Full back
Santiago Carreras (Gloucester) Plenty of quality contenders – Sale’s Joe Carpenter, Northampton’s George Furbank and Bristol’s Rich Lane – and I was also tempted to hand Alex Goode a well-deserved retirement gift. But Carreras has been an absolute joy to watch and central to Gloucester’s attacking reinvention. For a snapshot check out the try he helped to start and then finished against Sale at Kingsholm in January. The prospect of him linking up with Finn Russell at Bath next season is mouthwatering.
Right wing
Tommy Freeman (Northampton) A season to remember for a fine player who continues to improve. There are quicker right wingers around – Saracens’ Tobias Elliott, Exeter’s Paul Brown-Bampoe and Leicester’s Adam Radwan have all caught the eye – but none with Freeman’s all-round instincts, aerial ability and deceptive strength. Fifteen tries in his past 12 games of the season for club and country is not the worst springboard into this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour.
Outside-centre
Kalaveti Ravouvou (Bristol) The 26-year-old Ravouvou has featured in a variety of positions this season but has to be included somewhere on this team sheet. Eleven tries in 13 Premiership games – he missed the start of the campaign – tells only part of the story. Give him the ball and something special tends to happen, as underlined by his extraordinary back-handed offload to set up Gabriel Ibitoye for a try against Leicester in April. Pips his Bears teammate Benhard Janse Van Rensburg and Bath’s sadly injured Ollie Lawrence.
Inside-centre
Seb Atkinson (Gloucester) England have been looking for young players with the skillset to fill the pivotal 12 jersey and Atkinson, still only 23, has all the necessary attributes. Strong, fit and dextrous he featured in all Gloucester’s league games, contributing seven tries, and must be pushing strongly for a first Test cap on tour this summer. Suddenly, with Sale’s Rekeiti Ma’asi-White and Bath’s Max Ojomoh also in the frame, Steve Borthwick has intriguing options.
Left wing
Gabriel Ibitoye (Bristol) Yes, he makes the occasional howler. Yes, he sees things differently. But Ibitoye did not finish this season as the league’s joint top scorer by accident and, with the Bears preparing to face Bath in Friday’s semi-final, he is not finished yet. Almost ridiculously elusive and with an astute eye for a gap, he just needs to tighten up his defence a notch. Ollie Hassell-Collins, Cadan Murley and Arron Reed are all unlucky.
Fly-half
George Ford (Sale Sharks) Overlooked by the British & Irish Lions but not by everyone else. While the past few seasons have had their frustrations he has been consistently influential for the Sharks this year, particularly when you dig deeper into the stats. Leaving aside the Saracens fixture in September – when he limped off after six minutes – Sale have won all but one of the other 11 league games he started. Food for thought for his former club Leicester this weekend.
Scrum-half
Tomos Williams (Gloucester) Ben Spencer has enjoyed another fine season for Bath and Alex Mitchell remains a class operator. In common with Carreras, though, it is impossible to overlook the whirring dynamo who has sparked Gloucester’s fast and furious attacking rugby. Williams started all but one of the Cherry & Whites’ games and his no-look basketball-style scoring pass to Seb Atkinson against Bristol was among the season’s defining images.
Loosehead prop
Francois van Wyk (Bath) Francois who? This is probably a record because Van Wyk has started 13 of his 17 Premiership games this season on the bench. But once he rumbles on to the field as a specialist second-half replacement there is mostly only one outcome: the Bath pack crank things up and the opposition slowly have the life squeezed out of them. Will receive nil publicity outside north-east Somerset before this week’s semi-final, but a vital cog in the Bath machine nevertheless.
Hooker
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Sale Sharks) Could easily have gone for Northampton’s Curtis Langdon or Bath’s Tom Dunn, neither of whom have taken a backward step all season. Nathan Jibulu, bound for Sale from Harlequins, also looks a serious prospect. But Cowan-Dickie’s career revival following a worrying neck injury has been remarkable and his recent form has also helped to drive Sale’s late-season challenge. Will fancy denting a few Wallabies on the Lions’ tour of Australia.
Tighthead prop
Thomas du Toit (Bath) The Springbok rock upon which Bath’s table-topping season has been based. Every top side needs an immovable object at tighthead and Bath have not lost a league match in which Du Toit has started since the season’s opening weekend. Among the nominees for player of the season and must have a decent chance of claiming the top prize on behalf of unsung front-rowers everywhere. Has also helped his teammate Will Stuart raise his game to the next level.
Lock
Maro Itoje (Saracens) Newly married, captain of the British & Irish Lions and now – drum roll – selected in the Breakdown’s team of the season for a second consecutive year. Amid his myriad other commitments he has started 14 league games and has not been substituted by either club or country in any fixture since the end of September. That kind of durability and mental strength continues to set him apart.
Lock
Ollie Chessum (Leicester) Another potentially valuable Lion-in-waiting. Chessum is becoming as much of a talisman for Leicester as Du Toit is for Bath. The Tigers have lost only one league game this season in which their 24-year-old England forward has featured; if he can stay fit he should have a long and successful Test career. His battle against Sale’s bruising forwards will go a long way towards determining Saturday’s semi-final.
Blindside flanker
Ted Hill (Bath) What a vintage season it has been for back-row forwards. Sale’s Tom Curry, Saracens’ Juan Martín González, Northampton’s Alex Coles (how good was he in the Champions Cup final?) and Josh Kemeny are all high-class operators but Hill, regularly overlooked by England, has been consistently outstanding. He can operate in the second row, soar high in the lineout, tackle like a tank and sprint like a back; not since the rampaging Tom Croft has a towering back-rower possessed such devastating pace.
Openside flanker
Henry Pollock (Northampton) Plenty of alternative options here as well, led by Ben Curry at Sale, Sam Underhill and Guy Pepper at Bath and Will Evans at Harlequins. But Pollock, black headband and all, has gatecrashed the England team, played in a Champions Cup final and made the Lions squad aged 20. Can also operate at No 8, where his pace off the base makes him dangerous, while his turnover ability and penchant for irritating opponents make it impossible for him to be overlooked.
No 8
Tom Willis (Saracens) Made a storming start to the season and, despite also representing England and England A, possessed sufficient energy and stamina to feature in 16 of Sarries’ 18 league games. Not his fault that Saracens could not quite make the playoffs but at least it gives him a slight respite before England head off on tour to Argentina and the United States. Seven tries for club and country was his best return in a season since 2020-21, when he scored eight for Wasps.
