Danny Cipriani named Gallagher Premiership Player of the Year
Danny Cipriani’s stellar debut campaign in Gloucester colours saw him named Gallagher Premiership Rugby Player of the Season at a star-studded awards ceremony.
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 Gallagher Premiership Rugby Player of the Season 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.
THE BIG ONE
A season filled with exceptional performers from day one ??
But the magician himself, @DannyCipriani87 has been majestic for @gloucesterrugby ?
He is your @GallagherUK Rugby Player of the Season ?#PremRugbtAwards pic.twitter.com/VATFHtLkMG
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 22, 2019
“I’m very pleased and so happy for Danny,” said Ackermann. “I’m so proud of him – it’s always a big thing when a player joins a club and there’s a bit of pressure on you to perform. You have to adapt to the style of the team and the coaches involved, and I can only speak highly of Danny’s commitment to the team.
“He’s set-up into the culture, he’s open – we have a good relationship where we’re open with each other and of course he’s made a serious impact on the field. He’s probably got the best skill I’ve seen from a fly-half from an attacking point of view, he can kick well and he’s extremely fast. He knows what he wants in attack and his distribution is top class.
“He’s made an immediate impact and the players around him got the benefit, but also Danny is the one who will always acknowledge the pack in front of him and the players around him, and how they’ve helped him and provided opportunities.”
Ackermann himself was also in the running for a prize at Wednesday evening’s Premiership Rugby 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.
And 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.
Curry has also shone on the international stage of late, all of which made him a worthy recipient of the award in the eyes of Land Rover ambassador David Flatman.
“Tom Curry was picked as the winner as he has performed brilliantly for Sale Sharks repeatedly, he’s done it many times this season in a Sale team that wasn’t able to achieve dominance,” Flatman said.
“He’s played well with his team on the front foot and the back foot, plus he’s done it for England. People roll this comment out all the time, so it loses its impact, but he’s a world-class player.
“Tom Curry has done it on every level and he has done it on the back foot. When Sale played Bath and it was 6-3, the game wasn’t the best we’ve seen and we’ve all been in games like that but Tom Curry was absolutely exceptional in that match and it’s hard to work out how someone can star in that game.
“He was just fabulous and I got a text from my dad and he just said, ‘Been watching Curry, can’t get enough of him, this kid is epic’, and my dad nailed it. I can’t get enough of watching him.”
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.
Meanwhile, Gloucester speedster Ollie Thorley took home the Citizen Try of the Season award for his score in round seven 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 been with us 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
6. Alex Dombrandt – Harlequins
7. Tom Curry – Sale Sharks
8. Matt Kvesic – Exeter Chiefs
WATCH: The RugbyPass behind the scenes documentary with Bristol Bears
Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments