
15.Stuart Hogg (vc)
Hooper and Savea should be switched around. Good team otherwise
@@Goldnb0y it's a great team, it's hard to argue with many of those choices as the best team in the year this year, but go back and watch the first video (the back 3), and try and choose a team based on squidge's criteria, and I think it actually starts to look quite different, it's also quite a fun challenge too. I'm putting mine together now. Looks quite different to a best team of the year.
@@Goldnb0y sorry. Replied to the wrong person haha.
@@Goldnb0y Well, Savea is originally a number 7 I dont think he should play number 8, number 7 is where he belongs plus Hooper is also a number 7 originally but he played number 8 for quit a while now (so did Savea but I trust him more at 7) And I could not leave Pablo Matera out, he is fantastic and is a flanker originally as well, he is also quit strong (like Savea) I just had to fit Hooper in there somewhere and it happened to be at number 8.
The fact Quade Godamm Cooper has forced his way even into the conversation of being one of the best in the world is really funny to me
I think Finn Russell and Marcus Smith deserve it more then Beauden Barrett, Barrett wasn't really shining that much last year honestly particularly against the springboks.
Russell and Smith might 'shine' in a more obvious sense, but when you break it down you realise p much everything that the ABs did in attack that worked came through BB. Not as flashy as the others, but maybe more important.
@@jbrossa6945 By Squidge's own admission the ABs attack was pretty shit this year. Beaudy was not bad by any stretch but he really didn't shine more than any of the flashy players in his game management
Even as a Scot I'd pick Barrett too. Russell wasn't at his very best, Smith hasn't had a *huge* amount of England gametime and Barrett has pulled off some stunning stuff this year.
@@jbrossa6945 No man yes Russell wasn't at his very best maybe but he is still one of the best flyhalfs in the world and Smith was one of the nominees of world rugby player of the year but Barrett wasnt also really at his best (except against Wales and maybe Australia)
@@jbrossa6945 Barrett was rattled a lot against the boks
I so badly wanted you to choose Dupont! Not because of his skills - we all agree he's incredibly talented - but because whenever you comment about him, you are both fucking accurate and amazingly funny 🤣!
Disappointed in no mention of the Lions tamer himself. MORNE STEYN!!!
Its very much a northern hemisphere viewpoint, as not a single word or honourable mention of a saffa
@@iceman777sa saffas are literally in the team 🤣🤣
Nice to see a positive comment for Ben Youngs. Can't remember anybody saying anything positive about him in many years.
Shame, I was hoping 9 would be Laure Sansus, but I guess Ali Price has been alright!
Next year (with the absolutely definitely 2021 don't check your calendar World Cup) I bet it'll be Claud McDonald or Mo Hunt, but personally my selection would have been Patricia Garcia, singlehandedly raised the standard of her national team by multiple levels and pretty much kept Ireland out of the RWC herself, not to mention being so so good for Exeter
I love you dude! But what??? Antoine Dupont by far man, come on
He explains in the video why Dupont was inferior to Price last year.
@@Quinefan price was absolutely awful on the lions tour, anonymous.
@@Quinefan he wasn't though
@@Quinefan imagne getting player of the year and not making it in the best 15
@@jeffrey89095 He was literally one of very few lions players who had a good tour?
Squidge so who do u think should be the playmaker in a team, the scrum half or the flyhallf?
Depends on whether the team plays off 9 or 10
@@louisv5345 But isn't it better when they play off 10, since the 10 has a better view on the backline and on the game compare to the scrum half
Dupont was absolutely A-MA-ZING! (against Italy) :-p
Love these vids
I am satisfied with the mention of Helena Rowland, my polite chat will not be needed now.
Hahah nice joke ! When will you upload the true video ?
Hey Squidge. Since Worcester just lost to Bath. Could you do a video on what Worcester need to do to improve. Love the videos have a happy new year.
Love all the salty Dupont tears here. It's an opinion list. Chill.
Forgot Mattieu jalibert, he has been proper solide for Bordeaux
and little pissboy himself ... nick white. couldnt hold my laughter .... good stuff
the things i’d do to see another Danny Care england cap
We don't need DC. He's had his day. We have a World Cup to win and it's just around the corner. We need quality in depth that can take us past the likes of SA, and DC isn't it.
No Dan fish mention?
is it just me or are the audio recordings a bit soft? @squidge I have to pump my volume on YT and my laptop to 100% and I still struggle to hear. Or maybe I'm getting old...
Think we have to talk about the year that saints’ 10, Dan Bigger , has had., phenomenal in my opinion
Can’t believe he didn’t even get a mention
Lions starting 10 all three test, saints star player and a 6N trophy???
@@ThistleThings Yet even though Squidge is an avid Wales fan, he didn't think Biggar merited consideration. That should tell you what you need to know.
I thought Biggar was lucky to tour with the Lions. His international form had been poor for a while, being regularly subbed off for Sheedy - who isn't all that great himself either. There's not much Biggar brings that Ford couldn't have done, and the latter brings added ability to play what he sees. Making him more of a threat than Biggar, who is very one dimensional.
Did he just go an entire halfback video without metioning the name Faf ONCE?
yes because faf has played about twice this year
He should
Still waiting for wales to beat New Zealand
Lol the level of dishonesty from Squidge is sometimes incredible. Antoine Dupont having a stellar year, 2nd in the 6 Nations, wins Top 14, wins European Cup, undefeated captain for France during the autumn, wins best player of the world = doesn't make the team because he made a couple of bad choices during the 6 Nations. Ali Price not winning anything and making mistakes = "you guys didn't watch him play".
Someone is starting to sound more and more like a cinephile trying to explain why "Citizen Kane" is a better movie than "The Dark Knight", just to disagree with the mass who can't understand the craft compared to a true specialist...
Or... Maybe this team isn't about who was best, it's Squidge pointing out the players he thought were excellent and that he enjoyed watching
@@rorybessell8280 Yes he made that point clear on the first video but then he's making a lot of biased / dishonest points to justify his choices.
But I'm not commenting to hate on the man, I like watching his content and I disagree a lot with his biased opinions but I also enjoy disagreeing with him it's just rugby 👍
Willie le Roux principle. Love it
Will you also do a referee of the year for us whistle blowers?
Can't believe you bottled it by not picking Garbisi :)
After seeing Scotland-France 6 nations 2022, and the masterclass that Dupont offered to Price , this video feels a bit weird indeed… ^^
As soon as I saw you chose Ali Price, I chuckled and rolled my eyes. The Books exposed how good he ..... isn't.
He's good, but Dupont is light years ahead, even on an average year.
Before watching this there are clear names for this category.
Whoah, wait....did you quote Joseph Campbell? These references are getting a bit high-brow.
How on Earth do you put Price over Dupont. That’s completely bonkers, he’s literally the best player in the world
I see wales getting red cards against them is gonna feature in every team of the year video
No mention of world champions. Perhaps they should remind the rest again of the fact that Pollard scored 22 points in a World Cup final. And Faf and Cobus possess more skill and speed between them than the rest combined.
I enjoy squidge.
I don't think Barrett had a very good year but in total fairness, most of the best 10 struggled at the international level this year (Mo’unga and Jalibert especially). Finn Russel is... Finn Russel : either the best 10 in the universe... or the worst :D But given the good dynamic of the Scots, I would have given the title to him this year... Next year is Marcus Smith's for sure !
Yes an American mentioned on the list!!!!!!
Dupont was definitely better than Ali Price.....weird analysis here by looking at a few 6 nations games.
Dupont is such a Well rounded player
And so à video clip is asking for à divorce. Squidge is now à bigger troll than both eddie jones and rassie erasmus
So sad for Dupont, it's seems that you don't look French rugby : the TOP14 and the champions cup (Both win byToulouse with Dupont) , you may be bias by the premiership
Not sure Price is the best pick given his performance on the lions tour. Much better 9s out there.
agree with he choice but sort of feel like handre polard got left out he didn't have his best year and made a few mistakes but I do think that he did still play well this year.
Tigers retrospective video please. Its hard to ignore qt this point.
Please if someone can put french subtitles on this channel it should be great !
can't understand why Care doesn't play for England,he's been the best 9 for years in the prem
Eddie Jones
Danny care and Eddie Jones had a disagreement about how they should play rugby a few years ago. Hence why he isn’t selected
needed stronger criteria on swaying the referees opinion as part of the 9's job. nic white would win then haha
Hahaha. Except for in the Scotland game, where he was more or less told to shut up. Haha.
