Penney gets Rabo coach award

Rob Penney is guaranteed to leave Munster with at least one piece of silverware after being ‘Coach of the Year’ at last night’s RaboDirect PRO12 Awards in Edinburgh.

Penney will take Munster to Scotland for a league semi-final against Glasgow in Scotstoun on Friday having secured third place in the regular season’s final standings. Should Munster win then Penney’s final game before leaving for Japan will be a Rabo grand final against either Leinster or Ulster on May 31.

Munster fly-half JJ Hanrahan took the Rhino Golden Boot Award with an 87.30% success ratio from 55 placed kicks out of 63 but the main award of the night went to Wales, as Ospreys’ fly-half Dan Biggar won the ‘Players’ Player of the Year’ Award with Glasgow lock Jonny Gray scooping the ‘Young Player of the Year’ Award during a ceremony at Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre.

Connacht and Ulster were joint winners of the SpecSavers Fair Play Award, sharing a €12,500 cheque to be put towards youth development while Pat Lam’s westerners also won the ‘Rhino Collision Kings’ title after a panel of experts assessed their efficiency at the breakdown and tackling.

Leinster’s soon to retire Leo Cullen and Brian O’Driscoll both received the ‘Chairman’s Award’ in recognition of their outstanding service to their province and the tournament.