There have been plenty of Team of the Year picks thrown around in the last few weeks, World Rugby even had their Dream Team. So we thought we better do our own one, with the key distinction that we will try and properly define our criteria before we start.
So what is our selection criteria for the Gameline Sports Team of the Year 2025?
Players are selected based on 3 key metrics:
- Quality of performances in 2025 for club and country.
- Impact on the field. Greater weighting goes to performances in big games, particularly internationals.
- My personal biases. Sorry, I’ll try to be as balanced as possible, but like us all, I’m somewhat biased.
In short, I want to select players that have achieved a lot in 2025 and where possible, played plenty of games. As such, players like Antoine Dupont, who have missed most of the year with injuries, have not been considered. Although I still want to make sure we’re picking on quality over quantity. Hopefully the picks I’ve made make sense and are well argued, but inevitably this is an inexact science and if you disagree I’d love to debate it in the twitter comments section. Anyway, without further ado, the Gameline Sports’ Team of the Year for 2025:
THE STARTING XV
1 Ox Nche – Loosehead Prop
The first prop to be nominated for World Rugby’s Player of the Year award, the Sharks loosehead is redefining the position. Talk about impact, this guy dominates scrums, wins penalties and mixes it in the loose. Then off the field he is leading the way in making scrummaging sexy again – just go check out Ox, Bongi and Trevor Nyakane dancing on the bomalumz Instagram account, a wine and coffee company the three World Cups winners have set up.
I don’t think 2025 tops Ox’s 2024 season, but he is still absolutely the premier loosehead in world rugby.
2 Malcolm Marx – Hooker
Of course it’s Malcolm Marx at hooker in this team. He’s had a phenomenal year for the Springboks, playing more minutes than usual in many games as he’s just too good to take off. He’s a big, physical hooker who is extremely reliable at set piece, but he also feels like a back rower with the way he can jackal at the breakdown. Such an asset to have in any side. He’s been a world class player for a long time, but this has been his best season and it’s great to see him get the recognition he deserves as the World Rugby Player of the Year.
3 Thomas Du Toit – Tighthead Prop
Can play on either side of the scrum, a luxury for his coaches to have at their disposal, however good tightheads that can lock down a scrum and also add value in the loose are so rare. Du Toit gives you that and so he adds so much value as that right hand scrum pillar. He’s been brilliant for Bath for the last few years, a try machine when Bath get close to their opponent’s try line. This year he’s made that Springbok 3 jersey his own and has been a key component in the biggest, baddest pack on the planet.
4 Will Skelton – 2nd Row
So a lot of the Team of the Year selections you see floating around the internet and social media have the two Lions locks ahead of this Wallaby. When you look back though at the Lions Test Series, it’s hard to argue any lock was more influential than big Will Skelton when he was on the field. Sadly injuries and club commitments forced Skelton to miss a lot of the international calendar, but when he played, he was just so good. He totally transforms a pack from being competitive to outright physically dominant. Perhaps no front five player is more valuable to their teams than Skelton.
5 Tadhg Beirne – 2nd Row
It feels a bit odd putting Beirne in the 2nd row when his best performances of the year came wearing a 6 on his back. And quite frankly he played more like a 7 in those tests for the Lions, the way he was terrorising the Wallabies at the breakdown. Tadhg Beirne is such a wonderful rugby player. Not as big and imposing as his 2nd row partner in this side but he just does so many things so well. When it looked like he was out of the running for the Lions test side, he led the midweek team to a 48-0 victory against the AUNZ XV, in what was one of the best and most enjoyable performances I’ve ever seen from a Lions side. He then stepped up and delivered in the test series winning a very well deserved Player of the Series.
6 Peter Steph Du Toit – Blindside Flanker
One of the biggest conundrum’s selectors face is what type of player to pick at blindside flanker. Some opt for a Courtney Lawes type hybrid-lock that adds beef and set-piece nous, or others want a Dan Lydiate style tackling machine to hit rucks and do the dirty work, whilst others would prefer a hybrid-8 who can carry the ball like Jerry Collins. Whatever style you choose will affect the balance of the entire pack and sets the way your team operates. It’s a conundrum that must keep coaches the world over up at night pondering. That is except for Rassie Erasmus, who must sleep peacefully knowing he has the one man in rugby history who can do all those roles and does them at a world class level. Peter-Steph Du Toit is an alien. You would need to find a triage of superstars and combine them into one, just to create a comparison for this Springbok legend. A true once-in-a-generation player, who once again had a great year.
7 Fraser McReight – Openside Flanker
Over the last 20 years the 7 shirt in rugby has become synonymous with jackalling and breakdown turnovers. No one is better in the world than Fraser McReight at winning turnovers. He’s a machine and he gets the Wallabies out of trouble on so many occasions. If you need someone to save the day and win you a penalty when you’re under the cosh and defending your line then he’s the McReight man for the job – sorry, I know that was poor, I just couldn’t help myself. On a serious note, if we were work out how many points a penalty is worth to a team and then work out how many penalties McReight wins per game, he would probably come out looking like one of the most valuable rugby players in the world. It’s not just jackalling that he’s great at, he can also carry and tackle with the best of them. Australia going from Pocock to Hooper to McReight is crazy. I’m not sure any nation has produced a better trio of opensides as that.
