Starter for 10: has the Premiership ever seen a more naturally-gifted player than Charles Piutau? Others have scored more tries, made more tackles or influenced their team’s fortunes more significantly, but has there ever been anyone to match Piutau’s capacity to thrill, to produce those moments that stir the senses?
On Saturday he makes his last appearance for Bristol against Gloucester after five years at the club. He arrived to great fanfare, the first £1m player and as the totem of the Premiership’s marquee player policy, but the ledger will show only a qualified success. He was injured at the start of his first season and took a while to have the kind of impact when briefly at Wasps before arriving in the West Country via a stint with Ulster. The ledger does not account for aesthetics, however, and there has been no greater sight than Piutau leading a counterattack from deep.
