Premiership Rugby Player of the Season

Premiership Rugby Player of the Season
Awarded forThe most outstanding player in each given Premiership Rugby season
Sponsored byGallagher
CountryEngland
Presented byPremiership Rugby
First award1997–98
Currently held byTomos Williams
Highlights
Most awardsChris Robshaw (2)
Most team winsLeicester Tigers (6)
Most consecutive team winsLeicester Tigers (3)

The Premiership Rugby Player of the Season is an annual rugby union award presented to players in England, which recognises the most outstanding player in the Premiership each season.

Rugby union turned professional in 1995, and 1996–97 marked the first professional Premiership Rugby season.[1] However, the Player of the Season award was only first bestowed during the 1997–98 season. The first Player of the Season award was given to Newcastle Falcons player Pat Lam, who won the Premiership Rugby title and scored five tries that season.

Chris Robshaw is the only player to have won the award more than once, winning in the 2008–09 and 2011–12 seasons. Vereniki Goneva and Sam Simmonds are the only players to have won the Player of the Season award whilst also being the leading try-scorer in the league. Henry Slade is the only player to have won the award whilst being the leading point-scorer in the league.[2]

Following the 2024–25 season, the award was presented as part of The Rugby Awards, joining Premiership Rugby, the Rugby Players' Association (RPA), Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) and the Rugby Football Union (RFU). A shortlist is chosen by a panel consisting of members of the RPA and the media, and the recipient is chosen by the public.[3]

The current holder of the award is Gloucester Rugby's Tomos Williams.

Winners

Key
Player (X) Name of the player and number of times they had won the award at that point (if more than one)
† Indicates player also scored the most points in the same season
‡ Indicates player also scored the most tries in the same season
§ Denotes the club were Premiership Rugby champions in the same season
Premiership Rugby Player of the Season winners
Season Player Position Nationality Club Ref(s)
1997–98 Pat Lam Number 8 Samoa Newcastle Falcons§ [4]
1998–99 Martin Johnson Lock England Leicester Tigers§ [5]
1999–2000 Austin Healey Scrum half England Leicester Tigers§ [6]
2000–01 Pat Howard Centre Australia Leicester Tigers§ [7]
2001–02 Jason Robinson Wing England Sale Sharks [8]
2002–03 Jake Boer Flanker South Africa Gloucester [9]
2003–04 Simon Shaw Lock England London Wasps§ [10]
2004–05 Martin Corry Number 8 England Leicester Tigers [11]
2005–06 Mike Catt Centre England London Irish [12]
2006–07 Martín Castrogiovanni Prop Italy Leicester Tigers§ [13]
2007–08 James Simpson-Daniel Wing England Gloucester [14]
2008–09 Chris Robshaw (1) Flanker England Harlequins [15]
2009–10 Chris Ashton Wing England Northampton Saints [16]
2010–11 Tom Wood Flanker England Northampton Saints [17]
2011–12 Chris Robshaw (2) Flanker England Harlequins§ [18]
2012–13 Tom Youngs Hooker England Leicester Tigers§ [19]
2013–14 Mike Brown Full-back England Harlequins [20]
2014–15 George Ford Fly-half England Bath [21]
2015–16 Alex Goode Full-back England Saracens§ [22]
2016–17 Jimmy Gopperth Fly-half New Zealand Wasps [23]
2017–18 Vereniki Goneva‡ Wing Fiji Newcastle Falcons [24]
2018–19 Danny Cipriani Fly-half England Gloucester [25]
2019–20 Jack Willis Flanker England Wasps [26]
2020–21 Sam Simmonds‡ Number 8 England Exeter Chiefs [27]
2021–22 Ben Earl Flanker England Saracens [28]
2022–23 Ollie Lawrence Centre England Bath [29]
2023–24 Henry Slade† Centre England Exeter Chiefs [30]
2024–25 Tomos Williams Scrum half Wales Gloucester [31]

Multiple awards won by players

The following table lists the number of awards won by players who have won at least two Player of the Season awards.

