{"id":634050,"date":"2026-06-12T01:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T01:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/634050\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T01:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T01:40:14","slug":"tom-willis-scoops-top-gong-before-england-departure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/634050\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Willis scoops top gong before England departure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Tom Willis will leave English rugby with a trophy in his hands, after being named PREM Rugby Player of the Season at the 2025\/26 Rugby Awards.<\/p>\n

The powerhouse number eight beat out the likes of Tommy Freeman, Billy Searle and Ben Spencer to the award, following a devastating campaign with the North London outfit.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t the only Saracens man to pick up a major award, either, with Noah Caluori winning Breakthrough Player of the Season after a dazzling maiden season in the top flight.<\/p>\n

Tom Willis headlines 2025\/26 Rugby Awards<\/p>\n

Willis was the clear favourite to win the award, despite strong competition from the rest of the shortlist, after he bossed the stats charts across the campaign. At the end of the regular season, Willis\u00a0finished top of the charts for carries (249), offloads (31) and defenders beaten (122), while also ending second for gainline carries (102), fourth for turnovers (17) and seventh for tackles completed (203).<\/p>\n

Henry Slade playing like \u2018one of the top centres in the world\u2019 as Exeter boss hails England back\u2019s long-term consistency<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis means a massive amount,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a brilliant time the last three years. Saracens have been massively supportive of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Saracen<\/a> Caluori was named Breakthrough Player of the Season following his exploits for the North Londoners, and he also ended the campaign as the league\u2019s top try-scorer with 18 efforts to his name. His form also saw him called into the senior England squad on multiple occasions, and is in camp now ahead of their Nations Championship campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been my dream growing up to be able to do what I am doing now,\u201d said the 19-year-old back. \u201cBeing able to share the pitch with such legends, play against such legends, it\u2019s been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

In winning the award, he also edged ahead of Archie McParland, Edoardo Todaro and Kepu Tuipulotu.<\/p>\n

Both the Player of the Season and Breakthrough Player of the Season awards were voted for by fellow players.<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Northampton Saints\u2019 Phil Dowson was named Director of Rugby of the Season after taking the club to top spot in the league, beating out Rob Baxter, Geoff Parling and Johann van Graan to the gong.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the award, he said: \u201cIt\u2019s a huge privilege. It\u2019s a reflection of how well the team has been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Saints boss was selected by a panel of media representatives from across the English landscape.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the men\u2019s awards, Joe Heyes was named England<\/a> Player of the Season following his exploits during the Autumn Nations Series and Six Nations, and that also comes after he was named Player of the Summer tour back in August.<\/p>\n

In the PWR, Olivia Apps was named Player of the Season after a strong year with Saracens, while Loughborough Lightning\u2019s Haineala Lutui was named PWR Breakthrough Player of the Season. Zoe Harrison was also named Red Roses Player of the Season, after playing a key role in their World Cup and Six Nations triumphs.<\/p>\n

Rhona Lloyd, May Campbell, Bo Westcombe-Evans and Mia Venner were also joint recipients of the PWR Top Try Scorer award, with all four players tied on 12 tries apiece in the regular season.<\/p>\n

PREM Rugby semi-finals: Match officials confirmed as experienced duo land key roles<\/a><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Lewis Moody was named the winner of the RPA Blyth Spirit Award, Josh Kemeny won PREM Try of the Season, Shona Campbell won PWR Try of the Season, Kieran Verden and Josh Bayliss, Christ Tshiunza, Natasha Hunt and Zoe Stratford and Emeka Ilione won RPA Personal Development Awards and Tom James was named Community Player of the Season.<\/p>\n

2025\/26 Rugby Awards winners in full<\/p>\n

Gallagher Player of the Season: Tom Willis<\/p>\n

PWR Player of the Season: Olivia Apps<\/p>\n

Gallagher PREM Breakthrough Player of the Season: Noah Caluori<\/p>\n

PWR Breakthrough Player of the Season: Haineala Lutui<\/p>\n

Gallagher PREM Director of Rugby of the Season: Phil Dowson<\/p>\n

PWR Director of Rugby of the Season: Barney Maddison<\/p>\n

PREM Top Try Scorer: Noah Caluori<\/p>\n

PWR Top Try Scorers: Rhona Lloyd (Sale Sharks), May Campbell (Saracens), Bo Westcombe-Evans (Loughborough Lightning), Mia Venner (Gloucester Hartpury)<\/p>\n

England Men\u2019s Player of the Season: Joe Heyes<\/p>\n

England Women\u2019s Player of the Season: Zoe Harrison<\/p>\n

Other awards<\/p>\n

RPA Blyth Spirit Award: Lewis Moody<\/p>\n

Gallagher PREM Try of the Season: Josh Kemeny v Sale Sharks<\/p>\n

PWR Try of the Season: Shona Campbell v Bristol Bears<\/p>\n

RPA Personal Development Awards: Kieran Verden & Josh Bayliss, Christ Tshiunza, Natasha Hunt & Zoe Stratford, Emeka Ilione<\/p>\n

Community Player of the Season: Tom James<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Exeter Chiefs and Leicester Tigers dominate official PREM Rugby Team of the Season<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Willis will leave English rugby with a trophy in his hands, after being named PREM Rugby Player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[79322,29207,309,79263,17990,61522,348,46723,2059,50,79323,21002,5903,32645,48492,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-634050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-bath","tag-bristol","tag-england","tag-exeter-chiefs","tag-gloucester","tag-harlequins","tag-home-page","tag-leicester-tigers","tag-newcastle","tag-news","tag-northampton-saints","tag-premiership","tag-rugby","tag-sale-sharks","tag-saracens","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}