Lions honoured in Premiership awards

British & Irish Lions duo Martin Corry and Ollie Smith were honoured as Leicester swept the board at the Zurich Premiership awards ceremony. [more]

Lions Australia Tour 2013

British & Irish Lions duo Martin Corry and Ollie Smith were honoured as Leicester swept the board at the Zurich Premiership awards ceremony.

And it was also a red-letter Twickenham occasion for Tigers’ retiring former Lion Martin Johnson, who received the Zurich Champion Award following his "significant and long-lasting contribution" to rugby union.

Leicester and England number eight Corry was named player of the season, seeing off strong competition from fellow nominees Mark Cueto, Ayoola Erinle, Andy Goode, Pat Sanderson and Sebastien Chabal.

Corry’s performances were instrumental in Tigers finishing top after the 22-game regular league campaign, which means they will contest the May 14 Premiership final at Twickenham against Wasps or Sale Sharks.

His fellow Lion, centre Smith, won the Land Rover Discovery of the Season Award ahead of Harry Ellis, Chris Bell, Matt Stevens and Mathew Tait.

Lions and England hooker Steve Thompson won the Powergen Community player of the season award for his commitment to community work and dedication to the sport at several different levels.

Tigers coach John Wells was acclaimed as O2 Director of Rugby in a category that also saw Warren Gatland (Wasps), Philippe Saint-Andre (Sale Sharks) and Steve Diamond (Saracens) nominated.

Northampton full-back Bruce Reihana received the try of the season award for his score against Bath last September, but Bath were recognised in winning the fair play award as the club receiving the least number of yellow and red cards this term.

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