Leinster hooker bags URC Players' Player of the Season accolade

Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan has scooped the URC Players' Player of the Season award for 2022/23.

The award is voted for by URC captains and vice-captains and the 24-year-old came out on top in a poll which was conducted at the end of the regular campaign.

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It's the second time Sheehan has been recognised in the URC Awards, having secured a place in the Elite XV, pipping Top Try Scorer Tom Stewart to the hooker position.

The award will be some consolation for Sheehan after his Leinster side suffered heartbreak over the past few weeks by losing the URC semi-final to Munster (16-15) and the Champions Cup final to La Rochelle (27-26). He scored a brace of tries in last weekend's agonising defeat to the French club in Dublin.

The winner of the Players’ Player of the Season Award goes to… @LeinsterRugby’s Dan Sheehan ??#URC | #URCAwards

In the URC regular season where Leinster dominated, Sheehan scored eight tries with only team-mate Rob Russell (10) registering more.

In scoring four tries in the 42-10 Round 2 win over Benetton in Dublin, including a 28-minute hat-trick, Sheehan equalled the URC record number by an individual in a game - becoming the eighth player, and first from Leinster, to achieve that feat.

Sheehan has been capped 17 times by Ireland and was part of the team which registered an historic tour success against New Zealand last year.

In addition, he went over twice as Ireland clinched the Six Nations Grand Slam in Dublin for the first time with a 29-16 bonus-point victory over 14-man England in March.

Sheenan was also nominated for the Men's XVs Players' Player of the Year and Men's Young Player of the Year in the Rugby Players Ireland Awards.

URC Awards