England and Harlequins fullback Mike Brown has been named Aviva Premiership Rugby Player of the Season at the Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards.
Brown has enjoyed a breakthrough season for both Harlequins and England and was acclaimed by his Director of Rugby, Conor O’Shea, as “a model of consistency, and also a match winner.”
The Harlequins man beat a stellar list of Aviva Premiership Rugby players to the award. He was joined on the shortlist by Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers), Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors), Jacques Burger (Saracens) and Dan Braid (Sale Sharks).
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O’Shea said: “It’s a thoroughly deserved award. Both for club and country this season Mike has been a model of consistency, and also a match winner.”
“He’s a game breaker that changes the course of a match – no-one else has done it on a consistent level in the northern hemisphere this year, but him.”
“He won the RBS 6 Nations Player of the Championships, Man of the Series in the Autumn Internationals and now quite rightly the Aviva Premiership Rugby Player of the Year.”
Mike Brown Statistics:
- 26 England caps 2007-2014
- Debut in the Premiership Rugby A League in December 2003
- Premiership Rugby debut: Harlequins v London Irish at Twickenham on 2 September 2006
- 153 Premiership Rugby games (all starts), 48 tries, 244 points
- Won the Aviva Premiership with Harlequins in 2012 and the Amlin Challenge Cup in 2011
The Aviva Premiership Rugby Player of the Season award wasn’t Brown’s only accolade from the Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards as he was selected in the BT Sport Dream Team which was, for the first time, picked by BT Sport’s on-air team of Martin Bayfield, Lawrence Dallaglio, Matt Dawson, Jill Douglas, Craig Doyle, Sarra Elgan, Alastair Eykyn, Austin Healey, Ben Kay, and Nick Mullins.
The full team is: Mike Brown (Harlequins); Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby); Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints), Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby), Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers); Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints), Danny Care (Harlequins); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Dave Ward (Harlequins), Logovi’i Mulipola (Leicester Tigers), Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks), Dan Braid (Sale Sharks), Jacques Burger (Saracens), and Billy Vunipola (Saracens).
No player makes the team for the second successive season.
Meanwhile the Land Rover Discovery of the Season award, presented to the best player aged 23 years or under was won by Saracens No 8, Billy Vunipola.
In the space of a year Vunipola has developed from exciting young prospect to a hugely influential figure for club and country.
Since making his debut against Argentina last summer, his ball-carrying rampages have helped propel Saracens to the top of the Aviva Premiership Rugby table and an appearance in the Heineken Cup Final.
The final major award, the Guinness Director of Rugby of the Season, was presented to Mark McCall, who steered his Saracens team to the top of the Aviva Premiership Rugby table, before they made the Heineken Cup Final for the first time in their history.
McCall took the award for the second successive year as his side amassed 87 points, more than any side in the history of the Premiership.
Saracens Premiership Rugby record under McCall (P80, W64, D2, L14) ensures he has the best ever coach’s winning percentage in the history of the tournament (80%).
The ITV Sport Try of the Season went to Northampton Saints’ wing Jamie Elliott who finished off a length of the field move against Gloucester Rugby, capitalising on an incredible run from his team-mate George North.
The Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards evening began with one of the most famous figures in Aviva Premiership Rugby, Worcester Warriors’ Dean Schofield, receiving the Aviva Community Player of the Season award. Schofield was recognised for his tireless work with the SIFA Fireside project, where players serve breakfast to homeless people in Birmingham.
The race for the Gilbert Golden Boot was dominated by three dead-eye kickers – Northampton Saints’ Stephen Myler, Bath Rugby’s George Ford and Gareth Steenson from Exeter Chiefs. Ford emerged on top of the pile with an impressive 235 points from the boot, 15 ahead of Myler.
The battle for the Pol Roger Top Try-Scorer award went down to the final two weekends as Leicester Tigers’ wing Vereniki Goneva fought it out with his rival at Saracens, David Strettle. Goneva finally finished with an impressive total of 12 tries, one ahead of the Saracens flyer.
Both Goneva and Strettle produced a number of match-winning performances this season but it was Harlequins’ No 8 Nick Easter who turned in the best individual performance in 132 matches of Aviva Premiership Rugby this season.
