Munster trio nominated for European Player of the Year

Munster’s Peter O’Mahony, Joey Carberry and Tadgh Beirne have been rewarded for their excellent form this season as they have been nominated for this years EPCR European Player of the Year award.

Fifteen players have been nominated for the award which is named after Munster legend Anthony Foley.

This will be whittled down to five in April after the Champions Cup Semi-Final where the voting will then re-open and the winner of the 2019 award will be announced following the Champions Cup final at St James’ Park on Saturday, 11 May.

Sean Cronin, Tadhg Furlong and Garry Ringrose are nominated from Champions Cup holders, Leinster Rugby, while Ulster Rugby’s try machine, Jacob Stockdale, also gets the vote of the expert panel of judges.

Last season’s winner, Leone Nakarawa is nominated once again along with his Racing 92 team-mates, Finn Russell and former Munster man Simon Zebo, while No 1 ranked, Saracens, have two representatives in Alex Goode and Mako Vunipola following their 100% record in yet another impressive pool stage performance.

Toulouse, who face Racing 92 in an intriguing all-French quarter-final at the end of March, have Antoine Dupont and the livewire, Cheslin Kolbe, in the list, and not surprisingly, Edinburgh Rugby’s, Viliame Mata, is included on the back of several outstanding displays during the pool stage.

Voting for the award is now open here and fans will be in the running to win two VIP tickets to the Champions Cup final in Newcastle next May with one night’s accommodation courtesy of EPCR, and a signed jersey of one of the Champions Cup finalist clubs.