A panel of judges, aided by the statistics from Premiership Rugby’s partners Opta, were asked to run their rule over those who have excelled from the packs at the 12 Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs and the big American ensured a Saints representation.
GREEN FLAG FORWARD OF THE SEASON SHORTLIST
Dave Ewers (Exeter Chiefs)
Nathan Hughes (Wasps)
Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints)
Thomas Waldrom (Exeter Chiefs)
The winner of the Green Flag Forward of the Season award will be announced at the Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards, which take place at the London Hilton on Park Lane on Wednesday, May 20th.
The judging panel was: Neil Back (Rugby World Cup winner and Green Flag ambassador), Jack de Menezes (The Independent) Martin Gillingham (ITV), Neale Harvey (The Rugby Paper), James Hopkins (BT Sport) and Emma Thurston (Out On The Full Rugby). The panel was chaired by Premiership Rugby's Communications Director, Paul Morgan.
"More than a dozen impressive contenders emerged from our deliberations and it was tough to get down to these five,” said Rugby World Cup winner and Green Flag Ambassador, Neil Back.
"Needless to say I'm delighted to see so many back row players making the list! There's a great mixture of young and more established talent competing for the title. They've all had fantastic seasons and deserve this recognition."
On 20 May the winners of the following Awards will be announced:
- Aviva Premiership Rugby Player of the Season
- Aviva Community Player of the Season
- BT Sport Aviva Premiership Rugby Dream Team
- Citizen Try of the Season
- Gilbert Golden Boot
- Green Flag Forward of the Season
- Guinness Director of Rugby of the Season
- Land Rover Discovery of the Season
- Trivento Top Try Scorer of the Season
The winners will be announced at the sold out Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards, an event that will be covered live on Twitter via the @premrugby account.
To keep up to date with the latest news about Green Flag's Forward of the Season, visit www.greenflag.com, and follow @GreenFlagUK, facebook.com/GreenFlagUK or www.youtube.com/GreenFlagUK