Easter turned in a mesmerising performance against Leicester Tigers, which included 18 tackles, 63 metres gained and 19 carries to win the Gatorade Game Changer of the Season award.
To find a winner, Gatorade used a formula devised by Opta Sportsdata, the official Statistics provider of Premiership Rugby, to award players points for elements like metres gained, number of carries, turnovers won and tackles made.
Easter was however not content with just one award as he also picked up the other accolade which is decided purely on statistics – the Green Flag Forward of the Year. This time Opta analysed statistics from the whole season, Easter’s consistency won the day after the boffins at Opta studied a number of areas including a player’s performance at the breakdown, tackles made, penalties conceded, line outs won, metres gained and carries by all members of the 12 Aviva Premiership Rugby packs.
The winners and nominees in full were as follows:
Aviva Premiership Rugby Player of the Season
Winner: Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Shortlist: Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers); Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints); Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors); Jacques Burger (Saracens) and Dan Braid (Sale Sharks).
Land Rover Discovery of the Season
Winner: Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Shortlist: Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints), George Ford (Bath Rugby), Elliott Stooke (Gloucester Rugby), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Owen Williams (Leicester Tigers).
Guinness Director of Rugby of the Season
Winner: Mark McCall (Saracens)
Shortlist: Richard Cockerill (Leicester Tigers), Steve Diamond (Sale Sharks).
ITV Sport Try of the Season
Winner: Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints) v Gloucester Rugby
Shortlist: Christian Wade (London Wasps) v Gloucester Rugby, Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby) v Exeter Chiefs, Kelly Brown (Saracens) v Northampton Saints, Logovi’i Mulipola (Leicester Tigers) v Exeter Chiefs and Dean Mumm (Exeter Chiefs) v Worcester Warriors.
Gatorade Game Changer of the Season
Winner: Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Runners-up: Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks) and Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby).
Aviva Community Player of the Season
Winner: Dean Schofield (Worcester Warriors)
Shortlist: Jamie George (Saracens), Mat Gilbert (Bath Rugby), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Tane Tu’ipulotu (Newcastle Falcons), Dom Waldouck (Northampton Saints).
Pol Roger Top Try Scorer of the Season
Winner: Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers) – 12 tries
Runner-up: David Strettle (Saracens) – 11 tries
Gilbert Golden Boot
Winner: George Ford (Bath Rugby) – 235 points
Runner-up: Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints) – 220 points
BT Sport Dream Team
Mike Brown (Harlequins); Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath Rugby); Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints), Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby), Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers); Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints), Danny Care (Harlequins); Joe Marler (Harlequins), Dave Ward (Harlequins), Logovi’i Mulipola (Leicester Tigers), Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks), Dan Braid (Sale Sharks), Jacques Burger (Saracens), and Billy Vunipola (Saracens).
Green Flag Forward of the Year
Winner: Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Shortlist: Schalk Brits (Saracens), Sione Kalamafoni (Gloucester Rugby), Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers).
Past winners
Premiership Rugby Player of the Season
- 2012-13: Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
- 2011-12: Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
- 2010-11: Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)
- 2009-10: Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
- 2008-9: Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
- 2007-8: James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)
- 2006-7: Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers)
- 2005-6: Mike Catt (London Irish)
- 2004-5: Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers)
Young Player of the Season
- 2012-13: Joe Launchbury (London Wasps)
- 2011-12: Owen Farrell (Saracens)
- 2010-11: Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
- 2009-10: Ben Youngs, (Leicester Tigers)
- 2008-9: Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins)
- 2007-8: Danny Cipriani (London Wasps)
- 2006-7: Tom Rees (London Wasps)
- 2005-6: Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers)
- 2004-5: Ollie Smith, (Leicester Tigers)
Director of Rugby of the Season
- 2012-13: Mark McCall (Saracens)
- 2011-12: Rob Baxter (Exeter Chiefs)
- 2010-11: Jim Mallinder (Northampton Saints)
- 2009-10: Andy Key, (Leeds Carnegie)
- 2008-9: Richard Cockerill (Leicester Tigers)
- 2007-8: Dean Ryan (Gloucester Rugby)
- 2006-7: Pat Howard (Leicester Tigers)
- 2005-6: Philippe Saint-Andre (Sale Sharks)
- 2004-5: John Wells (Leicester Tigers)