Leicester centre Will Wand in contention for rare Player of the Month double

Leicester’s in-form centre Will Wand hasn’t done enough to play himself into England’s training squad, but his performances this month have earned him a nomination for the Gallagher PREM Player of the Month award.

Wand, who won the award in March, is joined on the four-man shortlist drawn up a panel of rugby media professionals by his club captain, Ollie Chessum, who appears to be relishing having a fit-again George Martin alongside him in the Tigers’ engine room.

Saracens’ young centre Olly Hartley, another player overlooked so far by Steve Borthwick, and Exeter’s ball-handling, powerhouse prop Josh Iosefa-Scott are the other contenders.

Wand, who was named Player of the Match in last Sunday’s 47-33 win against Sale, would be the first player to win the award twice in the same season since George Ford in 2021/22 (October and December).

A public vote will decide the winner.

Leicester and Northampton have pocketed a couple of Player of the Month awards each: Billy Searle (January) and Wand (March) for Leicester and PREM rookie Edoardo Todaro (October) and Fin Smith (April) for Saints.

Bristol prop Ellis Genge prevented an East Midlands monopoly when he claimed the award in December.

Of the five winners to date this season, Searle enjoyed the largest share of the vote (54%), while Smith and Genge got 44%, Wand 37.8% and Todaro 32%.