O'Driscoll, O'Connell and Heaslip on shortlist for player of the tournament

There are three Irish players - Brian O'Driscoll, Paul O'Connell, and Jamie Heaslip - shortlisted for the official RBS Player of the Six Nations Championship.

They are joined by Lee Byrne (Wales), Sergio Parisse (Italy) and Delon Armitage (England) in an elite group of six.

All six were nominated by Team RBS, who together picked their top three players each (in order of preference) from the Championship in order to decide on the final six.

Former internationals Jason Leonard (England), Keith Wood (Ireland), David Sole (Scotland), Ieuan Evans (Wales), Philippe St Andre (France) and Alessandro Moscardi (Italy) based their decision on performance, form and achievement throughout this year's Tournament.