The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

Conor Murray: ‘You can usually process death.
But I feel Axel should be here’
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The next two years will tell how far money, in the form of the euro, yen and pound, is bellowing
rather than talking, asset stripping South Africa and Australia and forcing New Zealand to increase its
wage bill by more than half.
For much of the professional era, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia have occupied the top
three positions of the world rankings, winning seven of the eight World Cups between them, but while
the All Blacks end the year still on top, England have moved into second place and a strong Six
Nations will ensure Ireland dislodge Australia from third.
It is against this backdrop that the debate over the international fixture schedule should be conducted,
along with the issue of revenue sharing but it is typically partisan, which means there will be no
meaningful change, despite the potential implications in the next decade. Self-serving administrators
should beware of creating a vacuum to be filled by clubs with increasingly more money to spend.
That is for tomorrow. In the last Breakdown of the year, it is the time to look back and hand out a few
awards.
Team of the year
In terms of achievement, England stand out after going through the year undefeated. If the team to beat
remains New Zealand, the team of 2016 is England, grand slam winners and four-times victors over
the side who shoved them out of the World Cup, Australia. Under Eddie Jones, they have become
smarter and more self-reliant. They still have a way to go but players such as Owen Farrell, the
Vunipola brothers, George Kruis and Ben Youngs are looking top-drawer internationals, with George
Ford, Maro Itoje, Jonathan Joseph and Joe Launchbury very close behind. And then there are James
Haskell, Chris Robshaw, Dan Cole, Dylan Hartley and Mike Brown, veterans in comparison, who
have developed new rules of engagement. England’s depth will worry the All Blacks.
New Zealand rampaged through the Rugby Championship, making light of the loss of players such as
Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, with more than 800 caps between them, but at a time when the All
Blacks had broken the record for consecutive Test match victories for a tier-one nation and the word
invincible was being mentioned, Ireland blew them away in the Windy City.
A year ago, it was the northern hemisphere that was trying to locate its navel after a largely
dismal World Cup
There was a big gap between England, New Zealand and the rest. Australia may be third in the world
rankings but they had a sobering year after reaching the 2015 World Cup final, beaten three times by