England exile Ben Earl voted Premiership player of the year

Not for the first time a player exiled from Eddie Jones’s England squad has been voted the Gallagher Premiership player of the year. The Saracens flanker Ben Earl, not selected at Test level for almost 15 months, has been named as the best performer in this season’s competition, pipping the Harlequins centre André Esterhuizen to the top prize.

Earl was also chosen ahead of Leicester’s Julian Montoya and the former England duo of George Ford and Danny Care, making him the latest national squad outsider to scoop the award. In recent years Sam Simmonds, Jack Willis and Danny Cipriani have all been crowned the domestic player of the season after failing to force their way into the England starting XV.

The pacy, dynamic Earl has had a wonderfully consistent season, topping the league’s tackle charts in addition to scoring eight tries and helping to steer Sarries to second place in the table. He was also impressive on loan at Bristol last season but the 24-year-old’s most recent cap for England came off the bench in Ireland in March 2021.

Related: The Breakdown | Premiership semi-finals: home bankers or more knockout surprises?

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