Piutau Is Voted PRO12 Players’ Player Of The Season

The GUINNESS PRO12 Awards took place tonight at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin where nine winners and the Championship’s Dream Team were honoured.

Just 20 days away from the GUINNESS PRO12 final at the Aviva Stadium, all four semi-finalists saw players and coaches in the winners’ circle as a total of eight teams from the Championship had reason to celebrate.

Munster were the big winners on the night with six players named in the GUINNESS PRO12 Dream Team, while director of rugby Rassie Erasmus was named the Coach of the Season after returning the province to the semi-final stage.

Ulster’s electric back Charles Piutau received the most coveted award of the night as he was voted the GUINNESS Players’ Player of the Season.  

Leinster and Ireland starlet Joey Carbery was named the Young Player of the Season which was voted for by a 30-strong media panel from across Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The Rhino Golden Boot was won by the Ospreys’ Sam Davies who finished the regular season with an 88% success rate from the kicking tee, having made 44 of his 50 shots at goal.

Scarlets winger Steff Evans, who scored against the Ospreys in round 22, was recognised as the PRO12’s top try scorer as he finished the regular season at the top of the charts. Evans’ 11 tries helped to propel the Scarlets into the semi-finals for the first time since 2013.

Ruan Pienaar’s score for Ulster against Glasgow Warriors in round 15 was voted by readers of Independent.ie as the Try of the Season with the Springbok scrum half starting and finishing a magnificent team effort.

Ken Owens was chosen as captain of the Dream Team, marking a fantastic season for the Scarlets hooker which has seen him win his 50th cap for Wales, make his 200th appearance for the region and earn a call-up to the British & Irish Lions squad.

The 2015/16 PRO12 champions Connacht won the Specsavers Fair Play award which was accepted by captain John Muldoon, who recently made his 300th appearance for the province. Connacht will receive £10,000 to put towards their youth development programme.

Finally, Gerald Davies presented the GUINNESS PRO12 Chairman’s award to referee Nigel Owens to mark his contribution to the Championship over the course of the last 15 seasons. Owens made his 150th Championship appearance at Judgement Day V in April to add to an incredible career which saw him referee the Rugby World Cup final in 2015.

2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12 AWARD WINNERS:

Specsavers Fair Play Award – Connacht
Top Try Scorer – Steff Evans (Scarlets)
Rhino Golden Boot – Sam Davies (Ospreys)
Young Player of the Season – Joey Carbery (Leinster)
Independent.ie Try of the Season – Ruan Pienaar (Ulster)
Dream Team Captain – Ken Owens (Scarlets)
GUINNESS PRO12 Coach of the Season – Rassie Erasmus (Munster)
GUINNESS Players’ Player of the Season – Charles Piutau (Ulster)
GUINNESS PRO12 Chairman’s Award – Nigel Owens

2016/17 GUINNESS PRO12 DREAM TEAM:

15. Tiernan O’Halloran (Connacht)
14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors)
13. Jaco Taute (Munster)
12. Rory Scannell (Munster)
11. Charles Piutau (Ulster)
10. Tyler Bleyendaal (Munster)
9. Ruan Pienaar (Ulster)
1. Dave Kilcoyne (Munster)
2. Ken Owens (Scarlets) (capt)
3. John Ryan (Munster)
4. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh)
5. Billy Holland (Munster)
6. Dan Leavy (Leinster)
7. James Davies (Scarlets)
8. Jack Conan (Leinster)

Attention now turns to the GUINNESS PRO12 final series where Leinster will take on the Scarlets and Munster will face the Ospreys in the semi-finals which take place on Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20 respectively.

The winners will then go on to face each other at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on Saturday, May 27 to see who will be crowned PRO12 champions for the 2016/17 season.