The Breakdown | End-of-season rugby union awards: best games, players and more

Highs and lows of the 2025-26 European season

Best games attended
1) 14 March, France 48-46 England. Thirteen tries – including four for Louis Bielle-Biarrey – and a last-gasp winning penalty from Thomas Ramos. Truly magnifique.

2) 12 June, Northampton 45-31 Leicester. Cracking Prem semi-final atmosphere and a belting game.

3) 10 April, Bath 43-41 Northampton. Saints started brilliantly but still couldn’t deny Bath a place in the Champions Cup semi-finals.

Teams of the year
1) Bordeaux-Bègles (in the Champions Cup, not the Top 14!).
2) England’s World Cup-winning Red Roses.
3) Northampton Saints.

Bordeaux-Bègles were unstoppable in the Champions Cup. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images

Champagne moments
1) Rhys Carré’s solo try for Wales against Ireland.
2) Finn Russell’s quick-thinking kick-off that led to a try for Darcy Graham and saved Scotland’s bacon in Cardiff.
3) Christ Tshiunza’s sidestepping try for Exeter Chiefs in their semi-final win against Bath. Wooaah!

Top coaching brains
1) Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty (Northampton).
2) Rob Baxter (Exeter Chiefs).
3=) John Mitchell (England women) and Noel McNamara (Bordeaux attack coach).

Men’s players of the season
1) Louis Bielle-Biarrey.
2) Maxime Lucu.
3=) Tom and Jack Willis, Matthieu Jalibert.

Most consistent Prem players
1) Tom Willis.
2) Henry Slade.
3=) Alex Coles and Tommy Freeman.

Women’s players of the season
1) Meg Jones.
2) Ellie Kildunne.
3) Sophie de Goode.

Best matchday experience
1) France v England, Paris. The pre-match son et lumière was almost as good as the game.
2) Champions Cup semi-final – Bordeaux-Bègles v Bath. Bordeaux is increasingly a must-visit European club rugby destination.
3) Champions Cup final – Bordeaux-Bègles v Leinster, Bilbao. Head to the Basque Country for the rugby and stay for the cheesecake and tortillas.
4) Women’s World Cup final, London. A high-water mark for women’s rugby.

England’s Megan Jones celebrates with fans after the Red Roses’ triumph in the final at Twickenham. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Best media operation
Northampton Saints.

Best interviewee
Joe Heyes (Leicester and England). What a top guy.

Good to see …
1) The return of creative running fly-halves. For a while there we thought we’d lost them.
2) Smiling faces back at Exeter Chiefs, both on the field and on the stage …
3) More effort to promote England’s second-tier Champ. There are some wonderful clubs and rugby people outside the Prem.

Could do better …
1) Sending love and hugs to all at the Stade de France but being denied entry to the ground on the opening night of the Six Nations wasn’t ideal.
2) At some stage the Rugby Football Union needs to acknowledge that not picking a player or two based in France, especially in a World Cup year, is a massive own goal.
3) World Rugby is about to trial a remote “TMO hub”, based in Basingstoke, to “improve” decision-making in this summer’s second-tier Nations Cup and World U20 tournament. The “robot ref” era draws ever closer.

Most inspirational rugby people
1=) Lewis Moody, Ed Slater, Matt Hampson.

Lewis Moody was diagnosed with motor neurone disease last year. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Gone but not forgotten …
Warren Abrahams, Shane Christie, John Doubleday, Matt Gallagher, Scott Hastings, Fred Howard, Brian Jones, Arthur Lewis, Ian McCrae, Matt Salter, Fergus Slattery, M J K “Mike” Smith, Roger Spurrell, Peter Squires, Mike “Spike” Watkins, Alex Wyllie.

Most looking forward to in 2026-27?
1) Everyone in Welsh rugby finally agreeing on the best collective way forward.
2) Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, AKA the upcoming full tour of South Africa by New Zealand.
3) Northampton Saints drawing either Toulouse or Bordeaux at home in the Champions Cup pool stages.
4) Where Shaun Edwards – seven Six Nations titles and counting – goes next.

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