Players in bold are still active in the Premiership Rugby.

Awards Player Country Seasons
2 Chris Robshaw England 2008–09, 2011–12

Awards won by nationality

Country Players Total
England 20 21
Samoa 1 1
Australia 1 1
South Africa 1 1
Italy 1 1
New Zealand 1 1
Fiji 1 1
Wales 1 1

Awards won by position

Position Players Total
Flanker 5 6
Wing 4 4
Centre 4 4
Number 8 3 3
Fly-half 3 3
Full-back 2 2
Lock 2 2
Scrum half 2 2
Prop 1 1
Hooker 1 1

Awards won by club

Club Players Total
Leicester Tigers 6 6
Gloucester 4 4
Wasps 3 3
Harlequins 2 3
Northampton Saints 2 2
Newcastle Falcons 2 2
Saracens 2 2
Bath 2 2
Exeter Chiefs 2 2
Sale Sharks 1 1
London Irish 1 1

See also

References

  1. ^ "PREM Rugby | Premiership Rugby turns 25: The story of the very first game". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  2. ^ "PREM Rugby | Premiership Rugby Awards: Henry Slade named Gallagher Player of the Season". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  3. ^ "PREM Rugby | The Rugby Awards - Shortlists revealed". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Pat Lam". Northampton Saints. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  5. ^ "Rugby Union: Leicester's Johnson is player of season". The Independent. 19 May 1999. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  6. ^ "Healey named player of the year". ESPN.com. 24 May 2000. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  7. ^ "Howard grabs two awards". ESPN.com. 15 May 2001. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  8. ^ Fordyce, Tom (21 May 2002). "Robinson reaps the rewards". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  9. ^ "Boer named Player of the Season". Irish Examiner. 22 May 2003. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  10. ^ "Shaw named player of season". 24 May 2004. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  11. ^ Rees, Paul (5 May 2005). "Corry named player of the season". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  12. ^ "Catt picks up Premiership honour". 24 May 2006. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  13. ^ "Castrogiovanni lands award - The British & Irish Lions Website". www.lionsrugby.com. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  14. ^ Kitson, Robert (28 May 2008). "Simpson-Daniel scoops top player award". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  15. ^ "Robshaw takes top award". Sky Sports. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  16. ^ Kitson, Robert (18 May 2010). "Northampton's Chris Ashton wings in with player of the season award". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  17. ^ "Wood named Aviva Premiership Player of the Season - Guinness Men's Six Nations". www.sixnationsrugby.com. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  18. ^ "Harlequins and England captain Chris Robshaw is player of season". The Guardian. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  19. ^ "Leicester's Tom Youngs named Premiership player of the season". BBC Sport. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  20. ^ "Mike Brown named Premiership Player of Season". The Independent. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  21. ^ "Bath's George Ford is named Premiership Player of the Season". The Guardian. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  22. ^ "Alex Goode: Saracens full-back wins Premiership player of the year award". BBC Sport. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  23. ^ "Jimmy Gopperth: Wasps utility back wins coveted Premiership award". BBC Sport. 17 May 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  24. ^ "Goneva crowned Premiership POTY". ESPN.com. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  25. ^ "Danny Cipriani: Gloucester fly-half wins Premiership Player of the Season award". BBC Sport. 22 May 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  26. ^ "PREM Rugby | Premiership Rugby Awards 2020 - click here for all the winners". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  27. ^ "Sam Simmonds: Exeter star named Premiership Player of the Season". BBC Sport. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  28. ^ Kitson, Robert (7 June 2022). "England exile Ben Earl voted Premiership player of the year". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  29. ^ "Ollie Lawrence: Bath centre named Premiership player of the season". BBC Sport. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  30. ^ "Henry Slade: Exeter Chiefs centre named Premiership player of the season". BBC Sport. 22 May 2024. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  31. ^ "PREM Rugby | Who has won PREM Rugby Player of the Season?". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
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