Given that Irish provinces currently occupy four of the top six spots in the PRO12 is it surprising that Irish based players would dominate any team of the season compilations? But that's exactly what happened when Simon Thomas of Western Mail had a crack at the best XV of the celtic league for 2015/16 and he selected eleven players from the provinces.
What is surprising is that Glasgow, the likely team to finish first in the regular season, only have one representative in the selection. It's also notable that of the eleven provincial players - four made their international debuts this year, four are uncapped, and two players didn't feature internationally at all this season. It could be argued that none of the players are regulars for Ireland either.
The player of the season was given to Bundee Aki for a spectacular season, and the full team is as follows. There are a lot of the same players from our own Irish based team of the season that also had Aki as the player of the year.
Wales Online PRO12 Team Of The Season:
15. Rhys Patchell (Cardiff Blues)
14. Matt Healy (Connacht)
13. Bundee Aki (Connacht)
12. Ben Te'o (Leinster)
11. Craig Gilroy (Ulster)
10. Paddy Jackson (Ulster)
9. Kieran Marmion (Connacht)
1. Rob Evans (Scarlets)
2. Fraser Brown (Glasgow)
3. Finlay Bealham (Connacht)
4. Ross Moloney (Leinster)
5. Ultan Dillane (Connacht)
6. CJ Stander (Munster)
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster)
8. Cornell du Preez (Edinburgh)
You can read the full reasoning behind each selection on the Wales Online
See Also: The Irish Provinces Team Of The Season
Picture credit: Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE
