Warriors co-captain Gibbins also named league Dream Team skipper
THE leadership qualities of Glasgow Warriors flanker Callum Gibbins were recognised for the second time in a matter of days when he was listed as captain of last season’s “Dream Team” at the PRO14 Awards dinner in Glasgow.
The New Zealander, who arrived in Scotland at the beginning of last season, was last week named as co-captain of Glasgow Warriors for the coming season along with incumbent Ryan Wilson.
However, last night’s selection was recognition of the exceptional impact he made on the PRO14 during his first campaign which saw him regularly stand in as skipper when the Scotland No 8 was on international duty or injured.
The select side, chosen by a 75-strong panel of journalists from across the five competing nations, also included his club-mate Nick Grigg as well as Edinburgh full-back Blair Kinghorn.
Edinburgh’s resurgence was further reflected in the nomination of Richard Cockerill as one of three candidates for the coach of the year award, albeit he missed out to Leo Cullen who was the first man to steer a Celtic team to a league and Champions Cup double when Leinster claimed both trophies.
Two new awards were introduced with Olly Robinson of Cardiff claiming the Tackle Machine Award and Zebre’s Giulio Bisegni the Ironman Award, having played most minutes on the pitch of any player across the 21 regular season rounds, seeing a total of 1504 minutes action.
Full “Dream Team” line-up Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh); Jordan Larmour (Leinster), Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors), Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), James Lowe (Leinster); Rhys Patchell (Scarlets), John Cooney (Ulster); Rob Evans (Scarlets), Torsten van Jaarsveld (Toyota Cheetahs), Andrew Porter, Scott Fardy (both Leinster), Tadhg Beirne, Aaron Shingler (both Scarlets), Callum Gibbins (Glasgow Warriors) capt, Jack Conan (Leinster)