Guinness Launch First Ever Women’s Player Of The Championship Award
The team captains, including Ireland's Ciara Griffin, are pictured with the Women's Six Nations trophy at the 2020 Championship launch in London back in January ©INPHO/James Crombie
Guinness have launched the first ever Player of the Championship award for the Women’s Six Nations.
The head coach and team captain for each participating Women’s Six Nations team will submit their top three players. The player who receives the greatest number of votes will be presented with a trophy, by Guinness.
The announcement comes alongside the news that voting has officially opened for the Men’s award. Ireland’s CJ Stander is one of the six nominees for the Guinness Six Nations Player of the Championship honour.
For the inaugural Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship, the player with the most votes will be announced, alongside the men’s winner, this coming Friday.
The Ireland Women won all three of their home games in this year’s tournament, defeating Scotland (18-14), Wales (31-12) and Italy (21-7). They lost 27-0 away to eventual Grand Slam champions England.
With last week’s final round clash with France postponed, Adam Griggs’ side focused their energy on training at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre at the weekend.
Mark Sandys, Global Head of Beer at Diageo, said: “2020 has been a year like no other, so being able to conclude both the Guinness Six Nations and Women’s Six Nations Championships has been a great triumph.
“We’ve seen both friendly rivalry and challenges both on and off the pitch, but throughout, rugby fans have been united in their shared love of the game.
“We’re delighted that the talent in the Women’s Six Nations teams is recognised in the inaugural Player of the Championship award, in particular.
“On behalf of the Guinness team, we would like wish all the superb nominees luck ahead of the voting and final decision in the coming days, and I encourage fans to get involved by casting their vote.”