1) England reach the top of the world

As the estimable Katy McLean made clear during the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards, England’s victory in the women’s Rugby World Cup was a ground-breaking achievement. For a start England had been beaten in the previous three finals and had decided, to quote McLean, that “we couldn’t allow that to happen again”. The standard of rugby in the entire competition was also a significant step up and England’s 21-9 win over Canada in the final in Paris led to 20 players being awarded professional contracts by the Rugby Football Union. Interest will continue to rise with women’s sevens featuring in the 2016 Rio Olympics. It is hard to argue with McLean’s view that 2014 has been “a massive turning point for women’s sport”.

2) Glasgow proves to be heaven for Sevens

It was not simply that New Zealand had never lost a match at any previous Commonwealth Games dating back to rugby’s introduction in Kuala Lumpur in 1998. Nor that South Africa, having trailed early on, roared back to win the final 17-12 in a thrilling blur of flying dreadlocks, which included impressive tries for the outstanding Seabelo Senatla and Cecil Afrika. No, most staggering of all was the aggregate attendance of 171,000 people who packed Ibrox to watch the event. In Glasgow. In July. Who says Sevens will never catch on?

3) Ireland give BOD the perfect send-off

Brian O’Driscoll’s final season in rugby was always going to be emotional. In the event everything came down to the final Six Nations weekend when Ireland, despite England’s 52-11 win over Italy in Rome earlier in the day, needed merely a one-point victory over France in Paris to secure the title. They won 22-20 but not without a cliff-hanging finale during which the home side had a possible late try denied by the television match official. It was Ireland’s first win in Paris since 2000 and their first Six Nations title since 2009, a fitting book-end to the extraordinary O’Driscoll era.

4) South Africa stop the All Blacks in their tracks

Not since England beat them at Twickenham in late 2012 had anyone managed to turn over the All Blacks. It finally happened in Johannesburg in early October when the Springboks secured a thrilling 27-25 victory, having trailed by a point entering the final three minutes. Patrick Lambie’s nerveless 55-metre penalty proved decisive but a breathless game was also notable for the precocious performance of South Africa’s starting fly-half Handre Pollard, who scored two tries. Though the match concluded New Zealand’s 22-match unbeaten Test run, they had already secured the Rugby Championship title.

5) A final blow for Borthwick

Saracens had topped the regular season table by nine points but their energy-sapping defeat by Toulon in the previous weekend’s European final gave Northampton a chance to end their wait for a first Premiership title. Sarries would have won in normal time had a Charlie Hodgson conversion attempt not hit a post and they also led 20-17 entering the 100th minute of the first final to require extra-time. Saints, though, were awarded a last-gasp try by the television match official who decided the prop Alex Waller had touched down beneath a heap of bodies for a 24-20 victory. It was a cruel end to the distinguished playing career of Sarries’ captain, Steve Borthwick.

6) Farewell Jonny

Jonny Wilkinson’s career has featured any number of highlights but his final days in a Toulon shirt were extraordinary even by his own sky-high standards. Having outmuscled Saracens in Cardiff, the French club had to beat the holders, Castres, in the Top 14 final to clinch a remarkable trophy double. They duly won 18-10 with Wilkinson contributing 15 points from four penalties and drop-goal. Afterwards they played God Save the Queen over the public address at the Stade de France, a fitting tribute to a man who has now assumed legendary status on both sides of the Channel.

7) McCaw shows he is captain fantastic

Imagine being picked to play for your country, who just happen to be the best team in the world. Now imagine being named captain of that team. Then try and comprehend the physical and mental strength required to captain the All Blacks 100 times with a success rate of 88 per cent. McCaw arguably stands above even Wilkinson and O’Driscoll for durability and stamina and has now played 137 Tests for New Zealand with next year’s World Cup to come. Wales may have run the All Blacks close in Cardiff but McCaw and his team do not win tight games by accident.

8) May’s magic try

It was not, in the end, a vintage year for England who are still trying to find the right combinations to give themselves the best chance in 2015. Nothing summed up their lurking potential behind the scrum better than Jonny May’s early try against New Zealand, a glorious solo effort which left Conrad Smith and Israel Dagg trailing. May admitted later he had fallen asleep on the bus to Twickenham before the game; the Gloucester winger’s flash of magic certainly had a dream-like quality to it.

9) Burger leaves Clermont battered and bruised

For years English sides have been told they cannot compete with the bigger, financially stronger French clubs. Such received wisdom was abruptly routed on a remarkable day at Twickenham when Saracens beat the men from the Massif Central 46-6 in what was meant to be a tight European semi-final. Clermont had never previously lost by such a margin in the professional era but reckoned without Sarries’ buccaneering flanker Jacques Burger, who put in 28 crunching tackles in 70 minutes. As the Namibian quipped afterwards: “Luckily I’ve got a face that hides pain well.”

10) Exhibition stuff proves a turn-on

It may be that the NBC viewing figures which suggested more than a million people in America saw the Chicago Test between the US Eagles and New Zealand prove more significant in the long run than a couple of fancy tricks in an exhibition match between the Barbarians and Australia at Twickenham. Those who witnessed Tim Nanai-Williams’s glorious, floated pop-pass to a flying Nick Cummins or Tomás Cubelli’s overhead kick from a five-metre tap penalty, however, were reminded of the importance of encouraging skill in a sport which grows more muscular by the year.