Six Rugby Championship players have gained recognition in the 2024 L’Equipe team of the year. Voted by fans of the French daily sports newspaper, the XV also has three Irish players along with a six-strong France representation headed up by Antoine Dupont – who received a whopping 5,034 of the 5,232 votes (96.22 per cent) for best scrum-half.
South Africa, the reigning back-to-back Rugby World Cup winners, finished the year as World Rugby’s No1 ranked side following a Rugby Championship title-winning season and their exploits were recognised by the inclusion of Cheslin Kolbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Eben Etzebeth in the L’Equipe XV.
The three All Blacks voted in were Will Jordan, Jordie Barrett and Ardie Savea and they were joined by Ireland’s Bundee Aki, Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter.
French players made up the remainder of the XV, with Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thomas Ramos joining Dupont in the back line. Up front, the three Les Bleus forwards named were Francois Cros, Emmanuel Meafou and Peato Mauvaka.
L’Equipe’s best XV greatly contrasted with World Rugby’s 2024 dream team where South Africa has seven players, Ireland four, New Zealand three and Argentina one.
L’EQUIPE TEAM OF 2024: 15. Will Jordan (New Zealand); 14. Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa), 13. Bundee Aki (Ireland), 12. Jordie Barrett (New Zealand), 11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France); 10. Thomas Ramos (France), 9. Antoine Dupont (France); 1. Andrew Porter (Ireland), 2. Peato Mauvaka (France), 3. Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), 4. Eben Etzebeth (South Africa), 5. Emmanuel Meafou (France), 6. Francois Cros (France), 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa), 8. Ardie Savea (New Zealand).