Warriors full-back Chris Pennell has today been nominated for the Aviva Premiership Player of the Season award.
The club centurion has been a stand-out performer at Sixways this season, where he has played every minute of every Aviva Premiership game.
Pennell was given the role of vice-captain at the start of the season and signed a new three-year contract in December to pledge his future to the club.
Players of five different nationalities, from six different clubs make up the six-man shortlist, one from the England squad that finished second in the recent RBS 6 Nations.
“There were a number of compelling candidates for this prestigious title and it was very difficult to reduce it to a six-man shortlist,” said Phil Winstanley, the Rugby Director at Premiership Rugby. “I think the panel managed to arrive at a very balanced list, forwards and backs side by side.
“We’ve had an incredible season so far, and the length of the deliberations for the awards reflects the current standard of Aviva Premiership Rugby. The closeness of the matches is reflected in the fact that no one club has more than one player on the shortlist.”
The shortlist for the 2013-14 award which will be announced at the Aviva Premiership Rugby Awards at the Hilton, Park Lane on 15 May is:
• Dan Braid – Sale Sharks
• Mike Brown – Harlequins
• Jacques Burger – Saracens
• Vereniki Goneva – Leicester Tigers
• Samu Manoa – Northampton Saints
• Chris Pennell – Worcester Warriors
Past winners
2012-13 – Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
2011-12: Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
2010-11: Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)
2009-10: Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
2008-09: Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)
2007-08: James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester Rugby)
2006-07: Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers)
2005-06: Mike Catt (London Irish)
2004-05: Martin Corry (Leicester Tigers)
The shortlist was compiled by a panel of media professionals – Stephen Jones (Sunday Times), Chris Hewett (The Independent), Nick Mullins (BT Sport), Ben Coles (Planet Rugby), Mick Cleary (Daily Telegraph), Jill Douglas (ITV Sport), Duncan Bech (Press Association), Alastair Eykyn (BT Sport) and David Rogers (Getty Images). They were joined by Phil Winstanley (Rugby Director at Premiership Rugby) and Paul Morgan (Premiership Rugby’s Communication Director) who chaired the panel.