Antoine Dupont is 5/1 to match Brian O’Driscoll’s record of three player of the Championship awards having previously picked up the award in 2020 and 2022.
Incredibly Dupont was the first Frenchman to win the award since it was introduced in 2004 when a panel of experts voted for him.
Ireland players dominate the list with seven out of the 19 winners (37%) and the odds are stacked in their favour again as favourites to win the Six Nations title.
To date, the Player of the Championship has come from the Championship-winning team on nine occasions out of 19.
Tadhg Beirne normally gets through a ton of work, whether he is at lock or in the back-row, and his ability to steal ball at the breakdown and at the lineout allied to huge tackle numbers means he’ll be one to keep an eye on at 16/1.
One anomaly is the lack of English players on the celebrated list. England have won the title four times since 2004 yet the only time an Englishman has won it was in 2014 when they finished second to Ireland.
Mike Brown was the man of the moment then and is one of three full-backs to have been honoured in this way along with Leigh Halfpenny and Stuart Hogg, who went back-to-back in 2016-17.
Centre is the position with most Player of the Championship awards but the data is skewed a bit by the fact as three of those were claimed by O’Driscoll.
Whilst an absence of props is no surprise the absence of a hooker, No.8 or fly-half is, especially the latter given they normally collect Player of the Match awards at will.
France No.8 Gregory Alldritt has pocketed a few of those in his time and is third favourite at 10/1 to get the ultimate accolade this time around.
If you’re looking for value, France’s Julien Marchand might be the man to get hookers on the board. The Toulouse player has been in outstanding form this season and having broken his Test try-scoring duck at the 22nd attempt against Australia in November, he’ll be hungry for more.
France don’t score a huge amount of maul tries but if he can combine his excellent play in the set-piece and in the loose with one or two scores, he’ll be in the mix. As it is, the 80/1 offered by Boyle Sports looks like an absolute steal, especially as he is as short as 12/1 elsewhere.
The absence of goal-kicking fly-halves and the antipathy shown towards England candidates in the past, puts us off going for Owen Farrell, a 20/1 shot, but if you are looking for another outsider don’t discount Italy’s Ange Capuozzo, who is 50/1 with Boyle Sports.
Capuozzo may play for basement battlers Italy but his name is one on everyone’s lips right now and a few good performances and a couple of tries and assists and he could join Andrea Masi in the select club.
Masi won the award in 2011 when Italy propped up the table.
In summary:
- By nationality: Ireland 7, Wales 5, Scotland 3, France 2, England 1, Italy 1
- An Ireland player has won it 37% of the time.
- By playing position: Centre – 5, Full-back – 4, Winger – 3, Flanker – 3, Lock – 2, Scrum-half – 2
- No front-row forward, No.8, or fly-half has ever won the accolade.
- By team finishing position: 1st. – 9, 2nd – 5, 3rd – 1, 4th – 3, 5th – 0, 6th – 1
- Title winners supply the Player of the Championship 47% of the time.
