IRB Player of the Year Nominations

So the nominations for this rather odd award are upon us once more, let's not forget they managed to shortlist one Owen Farrell not so long ago. Seems a straight fight between Halfpenny and Read, but who would the BR England award go to?

kieran read without a doubt. If i were to rank them I'd go:
Kieran Read
Leigh Halfpenny
Ben Smith
Eben Etzebeth
Sergio Parisse

Halfpenny, has had a monster year, especially with the lions.
my ranking:

Halfpenny
Read
---- gap ----
Smith
Parisse
Etzebeth

I voted for Louw in the actual competition. However, some people would say I'm biased. Gone for Read on here.

Leigh!

Halfpenny just the one vote behind Read now, and I pretty much thought Read would get 100% of the vote

Read it was, probably fair but still think it should have been Leigh

Leigh might have had a stronger claim had Wales and the Lions done any attacking over the year. But mostly kicking the ball away doesn't get you many fans, though his depth coverage, defence and goal kicking have been outstanding. Goal kicking does of course get you a lot of fans, but if we were to take that away his game this season doesn't offer much more than an option like Brad Barritt, who's also outstanding in defence (when fit). Read has been brilliant in all possible facets of his game

To me it's an odd thing that you wouldn't want a player as good as Halfpenny to be integral to your attack, but there we go.