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Premiership Rugby Young Player of the Season

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Premiership Rugby Young Player of the Season
Awarded forThe most outstanding young player in each given Premiership Rugby season
Sponsored byDefender, Gallagher
CountryEngland
Presented byPremiership Rugby
First award1998
Currently held byHenry Pollock
Highlights
Most awardsIain Balshaw (2)
Most team winsLeicester Tigers (6)
Most consecutive team winsBath, Leicester Tigers (2)

The Premiership Rugby Young Player of the Season, also known as the Breakthrough Player of the Season, is an annual rugby union award presented to players in England, which recognises the most outstanding young 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 Young Player of the Season award was only first bestowed during the 1998–99 season. The first Young Player of the Season award was given to Newcastle Falcons player Jonny Wilkinson.[2]

Iain Balshaw is the only player to have won the award more than once, winning back-to-back in the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons.[3]

The nominees of the award must be 23 or younger at the start of the season. The award is presented by the Rugby Players' Association (RPA), and is voted on by the players themselves.[4] The trophy is named after Nick Duncombe, a Harlequins and England scrum-half who tragically died in 2003 from a rare form of blood poisoning at just 21 years old.[5]

The current holder of the award is Northampton Saints' Henry Pollock.[6]

Winners

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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 Young Player of the Season winners
Season Player Position Nationality Club Ref(s)
1998–99 Jonny Wilkinson Fly-half England Newcastle Falcons [2]
1999–2000 Iain Balshaw‡ (1) Wing England Bath [7]
2000–01 Iain Balshaw (2) Wing England Bath [3]
2001–02 Lewis Moody Flanker England Leicester Tigers§ [8]
2002–03 James Forrester Number 8 England Gloucester [9]
2003–04 Olly Barkley Fly-half England Bath [10]
2004–05 Ollie Smith Centre England Leicester Tigers [11]
2005–06 Tom Varndell‡ Wing England Leicester Tigers [12]
2006–07 Tom Rees Flanker England Wasps [13]
2007–08 Danny Cipriani Fly-half England Wasps§ [14]
2008–09 Jordan Turner-Hall Centre England Harlequins [15]
2009–10 Ben Youngs Scrum half England Leicester Tigers§ [16]
2010–11 Manu Tuilagi Centre England Leicester Tigers [17]
2011–12 Owen Farrell Fly-half England Saracens [18]
2012–13 Joe Launchbury Lock England Wasps [19]
2013–14 Billy Vunipola Number 8 England Saracens [20]
2014–15 Henry Slade Centre England Exeter Chiefs [21]
2015–16 Maro Itoje Lock England Saracens§ [22]
2016–17 Ellis Genge Prop England Leicester Tigers [23]
2017–18 Sam Simmonds Number 8 England Exeter Chiefs [24]
2018–19 Tom Curry Flanker England Sale Sharks [25]
2019–20 Jack Willis Flanker England Wasps [26]
2020–21 Ioan Lloyd Fly-half Wales Bristol Bears [27]
2021–22 Henry Arundell Wing England London Irish [28]
2022–23 Tom Pearson Flanker England London Irish [29]
2023–24 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso Wing England Exeter Chiefs [30]
2024–25 Henry Pollock Flanker England Northampton Saints [31]

Multiple awards won by players

[edit]

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 Iain Balshaw England 1999–2000, 2000–01

Awards won by nationality

[edit]
Country Players Total
England 25 26
Wales 1 1

Awards won by position

[edit]
Position Players Total
Flanker 6 6
Fly-half 5 5
Wing 4 5
Centre 4 4
Number 8 3 3
Lock 2 2
Scrum half 1 1
Prop 1 1

Awards won by club

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

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ "PREM Rugby | Premiership Rugby turns 25: The story of the very first game". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Rugby Union: Leicester's Johnson is player of season". The Independent. 19 May 1999. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Howard claims top prize". bbc.co.uk. 15 May 2001. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Sanlam Young Player of the Year Nominees". The RPA. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  5. ^ "Mallinder in RPA LV= Young Player nomination | Northampton Saints". www.northamptonsaints.co.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  6. ^ "PREM Rugby | Pollock named Breakthrough Player of the Season". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  7. ^ "BBC News | RUGBY UNION | Healey grabs Allied Dunbar award". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  8. ^ "Robinson and Moody scoop Zurich accolades". ESPN.com. 21 May 2002. Retrieved 2 December 2025.
  9. ^ "Awards for Leonard and Gatland". ESPN.com. 17 September 2003. Retrieved 2 December 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. ^ Rees, Paul (21 May 2008). "Cipriani wins young player award". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 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. ^ "Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi to make England debut against Wales". The Guardian. 4 August 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  18. ^ "Harlequins and England captain Chris Robshaw is player of season". The Guardian. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  19. ^ "PREM Rugby | Joe Launchbury to join Harlequins ahead of 2023/24 season". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 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. ^ "Itoje crowned Breakthrough Player of the Year". ESPN.com. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  23. ^ "Wasps Jimmy Gopperth sweeps the boards for rugby's top awards". Sky Sports. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  24. ^ "Goneva crowned Premiership POTY". ESPN.com. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  25. ^ "PREM Rugby | Sale Sharks' Tom Curry claims Land Rover Discovery of the Season award". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  26. ^ "PREM Rugby | Premiership Rugby Awards 2020 - click here for all the winners". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 3 November 2025.
  27. ^ "PREM Rugby | Bristol Bears' Ioan Lloyd claims Land Rover Discovery of the Season award". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  28. ^ "PREM Rugby | Arundell excited for future after winning Land Rover Discovery of the Season award". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  29. ^ "PREM Rugby | Tom Pearson named Breakthrough Player of the Season". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  30. ^ "PREM Rugby | Premiership Rugby Awards: Immanuel Feyi-Waboso wins Breakthrough Player of the Season". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  31. ^ "PREM Rugby | Pollock named Breakthrough Player of the Season". premiershiprugby.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
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