8 Ardie Savea – Number 8
Indiana Pacers guard TJ McConnell says ‘playing hard is a skill’ and it’s hard to think of anyone better at playing hard than Ardie Savea. Not the biggest backrower in the game but you’d never know it the way he quite literally throws would-be tacklers off him. It can feel a little wrong when you see a forward who is faster and more agile than most the backs. But if you’re an All Blacks fan it feels oh so right. Savea is one of the game’s best athletes and as skilful as any forward you’ll find. Like any good backrower he’s a nuisance at the breakdown and gets his team out of holes time and time again. He’s been a top 5 player in the world for a while and doesn’t look to be going away any time soon.
9 Tomos Williams – Scrum Half
Ok so here’s a little curveball for you. I know, I know, you were thinking Dupont’s title as best scrumhalf in the world would go to Cam Roigard, or Jamison Gibson-Parks, or Cobus Reinach in the Frenchman’s absence. Thing is, I don’t think any of them have been as good as Tomos Williams this year. For Gloucester he has been one of the best players in club rugby, tearing up the PREM on his way to winning the PREM player of the season award. Do you know how hard it is to get Englishmen to vote for a Welshman for that award?
International rugby is a harder one to judge him on as he’s had to play in a horrible Welsh team. Opportunities are hard playing for Wales right now, although you can still see just how much class he has at times. He carried Wales hard in the Autumn, even if the results weren’t great. When he did get a chance to play in a stronger side though, he looked insatiable on the Lions tour. A hamstring injury cruelly preventing him from showcasing his skills in the test series. Still, he’s been exceptional this year and gets my nod for the team of the year.
10 Finn Russell – Flyhalf
I honestly don’t know why Finn Russell didn’t get World Player of the Year talk. Going into the Autumn I actually thought he would win the award. For Bath he was exceptional, helping them win the PREM and Challenge Cup double. For the Lions he was the best player on the field. When we talk impact, stepping up and looking a cut above in a Lions Series is about as big as it gets. He’s the best flyhalf in the world right now and have you noticed how the pundits have stopped describing him as a maverick? He’s still doing the brilliant moments of magic that earnt him that title, but he’s also one of the best game managers around. In the big games in 2025 he’s been the big name player to step up and own the moment. There may be a South African starboy hot on his tail, gunning for the title of the world’s best 10. But right now, that title belongs to a Scotsman.
11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey – Wing
And now we come to my number 1 player in the world in 2025. This try scoring machine has been on another level this year. In the 6 Nations he scored 8 tries in 5 games. A tally that none of the great wingers of years gone by have ever achieved. For Bordeaux he was the same, an unstoppable source of 5 pointers. Playing wing in a strong side that are putting up lots of points can often be a great way to score a lot of tries without actually having to do much, which is why it’s important to not just stat watch, but also use our eyes to judge players. Bielle-Biarrey passes the eye test with flying colours. So many of his tries this season have been tries that only he could have finished. They say speed kills, and for LBB’s opponents that is very much the case. The Bordelais flyer has been the best rugby player on the planet this year, impacting games in a way no one else can.
12 Len Ikitau – Inside Centre
Len Ikitau is just so good at rugby. He’s not the biggest inside centre around but you wouldn’t know it watching him play. He’s very strong and powerful but what I think makes him so effective is how committed he is to everything he does. Every action he makes on a rugby field is intentional and it means he has so many positive involvements throughout the 80 mins. He’s a dream centre to have in your team because he does everything well and he fronts up time and time again. He does everything well, carrying, distributing, defending. He’s not afraid to do the dirty work and then he’ll have moments of brilliance, whether it’s a busting run or a great offload. It’s actually shocking to me how many great players the Wallabies have to have had such a poor record in 2025.
13 Tommaso Menoncello – Outside Centre
Ok, so I’ve been a little cheeky here. I know Menoncello plays 12 most the time but as I said at the start, one of the criteria here is my own personal biases. I think I just wanted an opportunity to glaze one of the best players around, but I couldn’t put him in the 12 shirt ahead of Ikitau, who is also one of my favourite players right now. Menoncello is such a ridiculous athlete. He’s quick and agile but he also has superhuman strength that allows him to physically bully even the elite athletes that he meets at international level. Last year he won the 6 Nations player of the tournament at just 21 years old. This year he was nominated again but lost out to different 21 year old. He’s an absolute game wrecker in both attack and defence, whether he’s wearing 12 or 13 on his back. Like all great centres, he’s formed an exceptional partnership with the also excellent Ignacio Brex. When he gets to Toulouse next season the Top 14 and Champions Cup are going to be in serious trouble. If you can’t stop Stade Toulousain now, Menoncello is going to make things a whole lot worse for the chasing pack.
