Chris Robshaw claimed the title of Guinness Premiership Player of the Season for his performances for Harlequins over the course of their most successful Premiership season to date.
22 year old Robshaw was nominated for the young player award last season when Harlequins narrowly missed out on a semi-final place.
This season, Robshaw has been a mainstay of the Harlequins pack, playing in every one of their league matches and playing the seventh highest total number of minutes of any player in the league (1,606 minutes). Robshaw also made the second most tackles of any player in the league with 226 tackles, one behind Harlequins captain Will Skinner.
Robshaw's form and the form of his team-mates helped Harlequins build on their fifth place finish last season and claim the runners-up spot this time round, with a home Guinness Premiership semi-final against London Irish to come this weekend. The panel also praised Robshaw's contribution in Europe, as Harlequins reached the Heineken Cup quarter-final after memorable victories home and away over Stade Français in the pool stages.
Robshaw has been well supported by his back row colleagues at Harlequins this season, with Nick Easter, Tom Guest and captain Will Skinner also providing consistently high levels of performance.
In second place was London Irish full back Delon Armitage. Armitage enjoyed another excellent season for London Irish and on the back of those performances this season and last, made his international debut. Named England's player of the Six Nations, 25 year old Armitage now has nine full international caps and contributed four tries in ten Guinness Premiership matches this season. Armitage will be crucial to the Exiles chances of reaching a first ever Premiership Final.
In third place was Bath Rugby's New Zealand born wing Joe Maddock. Maddock finished as the league's top try scorer with 11 tries from 18 appearances, his best total in five seasons with the club. Maddock comfortably led the league in terms of clean breaks with 25 and symbolised Bath's adventurous, offloading style of play, as they led the league in terms of passes made, with 3,396, over 500 ahead of the next team.
Also nominated for Guinness Premiership player of the season were London Irish centre Seilala Mapasua and Leicester Tigers' England forward Tom Croft.
Harlequins' centre Jordan Turner-Hall was the unanimous choice of the panel for the Land Rover Discovery of the Season award. Players aged 21 or below on the date of the Guinness Premiership Final were eligible, with Turner-Hall not 22 until January of next year.
Despite his relatively tender years, Turner-Hall has now amassed 40 Guinness Premiership appearances and six tries, 21 of those appearances and three of the tries coming this season.
Turner-Hall was also conspicuous in Europe, with a try scoring performance against Stade Français in front of nearly 80,000 supporters at the Stade de France.
In second place was Newcastle Falcons' exciting scrum half Micky Young. A local lad, Young made his debut for Newcastle this season in their round five match against Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm, going on to make a further 13 appearances and scoring his first try against Bath Rugby just over a fortnight ago.
Young has represented England at under 16, under 18 and Sevens levels.
It was definitely a case of 'Young by name, young by nature' for the Land Rover Discovery of the Season, as Falcons' Micky Young edged rival Ben Youngs of Leicester Tigers into third.
Youngs made his debut for Leicester back in 2007 as a 17 year old, coming on for a minute against Bristol in April, before claiming a place on the bench for the Guinness Premiership Final against Gloucester Rugby in May. Youngs played for 13 minutes in Tigers' 16-44 victory.
This season Youngs has made 13 Guinness Premiership appearances, all of them from the bench. Despite facing competition from player of the season contender Julien Dupuy and England's Harry Ellis, Youngs has made a valuable contribution to Leicester's season, making telling contributions in league and European matches.
Also nominated was a pair of young wings; Saracens' Noah Cato and London Irish's Adam Thompstone.
The Hilton Director of Rugby of the Season award was presented to Richard Cockerill of Leicester Tigers.
Cockerill faced stiff competition from Harlequins' Dean Richards and London Irish's Toby Booth.
