Rugby News 2014 Shute Shield Team of the Year
by Brendan Bradford –
Last season’s inaugural Rugby News Team of the Year was a massive success and it’s that time of the year again.
The 2013 team (http://bit.ly/1sOFMHn) included the eventual Ken Catchpole Medallist, the season’s top-point scorer and a host of players who have since gone on to bigger and better things in Super Rugby, Sevens and overseas.
Like 2013, this was not a task undertaken lightly. Collectively, Jim Davis, Terry Smith, Paul Cook, Felicity Nethery and myself watched upwards of four games a weekend over the last four and a half months. We talk to coaches, players and administrators from all 12 sides in the competition on a regular basis and have written about every club on numerous occasions.
To be eligible for selection, players must have played a decent number of games this season. Five or six isn’t enough. This disqualified plenty of Super Rugby players who turned out for a few club games as well as various other age-group and Sevens rep