Tommaso Menoncello, the 21-year-old Italy and Benetton centre, has been voted the 2024 Guinness Men's Six Nations Player of the Championship.
It was a breakthrough year for Treviso-born Menoncello, the youngest winner in the award's history and only the second Italian winner after Andrea Masi—another player to feature in the Azzurri midfield—in 2011.
It was also a moment of pure joy for all the Italian fans who have been with the team for decades. This time, the fans with Rugby Six Nations tickets got their money's worth, with their side making a massive comeback.
Menoncello was unveiled as the 2024 Guinness Player of The Championship at a surprise presentation at the Benetton Rugby training ground. He was presented with his award by Italian Federation President Marzio Innocenti, fellow international stars Michele Lamaro and Juan Ignacio Brex, and Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada.
With 33% of the 146,000 fan votes going in favour of the Italian youngster, it is safe to say that the rugby fraternity is loving the uprising from Italy.
He fended off competition from England back-rower Ben Earl, Ireland centre Bundee Aki, and Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe to win the award.
Commenting on winning the award, Menoncello added that it was a massive privilege for him to win the award and that it was truly special for him to represent the country and wear the Italy jersey.
"To then deliver performances that hopefully inspired the fans is what dreams are made of. Winning this award is a testament to the achievements of the Italy team and a sign of the exciting journey we are taking with Italian rugby," he added.
He thanked his teammates, coaches and fans loyal to the side with rugby Six Nations tickets.
"I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, and passionate fans. I would also like to congratulate all the other nominees for this award. We play an incredible but tough sport, and awards that recognise the commitment and sacrifice of each player mean a lot."
Menoncello and his fellow nominees topped the charts in terms of performance data and performance metrics measured throughout this year's Six Nations.
This secured their place in the 2024 Team of The Championship, which identified the top-performing players per position before fans were asked to vote for the standout player in each position from a stats-based shortlist of candidates.
Players of the Championship:
2004: Gordon D'Arcy - Ireland
2005: Martyn Wlliams - Wales
2006: Brian O'Driscoll - Ireland
2007: Brian O'Driscoll - Ireland
2008: Shane Williams - Wales
2009 Brian O'Driscoll - Ireland
2010: Tommy Bowe - Ireland
2011: Andrea Masi - Italy
2012: Dan Lydiate - Wales
2013: Leigh Halfpenny - Wales
2014: Mike Brown - England
2015: Paul O'Connell - Ireland
2016: Stuart Hogg - Scotland
2017: Stuart Hogg - Scotland
2018: Jacob Stockdale - Ireland
2019: Alun Wyn Jones - Wales
2020: Antoine Dupont - France
2021: Hamish Watson - Scotland
2022: Antoine Dupont - France
2023: Antoine Dupont - France
2024: Tommaso Menoncello - Italy
An initial shortlist was created by identifying the top-performing players per position - thanks to performance data provided by Stats Perform - before fans were responsible for voting for the standout player in each position.
Thomas Ramos was the Guinness Men's Six Nations top points scorer for the second year (63 in 2024, 84 in 2023).
Only three other players have scored 60+ points for Les Bleus in a single Championship (Gerald Merceron, 80 in 2002, Camille Lopez, 67 in 2017, and Morgan Parra, 61 in 2010).
His final minute penalty won it for France against England as well.
Duhan van der Merwe was the joint-top try-scorer (along with Dan Sheehan), with his tally of five the joint-most by a Scotland player in a campaign, to go with the five he scored in 2021.
Bundee Aki made the most metres in contact of any player during this year's Guinness Men's Six Nations (144) and made the most carries overall of any centre in the Championship (50).
Aki has consistently performed as a standout player for Ireland since the Rugby World Cup, and Irish fans with Rugby Six Nations tickets loved his enthusiasm on the field.
This year's Guinness Player of the Championship made more dominant tackles than any other back and also won the joint-most turnovers of any back (4, equal with his centre partner Juan Ignacio Brex).
James Lowe was the only player to gain 300+ carry metres this year (370) and gained over five times as many kicking metres as any other winger in the Championship (1712), in addition to scoring four tries.
Finn Russell was successful on 22 of his 23 place-kick attempts (96%)—the highest success rate of any player with over five attempts.
Jamison Gibson-Park provided the most try assists of any scrum-half (3) and ranked first amongst scrum-halves for carries made (31).
8 - Ben Earl
Ben Earl made the most carries of any player (73) and beat the most defenders of any forward (24). Billy Vunipola is the only forward from any nation to beat more in a single campaign (25 in 2016).
Michele Lamaro made 103 tackles in 2024, the most of any player. This was the most by any player in any edition of the Championship, surpassing Jonny Gray's tally of 100 in 2018.
Caelan Doris ranked third for both attacking (131) and defensive (50) ruck hits, and his 90.1% attacking ruck efficiency rate made him the second-best player this year.
Joe McCarthy committed 2+ opposition tacklers from a greater share of his carries than any other player in the tournament.
Tadhg Beirne stole the joint-most lineouts of any player (3, also Ollie Chessum) and was the only lock to score multiple tries (2) or make multiple line breaks (4) in the Championship.
Uini Atonio was one of two props to make two turnover-winning tackles in the 2024 Guinness Men's Six Nations (also Andrew Porter) and had the highest dominant carry rate of any tighthead.
Dan Sheehan was the joint-top try scorer this year (5, also Duhan van der Merwe), the most by any forward in any edition of the Championship.
Andrew Porter won twice as many turnovers as any other prop (4) and ranked first among props for attacking rucks hit in the Championship (117).
