Premiership Rugby Awards 2019

By Mark Stevens
23/5/19

Exeter Chiefs trio Matt Kvesic, Santiago Cordero and Henry Slade were all named in the BT Sport Dream Team at last night’s Gallagher Premiership Rugby Awards night in London.

All three have played an integral part in helping Rob Baxter’s side to finish the regular season as top dogs after 22 rounds for a second successive year. Now, they will be aiming to play their part as the Chiefs look to secure a fourth successive final appearance, providing they can overcome Northampton Saints at Sandy Park on Saturday (4:30pm).

The trio’s inclusion were the only highlights for the Devonians at the glitzy awards ceremony held in the capital.

Kvesic was nominated for the Player of the Season accolade, but he missed out to Danny Cipriani, whose stellar debut campaign in Gloucester saw him pick up the prize.

The 31-year-old has been a key component of the Cherry & Whites this season as they finished third in the table, reaching the semi-finals for the first time in eight years.

Making the move from Wasps in the summer, Cipriani hasn’t been far away from various highlights reels in what has been one of the most competitive and exciting Gallagher Premiership Rugby seasons to date.

His 13 try assists and metronomic boot have kept Gloucester ticking and his head coach Johan Ackermann believes Cipriani deserves his award, making him only the second person after Wasps’ Jimmy Gopperth to win this and the RPA Player of the Year in the same campaign.

Ackermann himself was also in the running for a prize at Wednesday evening’s Awards, presented by Gallagher, as he found himself on the shortlist for the Ricoh Director of Rugby of the Season.

However, the gong went to Saracens’ Mark McCall, his achievement of finishing second in the League, winning a third European title in three years and finishing as runners-up in the Premiership Rugby Cup seeing him pip Ackermann, Exeter Chiefs’ Rob Baxter, Chris Boyd of Northampton Saints and Bristol Bears’ Pat Lam to the prize.

The Land Rover Discovery of the Season award was taken home by 20-year-old Tom Curry who has become a senior leader for Sale Sharks this campaign, his work rate in defence and at the breakdown earning him several plaudits.

While Curry’s career is still in its infancy, there was a special reward on the night for Richard Wigglesworth who this season surpassed Steve Borthwick on the all-time appearance list. The veteran scrum-half has now made 274 top-flight appearances.

This season has also been one to remember for both Denny Solomona and Cobus Reinach, with the Sale Shark and Northampton Saint dotting down 12 times, meaning they shared the Follador Top Try Scorer award.

The duo went into the last day of the season in a three-way tie on 11 tries – along with Jonny May – but added to their tallies, while Joe Marchant also scored for Harlequins to finish one behind.

There was no doubting who the Gilbert Golden Boot with George Ford’s performances for Leicester Tigers bringing a smile to fans’ faces in an otherwise difficult campaign.

The England fly-half finished top of the pile when it comes to points scored with the boot, amassing 201 points courtesy of 30 conversions and 47 penalties – finishing 22 ahead of runner-up Duncan Weir of Worcester Warriors.

Gloucester's Danny Cipriani was named the Gallagher Premiership Player of the Year for 2019 at last night's awards ceremony in London

Meanwhile, Gloucester Rugby speedster Ollie Thorley took home the Citizen Try of the Season award for his score in Round 7 against Leicester Tigers. With two minutes to go Thorley finished off a fine flowing move that started from within five minutes of Gloucester’s own try line, and it was no surprise he topped the first-ever public vote for this award.

Rugby players give so much more than just their all on the pitch for 80-plus minutes, and no one demonstrated that more than Bristol Bears hooker Nick Fenton-Wells, with his commitment off the field earning him the plaudits at the ceremony as he was named Gallagher Community Player of the Season.

The season itself started way back in July with the Premiership Rugby 7s at Franklin’s Gardens, with Harlequins’ Calum Waters collecting the London Pride Premiership Rugby 7s Player of the Season gong.

As for the Gallagher Premiership Rugby campaign, BT Sport have followed the league all the way this season and their talent selected the below as their BT Sport Dream Team:

15. Alex Goode – Saracens

14. Santiago Cordero – Exeter Chiefs

13. Henry Slade – Exeter Chiefs

12. Mark Atkinson – Gloucester Rugby

11. Ollie Thorley – Gloucester Rugby

10. Danny Cipriani – Gloucester Rugby

9. Cobus Reinach – Northampton Saints

1. Mako Vunipola – Saracens

2. Jamie George – Saracens

3. John Afoa – Bristol Bears

4. Franco Mostert – Gloucester Rugby

5. Will Skelton – Saracens