Sponsored Ad Feature is produced by an advertiser with the specific intent to promote a product and is not produced by the City AM team.

In the lead up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup, City A.M. have put together a barometer in partnership with City Index to look at which players and other personnel are hot and not in the race to be part of the quadrennial event in France later this year.

Rugby player of the week

Props are employed for their brute force and ability to summon and practise the dark arts in the scrum.

Nicky Smith does all of this well, but on Sunday against English giants Saracens he was a man possessed.

He was pivotal in a great try for Ospreys and was solid throughout the match.

He is back into the Welsh fold and undoubtedly favourite to start at loosehead for Wales’s Rugby World Cup opener against Fiji.

Who’s hot

• England like their wingers to work hard, and few are doing that more than Ollie Thorley at the moment. The Gloucester back was outstanding in open play and contact last weekend.

• It’s tough being the man in the middle, but Georgian rugby referee Nika Amashukeli has been outstanding for months now. He has been rewarded with Leinster’s clash against Leicester.

Who’s not

• Tate McDermott is a star of Australian rugby but has seemingly been banished from the national set-up, going by Eddie Jones’s first Wallabies squad as head coach.

• Marcus Smith seems to be on a week-by-week trial for England at the moment, but he failed to orchestrate his Harlequins side in South Africa last week while Owen Farrell shone.

Previous rugby barometers

Week 1: Pearson, Pollard, Hastoy, Sexton, Willis