Italy international Tommaso Menoncello has been named player of the 2024 Six Nations. Photo: Timothy Rogers/Getty Images
Italy center Tommaso Menoncello beats Ben Earl to become the youngest winner of the men's Six Nations tournament.
Menocello, midfield star and the Azzurri's best striker The Six Nations campaign to date has won 33 per cent of the 146,000 fan votes to take the coveted prize ahead of England eighth man, Ireland center Bundy Aki, and Scotland striker Doohan van der Merwe.
Although Italy finished fifth in the final table, two wins and a draw marked their best championship record ever, with Menoncello becoming the second Italian, after Andrea Masi in 2011, to be named player of the championship. Michele Lamaro, captain of Menocello, was named on the open side in the championship team.
Menoncello, who was born in Treviso and now plays for his hometown club Benetton, was unveiled as a 2024 Championship player in a surprise presentation at his team's training ground with Italian federation president Marzio Innocenti and teammates Lamaro and Ignacio Brex. , and head coach of the Italian national team Gonzalo Quesada are all present. Menoncello's partnership with Brex was one of the highlights of the championship.
“It’s a huge surprise and an honor to be named the Men’s Six Nations Championship Player of the Year by Guinness World Records,” Menoncello said. “It’s really special to represent my country and wear the Italy jersey with my friends and teammates. It's a dream come true to deliver performances that we hope will inspire fans.
“Winning this award is testament to the achievements of the entire Italian team and a sign of the exciting journey we are on in Italian rugby. I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches and passionate fans. I would also like to congratulate all the other nominees for this award. We play an incredible but difficult sport, and awards that recognize the dedication and sacrifice of each player mean a lot.”
Your Championship Team of 2024! 😤🌟#GuinnessM6N | #TeamoftheChampionship 🔥 pic.twitter.com/5TzAKaMdv2
— Guinness Six Nations Men's Team (@SixNationsRugby) April 5, 2024
In addition to Menoncello and Lamaro, the tournament's Six Nations team includes the only Englishman, Earl; two Scots – Finn Russell and Van der Merwe; two Frenchmen – Uini Atonio and Thomas Ramos, the rest are Irish, including Aki in midfield.
Menoncello was great, but not the best player of the tournament
Anyone who regularly reads Telegraph Sport's rugby coverage or listens to the Telegraph Rugby podcast will know that I have made no secret of my appreciation for Tommaso Menoncello, the cannonball at the heart of the Italian midfield.
Menocello had an excellent championship among the best in Italy, but the Azzurri finished fifth. I don't want to argue with 33 percent of the 146,000 votes, but was the Italian center, good as he was, really better than any Irishman as Ireland were one phenomenal upset away from an unprecedented back-to-back Grand Slam?
< p>Continuing down the Italian route, Menoncello's midfield partner Juan Ignacio Brex created just as many exciting chances in a superb Italian Six Nations rearguard. Few in world rugby can time a pass like Brex, and the center deservedly won man of the match honors in the wins over Scotland and Wales. However, the center wasn't even nominated.
But the Irishman on the shortlist, Bundy Aki, may feel rightly slighted. Not that the players paid too much attention to such matters, but Ireland eventually won the championship comfortably and Aki seemed to pick up where he left off at the World Cup.
Ben Earl also has a strong case, given that he put in one of the standout individual performances of the team championship.
But it was Menoncello's fashionable sentimentality, representing Italy's rise from outsider to perhaps laggard, that made the center home.
And thighs are like tree trunks – that always helps.
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