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Laumape, De Allende, Aki all miss out as fans pick finalists in vote for world's best No. 12
Some of rugby’s biggest names have failed to make it to the final round of a global fan-voted campaign to determine the best inside centre on the planet.
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Punters worldwide have hit the polls on RugbyPass’ Facebook and Instagram accounts as part of the Straight 8 Fan Vote campaign to decide the planet’s best players in each position, as voted by the fans.
Seven instalments of the campaign have already passed, with South Africa dominating proceedings through victories to the likes of hooker Malcolm Marx, flanker Pieter-Steph du Toit, No. 8 Duane Vermeulen and wing Cheslin Kolbe.
That quartet of Springboks are set to be joined in the winner’s circle by either former Wallabies bruiser Samu Kerevi and England captain Owen Farrell.
The pair have qualified for the final round of voting for the inside centre knockout bracket after dispatching a host of world-class players in the first and second rounds.
Kerevi opened his campaign with a dominant 75 percent winning margin over Irish star Robbie Henshaw, and has since followed it up with a tighter 55 percent victory over All Blacks enforcer Ngani Laumape.
The Hurricanes second-five had previously fought off the challenge of French midfielder Gael Fickou in the opening round, but just couldn’t sway enough of the public against Kerevi to see him through to the final.
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There he would have met Farrell, who denied Springboks veteran Damian de Allende the opportunity to join his South African teammates in the winners’ circle with a 55 percent victory in the semi-finals.
Both players had enjoyed impressive wins over Bundee Aki and Jeronimo de la Fuente in the first round, but the Saracens and British and Irish Lions stalwart proved too much of a challenge for the World Cup winner to overcome.
The third and final round of voting is yet to open, but the winner will be inducted into the RugbyPass Straight 8 Fan Vote World XV alongside the winners and some runners-up in every other position that has already been voted for.
