Brown is Premiership's top dog
Harlequins fullback Mike Brown has been named Premiership Player of the Season at the competition's awards ceremony in London on Thursday.
Brown has enjoyed a breakthrough season for both Harlequins and England and was acclaimed by his Director of, Conor O'Shea, as "a model of consistency, and also a match winner."
The Harlequins man beat a stellar list of Premiership players to the award.
He was joined on the shortlist by Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers), Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors), Jacques Burger (Saracens) and Dan Braid (Sale Sharks).
O'Shea said: "It's a thoroughly deserved award. Both for club and country this season Mike has been a model of consistency, and also a match winner.
"He's a game breaker that changes the course of a match – no-one else has done it on a consistent level in the northern hemisphere this year, but him.
"He won the Six Nations Player of the Championships, Man of the Series in the year-end internationals and now quite rightly the Premiership Player of the Year."
The Premiership Player of the Season award wasn't Brown's only accolade from the Premiership awards, as he was selected in the Dream Team.
Dream Team: 15 Mike Brown (Harlequins), 14 Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath), 13 Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints), 12 Kyle Eastmond (Bath), 11 Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers), 10 Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints), 9 Danny Care (Harlequins), 8 Billy Vunipola (Saracens), 7 Jacques Burger (Saracens), 6 Dan Braid (Sale Sharks), 5 Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks), 4 Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), 3 Logovi'i Mulipola (Leicester Tigers), 2 Dave Ward (Harlequins), 1 Joe Marler (Harlequins).
No player makes the team for the second successive season.
The Discovery of the Season award, presented to the best player aged 23 years or under was won by Saracens No 8 Billy Vunipola.
In the space of a year Vunipola has developed from exciting young prospect to a hugely influential figure for club and country.
Since making his debut against Argentina last year, his ball-carrying rampages have helped propel Saracens to the top of the Premiership table and an appearance in the European Cup Final.
The final major award, the Director of the Season, was presented to Mark McCall, who steered his Saracens team to the top of the Premiership table, before they made the European Cup Final for the first time in their history.
McCall took the award for the second successive year as his side amassed 87 points, more than any side in the history of the Premiership.
The Try of the Season went to Northampton Saints' wing Jamie Elliott, who finished off a length of the field move against Gloucester, capitalising on an incredible run from his team-mate George North.
The Premiership awards began with one of the most famous figures in Premiership, Worcester Warriors' Dean Schofield, receiving the Community Player of the Season award. Schofield was recognised for his tireless work with the SIFA Fireside project, where players serve breakfast to homeless people in Birmingham.
The race for the Golden Boot was dominated by three dead-eye kickers – Northampton Saints' Stephen Myler, Bath's George Ford and Gareth Steenson from Exeter Chiefs. Ford emerged on top of the pile with an impressive 235 points from the boot, 15 ahead of Myler.
The battle for the Top Try-Scorer award went down to the final two weekends as Leicester Tigers' wing Vereniki Goneva fought it out with his rival at Saracens, David Strettle. Goneva finally finished with an impressive total of 12 tries, one ahead of the Saracens flyer.
Both Goneva and Strettle produced a number of match-winning performances this season but it was Harlequins' No.8 Nick Easter who turned in the best individual performance in 132 matches of Premiership this season.
Easter turned in a mesmerising performance against Leicester Tigers, which included 18 tackles, 63 metres gained and 19 carries to win the Game Changer of the Season award.
Easter was not content with just one award as he also picked up the other accolade which is decided purely on statistics – the Forward of the Year. Easter's consistency won the day.
The winners and nominees in full were as follows:
Premiership Player of the Season
Winner: Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Shortlist: Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers), Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), Chris Pennell (Worcester Warriors), Jacques Burger (Saracens) and Dan Braid (Sale Sharks).
Discovery of the Season
Winner: Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Shortlist: Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints), George Ford (Bath), Elliott Stooke (Gloucester), Anthony Watson (Bath), Owen Williams (Leicester Tigers).
Director of the Season
Winner: Mark McCall (Saracens)
Shortlist: Richard Cockerill (Leicester Tigers), Steve Diamond (Sale Sharks)
Try of the Season
Winner: Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints) v Gloucester
Shortlist: Christian Wade (London Wasps) v Gloucester, Nick Abendanon (Bath) v Exeter Chiefs, Kelly Brown (Saracens) v Northampton Saints, Logovi'i Mulipola (Leicester Tigers) v Exeter Chiefs and Dean Mumm (Exeter Chiefs) v Worcester Warriors
Game Changer of the Season
Winner: Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Runners-up: Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks) and Semesa Rokoduguni (Bath).
Community Player of the Season
Winner: Dean Schofield (Worcester Warriors)
Shortlist: Jamie George (Saracens), Mat Gilbert (Bath), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), Tane Tu'ipulotu (Newcastle Falcons), Dom Waldouck (Northampton Saints)
Top Try Scorer of the Season
Winner: Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers) – 12 tries
Runner-up: David Strettle (Saracens) – 11 tries
Golden Boot
Winner: George Ford (Bath) – 235 points
Runner-up: Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints) – 220 points
Forward of the Year
Winner: Nick Easter (Harlequins)
Shortlist: Schalk Brits (Saracens), Sione Kalamafoni (Gloucester), Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints), Michael Paterson (Sale Sharks), Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Past winners
Premiership Player of the Season – 2012-13: Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers), 2011-12: Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), 2010-11: Tom Wood (Northampton Saints), 2009-10: Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints), 2008-9: Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), 2007-8: James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester). 2006-7: Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers). 2005-6: Mike Catt (London Irish) and 2004-5: Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers).
Young Player of the Season – 2012-13: Joe Launchbury (London Wasps), 2011-12: Owen Farrell (Saracens), 2010-11: Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), 2009-10: Ben Youngs, (Leicester Tigers), 2008-9: Jordan Turner-Hall (Harlequins), 2007-8: Danny Cipriani (London Wasps), 2006-7: Tom Rees (London Wasps), 2005-6: Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers) and 2004-5: Ollie Smith, (Leicester Tigers)
Director of the Season – 2012-13: Mark McCall (Saracens), 2011-12: Rob Baxter (Exeter Chiefs), 2010-11: Jim Mallinder (Northampton Saints), 2009-10: Andy Key, (Leeds Carnegie), 2008-9: Richard Cockerill (Leicester Tigers), 2007-8: Dean Ryan (Gloucester), 2006-7: Pat Howard (Leicester Tigers), 2005-6: Philippe Saint-Andre (Sale Sharks), and 2004-5: John Wells (Leicester Tigers).