I also want to shout out Huw Jones and Jesse Kriel who have been the best out and out 13s this year. Jones is awesome in attack with so much speed and great chemistry with the guys inside him. Meanwhile Kriel has become just all round class, great at every aspect of a 13’s role.
14 Cheslin Kolbe – Wing
Forget rugby, is there a better sidestep on planet Earth than the one Cheslin Kolbe has devastated defenders with throughout his career. When we say a player’s sidestep could ‘beat you in a phonebooth’ it’s obviously an exaggeration — except with Kolbe it’s not. Not only can he move laterally without losing any speed, he also has an uncanny ability to send defenders the wrong way before he does so. Except of course for the times where he has defenders kissing the ground as he races past them. He’s a truly special attacking talent, of course, but his game is so much more than that. Defensively he’s exceptional, with quick decision making and fearless determination. Rassie Erasmus doesn’t care how big or small his players are, he cares if you can make dominant collisions because that’s what the Springboks demand. Kolbe never let’s his size act as an excuse and he wills his way to making those dominant tackles. His game is an inspiration and once more it’s been a pleasure to watch him play this year.
15 Damian Willemse – Fullback
This feels like a weird thing to say about a double World Cup winner, but Damian Willemse has always been a good player that you just feel could be even more special. Well this year it feels like he’s really delivered on his elite potential. He’s developed into one of the most reliable fullbacks defensively, sweeping up any problems and excellent under the high ball. His performance against Italy in November was a particular highlight of that part of his game. Then in attack he’s strong, skilful and quick, with a lethal sidestep. In the Springboks record win in Wellington against the All Blacks this year he was outstanding, leading an insatiable attacking performance. He’s been the best fullback in the world this year.
THE BENCH
16 Dan Sheehan – Hooker
Dan Sheehan is really unlucky to not be starting for this team. Coming off an ACL injury, he’s shown no rust in 2025, immediately returning with an impact. On the Lions tour he showed just how classy he is as a player. This wing/hooker hybrid athlete is crucially reliable at set piece and then offers something very few hookers can in the loose.
17 Ellis Genge – Loosehead Prop
Watching Ellis Genge in the PREM is actually ridiculous. He makes it look like men against boys the way he blasts through defenders with pace and power. He’s not quite as laughably dominant at international level but he still gets England so much go forward ball. He’s starting to develop into a really good scrummager as well now.
18 Wilcow Louw – Tighthead Prop
There really is just a lot to be said for being 145kg. He’s just so big. How are opposing looseheads meant to move a man that big at scrum time? There are a few monster props out there though, and not all of them are great rugby players. Size alone can’t do it and Louw has developed a skillset that can help his team in all aspects.
19 Maro Itoje – 2nd Row
It’s been an incredible year for Maro Itoje and I really feel he would have been an excellent choice for BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. For the last few seasons I’ve felt English fans have criminally underrated how much Itoje does for their team. This year, as a captain that’s led England to 11 wins from 12 and led the Lions to just their 2nd test series victory this century, it finally feels like he’s getting the recognition he deserves. He also got married this year in what might be the most stylish wedding I’ve ever seen. It really has been an amazing 2025 for Maro.
20 Jac Morgan – Backrow
No one wanted to say it during the 6 Nations because Wales lost 5 from 5, but Jac Morgan was the best player in that tournament not called Louis Bielle-Biarrey. I don’t know how he does it. He has so many involvements in the game, with tackles, carries, turnovers and clearouts. But he’s not just working hard. Ever carry seems to make metres and so many of his tackles are dominant hits. On the Lions tour the wider rugby public finally saw how good he is.
21 Cobus Reinach – Scrum Half
This has been Reinach’s best season of his career and he’s made that starting 9 jersey for South Africa his own. He’s been excellent as a game manager and all round quality scrum half, but the thing that sets him apart is that game breaking moments he’s had. His try against France is a prime example of a world class player sensing an opportunity and before you know it South Africa have 7 more points on the board.
22 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu – Fly Half
What a year it’s been for rugby’s newest superstar. It’s been obvious to anyone that watched him play over the last few years that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu would become a world class player for the Springboks, but even I am shocked at how fast he’s developed. No one has a better highlight reel than the URC’s player of the season in 2025 and his performance against Argentina in The Rugby Championship is one of the best individual showings ever.
23 Will Jordan – Back Three
It wouldn’t be a Team of the Year if there wasn’t Will Jordan in it somewhere. If I had to sum up Will Jordan in 3 words, they would be tries, tries, and I’d probably go tries again. He just scores so many tries. Rugby is a game all about scoring more points than the opposition, so having a guy that scores pretty much every game feels like a great addition to the team.