Munster rugby second-row Tadhg Beirne is one of six players nominated for the Virgin Media Sports Supporters’ Player of the Year.
Beirne has been nominated for the honour alongside Connacht’s Jack Carty, Ulster centre Will Addison and the Leinster trio of Cian Healy, James Lowe and James Ryan.
The award will be presented in Dublin on May 15 at the Zurich Irish Rugby Players Awards with fans able to vote for their favourite players by following the instructions below:
It’s been a fantastic season for a number of the aforementioned players but for Addison it’s sound justification for his move from Sale which started with a phone a number of years ago from Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
“I can remember, I played Clermont in the European Cup, about four of five years ago, and I had a mysteriously phone call, and it was Joe on the other end of the line,” Addison told Baz & Andrew’s House of Rugby.
“So I had a quick chat with Joe then, maybe for a couple of seasons, I was hindered by injuries along the way. And it was around this time last year I was… it’s actually quite funny… I kind of conned my friend Peely (Ulster backs coach Dwayne Peel) into signing me here, almost.
“I was on holidays with one of Peely’s good mates, Mark Jones, who plays at Scarlets now. I was watching Six Nations, or an Irish game, and was like, ‘Jesus, this looks incredible. I think I need to chance my arm at going over’.
“And I was like (to Mark), ‘Is there any chance you could just mention to Peely that I’m open to a move (to Ulster) and just not that happy at Sale, with certain things’. And he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it that way so it just doesn’t look like you’re desperate in talking to Peely!’
“So he texted Peely and said, ‘Oh listen, Will might be keen on leaving Sale because he’s got a clause in his contract and then it went from there’.”
