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
Crusaders went all in to buy Hotham and Kemara staight from Hamilton Boys. Then they picked up Reihana and Hohepa; all have been dropped for superstar Havili, who is a very good fullback, that’s it. Ennor and Goodhue were schoolboy stars too but went backwards at the Crusaders. Maybe they have finally decided to give another poach Levi Aumua the ball?
10 Go to commentsJoe S has some talent to pick from. The Reds loosies look the best in Super? Aus might just give Razor a headache this year. Int. experience v Cantab greenhorn:) Should be fun.
10 Go to commentsEnd to end play, “THE FANS” this game was entertainment of the best. The conditions added to the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsSorry to say, but sadly the sadas were just ordinary and havilli at 10 as an abs selection just won’t cut it. He’s better suited in the centre’s and is a victim of past charge down kicks, he’s too slow under pressure. There’s better talent further north and I don’t mean dmac however I believe razor will sort him out. A feature of his presents on the park is the fact that the guys will follow him.
10 Go to commentsMarler was brilliant throughout both in the scrum and open play. His slap made virtually no contact with Ramos who milked it for a penalty when he could have been a decent sportsman and laughed it off, it was non-violent and shouldn't have been penalised. Smith failed repeatedly to kick when necessary and put up a couple of bombs into the TLS 22 that just handed back possession at key moments to the other side.
3 Go to commentsCros was outstanding and rightly awarded France TVs player of the match award. Mallia was brilliant as usual (the y is below the 6 on a UK keyboard and he deserves better than that). Level also seems to have been scored harshly as he walked the ball into touch under pressure from a Lynagh kick from well outside his own half which should never have led to a 50-22. Agree with BullShark that Dupont, while class at times, seemed to go missing for patches in the second half with props, hookers and wings frequently filling in at 9 as he couldn't get off the deck and up to the next ruck on time. A 7 by his standards at best, his kicking was also too long, too often. Kinghorn's overall contribution was worth well more than a five.
3 Go to commentsThe Harlequins team must be in minus figures. Did the reporter actually watch the game?
3 Go to commentsHow on earth did Walker escape a red card? Not dangerous? Dupont has his face in a mask earlier this season. Shocking decision. What is the point of TMOs? We had the Fassi ‘non-penalty try’ yesterday and now this.
2 Go to commentsCould have been a different result but yet again French tv able to affect the result by not showing the very clear high shot on harlequin centre if this would have been on a French player would have been on screen at least five times
3 Go to commentsAmazing. The losing team’s ratings are higher than the winning team’s. Mallia definitely didn’t deserve a y. What game were you watching? Should have got a w or an x. ADP hardly featured in that second half. At one point I wondered when he’d been subbed. Seems to me as if he gets an automatic 9 just for getting onto the team sheet.
3 Go to commentsI’m sorry. That second half was far from enthralling. It was painful to watch.
2 Go to commentsVery generous! If you’d missed the game, reading this you’d conclude that it was the Quins front row that cost them the game. Marler getting a blanket 6 for his demented contribution to the game. Puzzling.
3 Go to commentsCan’t see Toulouse beating Leinster at this rate.
7 Go to commentsADP was having a very average game until winning that penalty for Toulouse, sticking his big head in the way. “The head of God”?
7 Go to commentsHarlequins doing their best to do as little damage as possible with all the possession. Looks like they skipped catch and pass drills this week.
7 Go to commentsSeeing pictures of Jacques high-fiving it with Irish players breaks my heart. Too soon. I need more time.
1 Go to commentsquins is all over the place. The minute they get the ball they panic. Quins can still win tho just need to win all rucks otherwise just don't bother.
7 Go to commentsGreat wins for the male & female kiwi sides. Ireland not far away..
1 Go to commentsWhy is this dude getting so much coverage? Usually knobs like this get cancelled.
2 Go to commentsWow. What was that? A 3 million word meandering article about what exactly?
2 Go to comments