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The year 2015 could well turn out to be height of Americas players’ impact in European club rugby. With Super Rugby drawing most of Argentina’s stars back home and PRO Rugby on the horizon in the United States, selections for Club Player of the Year in 2016 should have a very different look. As it was, there was no shortage of exceptional exports that caught our eye. Here are our top four.
HONOURABLE MENTION
It’s a terrible shame that we didn’t get to see Taylor Paris light up the World Cup. Canada’s worst fears were well and truly realised when he suffered a serious knee injury in his only test appearance of the year. Agen’s fans were no less traumatized after losing their premier winger for the start of their return to the Top 14. Paris has been outstanding for the French club since signing from Glasgow in 2013. He scored 12 tries 27 starts in the 2014-15 season and was nominated for Pro D2 Player of the Year for his part in the promotion of Les Agenais. The wunderkind’s return to the field can’t some soon enough.
The biggest prize in European rugby is the Champions Cup, and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe is one of two Americas players – along with Juan Martín Hernández – who can lay claim to that prize in 2015. The Pumas stalwart spent most of the first half of the season injured or on international duty, but returned just in time to take part in Toulon’s record-setting third consecutive European title, coming on as a reserve in the Cup final. Fernández Lobbe has now called time on his international career, which should be good news for Toulon as they fight to stay atop the increasingly contentious apex of European rugby.
There’s good reason why Samu Manoa was lauded as the biggest prize in the off-season sweepstakes when Toulon announced his signature in November 2014. The giant Eagles forward has been the most destructive forward in the Premiership since he joined Northampton Saints in the summer of 2011. Manoa has found a home in the RCT second row, and has proved more than a bosher. His work in the set piece is as important as his physicality, and if one were to name a cross-European XV tomorrow, it would be near impossible to leave out the California Colossus.
THE WINNER
Chris Wyles is the type of player that ever club wants on their roster. He has the versatility to excel across the backline and is a true professional. He just never seems to have a bad game. This past season was the finest in the professional career of the US Eagles captain, with a league-leading 13 tries scored, a Champions Cup semi-final, and of course a try-scoring Premiership final victory with Saracens. His 2015-16 season has also started with a bang, touching down four times already in only three Champions Cup matches as Saracens continue to be one of the leading forces in European rugby. Chris Wyles is our 2015 Club Player of the Year.
