Five Irishmen have been nominated for the EPCR player of the year award after the conclusion of the Heineken Champions Cup pool stages.
There is plenty of rugby left to be played in the Champions Cup with four rounds of matches left, although the race for player of the year has been narrowed down to 15 men.
Munster’s Gavin Coombes and Leinster’s Caelan Doris, Jamie Osborne, Garry Ringrose and Josh van der Flier are the five Irish players nominated after impressive performances in the pool stages.
Plenty of high-profile players have been nominated.
Van der Flier won the award last year despite Leinster’s loss to La Rochelle in the final and he is joined by fellow former winner Antoine Dupont among this year’s nominees.
There are no shortage of big name players nominated, as La Rochelle’s Gregory Alldrit, Rugby World Cup winning Sharks trio Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and Makazole Mapimpi and Ospreys stalwart Justin Tipuric have all been included.
Voting is now open to the public, where the list of nominees will be trimmed down to five players after the Champions Cup semi-finals.
At the start of May voting will re-open to the public and the opinions of supporters will be combined with a panel of pundits who will decide the winner upon the conclusion of the Champions Cup final.
The judging panel is made up of former Springboks winger Bryan Habana, England captain Sarah Hunter, sports presenter Elma Smit, former England out-half Andy Goode and former France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili.
YOUR EPCR PLAYER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES 📢
Agree with the judges’ selection based on the #HeinekenChampionsCup pool stages?#EPOTY2023 voting is now open ➡️ https://t.co/98en54jQCn pic.twitter.com/RiJoJdaaab
— Heineken Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) February 1, 2023
Nominees for the EPCR player of the year award.
Gregory Alldritt (La Rochelle)
Gavin Coombes (Munster)
Caelan Doris (Leinster)
Elliot Daly (Saracens)
Antoine Dupont (Toulouse)
Eben Etzebeth (Sharks)
Jaden Hendrikse (Sharks)
Siya Kolisi (Sharks)
Makazole Mapimipi (Sharks)
Julien Marchand (Toulouse)
Emmanuel Meafou (Toulouse)
Jamie Osborne (Leinster)
Garry Ringrose (Leinster)
Justin Tipuric (Ospreys)
Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
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