Congratulations to our Players of the Year for 2009, the two war-horses, Eric Savina and Paul Ingram.
Both players had stellar years, belied their age, and showed a lot of youngsters how to put in on the pitch. In the big matches throughout the year the two of them showed their experience and class (though not in the 7s for some reason...).
Savina was excellent in every match he played, regularly coming off the pitch as one of the best two or three players, and managed to be consistent throughout the year despite a distinctly gallic lack of interest in training (to be fair to him the new job meant he couldn't make many Wed night sessions). As usual Eric played way above his weight at hooker, way above his weight at second row, and just about held his own in touch :-) There is nothing but 100% commitment from Savina every moment he is on the pitch.
Ingram also had a great year, being a particularly steady influence in the scrum through a time when we chopped and changed the other front row members pretty much every game. Paul was in such good form that the national selectors couldn't ignore his form and technique and so 'Pops' made his international debut at the young age of 44. He was a great help for the rest of the national pack, basically working as an additional forwards coach, and then did exactly that with the U20s national side to help the young front-rowers hold their own against bigger packs.
Well done to Paul and Eric - our Nomads Players Of The Year for 2009!
