Three Leinster players have made the shortlist for the EPCR Player of the Year award.
James Lowe, Josh Van Der Flier, and Caelan Doris join fellow nominees Gregory Alldritt and Antoine Dupont on the elite list.
James Lowe currently tops the try scoring charts with 10, while Josh Van Der Flier is third with six. Van Der Flier is also tied first for most tackles made, while Caelan Doris also ranks highly in that category as well in carries.
La Rochelle’s Gregory Alldritt, who is one of the most in form players in the world both for his club and nationally, has made the most carries of any player this season and is the only forward in the top five of most metres made.
No shortlist for any player of the year award seems complete without last year’s winner Antoine Dupont, who despite being closely marshalled by both Munster and Leinster, had another excellent tournament.
A longlist of nominees was named in February, and thus players who may have stood out in the knock-outs but were not on the original list cannot be shortlisted.
Players such as Jamison Gibson Park and Johnny Sexton are examples of players who have missed out because of this.
Munster’s Peter O’Mahony also missed out on the longlist, and while his teammate Jack O’Donoghue was on it and also had monstrous knockout performances, failing to reach the semi-finals would have counted against them.
Should a Leinster player pick up the award they will follow in the footsteps of Sean O’Brien and Rob Kearney who won in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
The voting is open to the public and you can access the link here.
The winner will be announced following the conclusion of the final in Marseille on May 28th, and will receive the Anthony Foley Memorial Trophy.
See Also: Sexton vs ROG Once More, But Leinster Won't Be Worried After La Rochelle Performance
