It was a breakthrough year for Treviso-born Menoncello, who becomes the youngest winner in the award’s history, and only the second Italian winner following Andrea Masi - another to feature in the Azzurri midfield - in 2011.
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.
Read our recent interview with Menoncello here.
Claiming 33% of the 146,000 fan votes, Menoncello saw off competition from England back rower Ben Earl, Ireland centre Bundee Aki, and Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe.
Commenting on winning the award, Menoncello said:
“This is a huge surprise and honour to be named the Guinness Men’s Six Nations Player of The Championship. It is truly special to represent my country, and to wear the Italy jersey alongside my friends and teammates. To then deliver performances that hopefully inspired the fans is what dreams are made of. Winning this award is testament to the achievements of the entire Italy team, and a sign of the exciting journey we are taking with Italian rugby.
"I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, and the 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 means a lot.”
Menoncello and his fellow nominees topped the charts in terms of performance data and Stats Perform metrics measured throughout the course of this year's Six Nations. This secured their place in the 2024 Team of The Championship, which was a process of identifying the top performing players per position, before fans were given the responsibility of voting for the standout player in each position from a stats-based shortlist of candidates.
Find out who made the 2024 Team of the Championship here.
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