Marcus Smith is great but I haven't really do anything all that unique or stand out that half a dozen other 10s can't do. Plus his D is pretty weak.
No denying Dupont's class, but I have to agree with Squidge he was not at his best. He let himself down a few times by being too casual or with simple lapses in concentration. Maybe he was still the best 9, even at 90%, but attitude has to be a factor in picking a team.
The best 10 in 2021 was....SANTIAGO CARRERAS
Clearly at #8?
Ngl I'm confused about Ali Price.. I accept Barrett but I would have gone for Marcus.. all respect towards u squidgey 🙌
Marcus does not carry the values of this sport. Disrespectful and arrogant.
@@numabertrand1737can u explain how he is disrespectful?
@@mr.codingmaster2 Sorry, may be not the right term but he has that kind of mocking smile, look and attitude and doesn't seem to keep a cool head. Talented but immature
@@numabertrand1737 Wtf are you on about?
He said it’s based off international mainly what has smith done for England
Nooooooooooooooo, not Ali Price, cmon man Dupont was player of the year.
Notwithstanding the fact that Player of the Year is nothing but a popularity vote, selected by often uninformed members of the public. Dupont was almost certainly on the short list this year because Covid interrupted his ability to win it last year, back when he actually was the best player in the world. This year he simply was not.
Nor was he the best Nine during the 6N, the best Nine during the Heineken Cup, nor even the best Nine in the Autumn either.
It's not all that surprising people refuse to accept this because 99.9% of those commenting probably haven't watched all these players all the way through the year.
But suffice to say, this year Dupont was not as impressive as he was last year. He simply wasn't.
To anyone who watched rugby last year, Dupont was not at the same level as the year previous - and he was quite often not as good as other Nines on other teams.
have you seen him with toulouse? the lines he picks, the passes, the kicks, the assists? plus did u see his game against italy in the 6N, and the rest of his tournament? i mean maybe he wasn't as good as 2020 on some levels, but overall he was still the best rugby player on the planet by far
@@achillerouot9238 Yes. He's an excellent player. Hype has unfortunately overtaken reality in the minds of some. He arguably wasn't even the best player this year. Last year? yes. This year? possibly not.
@@arthurwestcott5437 Have to partly disagree here mate. Dupont probably had his best year in 2021 with Toulouse. I get your feeling of him not being as great as in 2020 on the international pitch, and would explain that simply by the fact that all the teams playing against France in 2021 had simply one objective : focusing on Dupont and trying to prevent him from playing his rugby. And you know what? This is why France won almost all games he was playing in : the rest of the team has more room to play while defenses keep their eyes on Dupont !
@@arthurwestcott5437 Mate, I've watched Ali Price at certain matches in 2021 (1st&3rd test of the lions &Boks vs Scotland) he is very good and he somehow rattled the boks at certain aspects more than Coner Murray did but for me, Dupont is the best yes he wasn't as good as in 2020 but he was still amazing and fantastic he shined the most cmon man, u know it
Squidge rugby team of the year 2021 just on international matches*
Wallabies will finish higher than all blacks in the 2023 World Cup if Ian fosters stays
Entirely possible
Not sure how Johnny Sexton didn’t even get so much as a mention. Was his consistent self for Leinster and brilliant for Ireland. Various game winners yet again
Was he good enough to get selected for the Lions though? Think that may count against him
Too old and not good enough
Maybe he doesn't like selecting players who are made of glass
Made of glass? 🤣
You might wanna Rethink the lions tour. Farrell injured couldnt play the warm ups , finn injured and couldnt play the warm ups (you remember they had to pull Marcus Smith from the UK with a few days notice mid tour) and Biggar injured couldnt play and then injured during the last test which is the only reason Finn even got to play a test at 10. Now.... who is made of glass again? 🤔
Johnny is consistently solid, overly targeted BECAUSE of how good he is for the team it's well know by players, pundits and managers how scandalous is was that he wasn't picked for the tour
@@clintdit23 Johnny is an old man who barely finishes an Ireland game these days. The Lions tour was more of an exception if you look at the past few years, most of those players you mentioned always play the full 80, unlike Johnny.
Johnny was great, but continuing to select him is damaging Ireland at this point, they'll be stuck with no experienced 10s when he inevitably retires out of the blue. And he was by no means better than most other 10s in the 6 nations.