However, the panel felt Cockerill changed the way Leicester Tigers approached the game almost as soon as he took the reins in November, following Heyneke Meyer's premature compassionate return to South Africa. That change of approach and the stability the former player brought to the club saw them finish five points clear at the top of the table and reach the Heineken Cup Final in nail-biting fashion. Both of these achievements ultimately persuaded the Tigers management to give Cockerill the job on a permanent basis.
Dean Richards claimed the runner-up spot, guiding Harlequins to second place and a Heineken Cup quarter-final, with a talented group of predominantly young English players. Richards was also credited with providing the foundation for players like Chris Robshaw, Jordan Turner-Hall, Mike Ross, Ceri Jones, George Robson, Ugo Monye and Will Skinner to flourish.
The same could also be said of London Irish Head Coach Toby Booth who finished in third place. Since taking over from Brian Smith, Booth has strengthened the Exiles' position at the top end of the Guinness Premiership and developed players like Delon and Steffon Armitage and Nick Kennedy into full England internationals, with Alex Corbisiero, Tom Homer and Land Rover Discovery nominee Adam Thompstone waiting in the wings.
Bristol Rugby's David Lemi took the Bank of America Try of the Season award for his opening round effort against Bath Rugby at the Memorial Ground. Fielding a kick in his own 22, the Samoan beat the first man before using his pace to dart up the left wing. A hitch-kick bought him the space he needed to chip over the covering defence and a deft piece of control with his right boot allowed him to collect the ball before Bath's Justin Harrison and touch down for the try. That moment also provided one of the best images of the season by Getty Images' Paul Gilham.
Lemi's try beat a three phase effort from Newcastle Falcons, rounded off by Tane Tu'ipulotu. Sky Sports' Miles Harrison aptly described it in his commentary as representing the 'new Newcastle', as the Falcons looked to offload ball in their own 22 on the way to a try in the right corner.
Joe Maddock's 'to me, to you' try against Leicester Tigers at Welford Road, borne of a Butch James' counter attack, finished third, with Joe Simpson's scintillating break against Bristol Rugby in round 21 finishing fourth and Peter Hewat's well worked try through the hands against Newcastle Falcons in January finishing fifth. Five of the best of the 544 tries scored in the Guinness Premiership this season.
Joe Maddock of Bath Rugby added to his third place in the Guinness Premiership Player of the Season award by finishing as the league's top try scorer with 11 tries in his 18 matches, the best return of his five season career with Bath. Joe received The Times Top Try Scorer Award from their Chief Rugby writer, David Hands.
Glen Jackson of Saracens won the Gilbert Golden Boot for the second time in three seasons. The Gilbert Golden Boot rewards the player in the Guinness Premiership with the most points from the boot (therefore ignoring tries). Jackson finished ahead of Bath Rugby's Butch James and Sale Sharks' Charlie Hodgson, who claimed the title last season.
Bath Rugby's Danny Grewcock won the EDF Energy Community Player of the Season, for his willingness and enthusiasm to involve himself in community work. In addition to delivering the EDF Energy Nationals Schools Rugby Programme, Danny has become a trustee of the Bath Rugby Community Foundation and plays an active role in the groups' meetings, giving his views on and support to community and fundraising projects. The Sky cameras caught up with Danny at St. John's Primary School in Keynsham as he passed on his skill and knowledge to the children.
Grewcock has devoted a large proportion of his time to working with terminally ill patients and the Royal United Hospital's Forever Friends campaign.
Gloucester Rugby's Andy Hazell was named runner-up, with Joe Shaw of Newcastle Falcons in third. Shaw's commitment to Newcastle's excellent community programmes is in no doubt; he won the award in 2005/6 and was also nominated last season.
Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe capped the evening by claiming the Gatorade Performance of the Season Award and being named captain of the Sky Sports Dream Team.
The Gatorade Performance of the Season Award utilised a formula generated by OPTA Sportsdata to compare individual performances. Lobbe won with his performance against London Wasps on Boxing Day, when he beat four tackles, scored two tries and won a number of line outs to highlight the impact a captain can have on the rest of the side.
