Johan ‘Rassie’ Erasmus was named Pro12′ Coach of the Season after guiding Munster to the semifinals of the Celtic League.
Erasmus, who is in his first season in charge of the Irish province, also had six of his Munster players named in the Pro12 Dream Team during the Pro12 Awards, which took place in Dublin on Sunday.
Erasmus recently confirmed that he will see out his contract with Munster after rumours circulated earlier this this year that he was going to return to South Africa to link up with the Springboks.
Meanwhile, Fellow South Africans Jaco Taute and Ruan Pienaar were included in the Dream Team.
Ulster’s Charles Piutau received the most coveted award of the night as he was voted the Players’ Player of the Season.
Leinster’ Joey Carbery was named Young Player of the Season which was voted for by a 30-strong media panel from across Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
The Golden Boot was won by Ospreys’ Sam Davies who finished the season with an 88 percent success rate from the kicking tee having made 44 of his 50 shots at goal.
Scarlets wing Steff Evans, who scored against Ospreys in Round 22, was recognised as the Pro12’s top try-scorer as he finished the regular season campaign on top of the charts. Evans’ 11 tries helped to propel Scarlets into the semifinals for the first time since 2013.
Pienaar’s score for Ulster against Glasgow Warriors in Round 15 was voted by readers of Independent.ie as the Try of the Season with the Springbok scrumhalf starting and finishing a magnificent team effort.
Ken Owens was chosen as captain of the Dream Team, marking a fantastic season for the Scarlets hooker which has seen him win his 50th cap for Wales, make his 200th appearance for the region and earn a call-up to the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand.
The 2015/16 Pro12 champions, Connacht, won the Fair Play Award which was accepted by captain John Muldoon, who made his 300th appearance for the province this season. Connacht will receive 10 000 to put towards their youth development programme.
Finally, Gerald Davies presented the Pro12 Chairman’s Award to referee Nigel Owens to mark his contribution to the Championship over the course of the last 15 seasons. Owens made his 150th Championship appearance at Judgement Day V in April to add to an incredible career which saw him referee the World Cup Final in 2015.
List of Award winners:
Fair Play Award – Connacht Rugby
Top Try-Scorer – Steff Evans (Scarlets)
Golden Boot – Sam Davies (Ospreys Rugby)
Young Player of the Season – Joey Carbery (Leinster Rugby)
Independent.ie Try of the Season – Ruan Pienaar (Ulster Rugby)
Dream Team Captain – Ken Owens (Scarlets)
Pro12 Coach of the Season – Rassie Erasmus (Munster Rugby)
Players’ Player of the Season – Charles Piutau (Ulster Rugby)
Pro12 Chairman’s Award – Nigel Owens MBE
Pro12 Dream Team 2016/17: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran (Connacht), 14 Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), 13 Jaco Taute (Munster), 12 Rory Scannell (Munster), 11 Charles Piutau (Ulster), 10 Tyler Bleyendaal (Munster), 9 Ruan Pienaar (Ulster), 8 Jack Conan (Leinster), 7 James Davies (Scarlets), 6 Dan Leavy (Leinster), 5 Billy Holland (Munster), 4 Ben Toolis (Edinburgh), 3 John Ryan (Munster), Ken Owens (captain), (Scarlets), 1 Dave Kilcoyne (Munster).
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