2017/18 PRO14 Awards Winners

Two new awards were also introduced - the GUINNESS PRO14 Ironman award and the GUINNESS PRO14 Tackle Machine award which are aimed at recognising the Championship's key contributors.

After Leinster became the first team from the Championship to complete a PRO14 and Champions Cup double, the province captured three of the awards on the night. Their head coach Leo Cullen took home the GUINNESS PRO14 Coach of the Season award, rising star Jordan Larmour won the Young Player of the Season while his back-three colleague Barry Daly was recognised as the Championship's top try scorer for last season.

Leinster also saw five players voted onto the PRO14 Dream Team - Andrew Porter, Scott Fardy, Jack Conan, James Lowe and Larmour.

 

The Players' Player of the Season was won by Tadhg Beirne for his performances in the Scarlets jersey. The Ireland international has since joined Munster but was overwhelmingly recognised by his fellow players for his displays in Llanelli red throughout the Scarlets' campaign that saw them reach the PRO14 final for the second successive year.


Olly Robinson of Cardiff Blues was the first winner of the PRO14 Tackle Machine award. Players who made 200 successful tackles or more were eligible and the award was given to the player with the highest completion percentage. Robinson made a total of 243 tackles with a tackle completion rate of 94.6% (Opta).

The first-ever PRO14 Ironman award went to Zebre's Giulio Bisegni. The award recognises the player who accumulated the most minutes on the pitch across the 21 regular season rounds. The Italian international's total of 1504 minutes earned him the award.


2017/18 PRO14 AWARDS - LIST OF WINNERS:

GUINNESS Players' Player of the Season: Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets)
GUINNESS PRO14 Coach of the Season: Leo Cullen (Leinster)
Honda Young Player of the Season: Jordan Larmour (Leinster)
GUINNESS PRO14 Chairman's Award: Ed Jackson (Dragons)
Gilbert Golden Boot Award: Fred Zeilinga (Toyota Cheetahs) 
GUINNESS PRO14 Dream Team Captain: Callum Gibbins (Glasgow Warriors)
GUINNESS PRO14 Top Try Scorer: Barry Daly (Leinster)
GUINNESS PRO14 Tackle Machine: Olly Robinson (Cardiff Blues)
GUINNESS PRO14 Ironman: Giulio Bisegni (Zebre)
Specsavers FairPlay Award: Scarlets


Last season's finalists, Leinster and the Scarlets, dominated the voting with five players each selected. Glasgow Warriors earned two representatives with back rower Callum Gibbins nominated as the Dream Team captain and Nick Grigg winning a place in the midfield. Torsten van Jaarsveld (Cheetahs), John Cooney (Ulster) and Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) made up the final places.

2017/18 GUINNESS PRO14 DREAM TEAM:

15. Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh)
14. Jordan Larmour (Leinster)
13. Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors)
12. Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets)
11. James Lowe (Leinster)
10. Rhys Patchell (Scarlets)
9. John Cooney (Ulster)
1. Rob Evans (Scarlets)
2. Torsten van Jaarsveld (Toyota Cheetahs)
3. Andrew Porter (Leinster)
4. Scott Fardy (Leinster)
5. Tadhg Beirne (Scarlets)
6. Aaron Shingler (Scarlets)
7. Callum Gibbins (Glasgow Warriors) (capt)
8. Jack Conan (Leinster)