•    IRUPA VOLKSWAGEN TRY OF YEAR 2011
•    Winner: Fionn Carr – Scarlets v CONNACHT, Magners League

Brian O'Driscoll - Winner Best Rugby Moment of the Year 2011

•    IRUPA NATURE VALLEY YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2011
•    Winner: Nevin Spence - Ulster

•    BORD GÁIS ENERGY IRUPA PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2011
•    Winner: Isa Nacewa – Leinster

•    IRUPA NOKIA UNSUNG HERO OF THE YEAR 2011
•    Winner: Richardt Strauss – Leinster


•    IRUPA BORD GÁIS ENERGY HALL OF FAME 2011
•    Inducted: Malcolm O'Kelly - Leinster

•    IRUPA BORD GÁIS ENERGY SUPPORTERS’ PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2011
•    Winner: Sean O'Brien – Leinster

From www.Irishrugby.ie

Ireland and Lions number 8 Jamie Heaslip and Magners League record breaker Tim Visser are the sole survivors in the 2010/11 Magners League Dream Team from last year's selection.
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Tim Visser overtook Jamie Robinson and Kevin Morgan as the league's record try scorer in a season with his 13th touchdown in Edinburgh's round 19 win over Aironi Rugby.

He went on to extend his lead as the top try scorer for the campaign with a 14th in the victory over the Newport Gwent Dragons.

He is the only Edinburgh player included in the side, which comprises representatives from a record nine of the 12 teams in the newly-expanded league.

The 23-year-old Dutch-born, but soon to be Scottish-qualified, Visser led the way in 2009/10 with 10 tries and with one game left to play in the regular season he had made it 24 tries in 37 games over the two seasons.

Not surprisingly the 'flying Dutchman' gathered more votes than any other player selected for the fifth Magners League Dream Team, chosen by a panel of 19 journalists from the four participating nations.

He received 17 votes, while fellow winger Fionn Carr, the first Connacht player to join the Magners League elite, polled six.

Leinster lead the way for the third time in five years with five players and there are eight players from the four Irish provinces, with one each from table-topping Munster (Ronan O'Gara), play-off chasing Ulster (Ruan Pienaar) and Connacht (Fionn Carr).

There are four overseas players included in the side in Isa Nacewa (Leinster/Fiji), Casey Laulala (Cardiff Blues/New Zealand), Ruan Pienaar (Ulster/South Africa) and Richardt Strauss (Leinster/South Africa).

Jamie Heaslip, the man-of-the-match in Leinster's Heineken Cup semi-final win over Toulouse last weekend, made it five years in-a-row with his inclusion in the 2010/11 Dream Team - the only ever-present.

The number 8 has been at the centre of one of the outstanding back rows in the to competition, helping Leinster reach the Magners League semi-finals and the Heineken Cup final.

He pipped Munster rival James Coughlan and Scarlets newcomer Ben Morgan to the number 8 slot, although his provincial colleague Sean O'Brien was also in the mix.

The remarkably versatile O'Brien received votes in all three back row positions and polled twice as many votes overall as any of the other 20 players nominated for the three positions.

In the end, O'Brien led the way for the blindside flanker's role, with Cardiff Blues rising star Sam Warburton taking the number 7 shirt.

Glasgow Warriors' Scotland ock Richie Gray topped the voting among the locks and has the Ospreys' skipper Alun Wyn Jones packing down alongside him in a second row.

Leinster's rising front row reputation is reflected in the selection of Ireland tighthead prop Mike Ross ahead of the choice for the past two seasons, Wales and Lions ace Adam Jones, at number 3 and Strauss at hooker.

The loosehead spot goes to one of the most consistent performers over the history of the Magners League, the Scarlets’ former Wales prop Iestyn Thomas.

He heads a list that featured Wales prop Paul James as his nearest rival as he returned to the Dream Team for the first time since its inception in the 2006/07 season.

Behind the scrum there are three more standout selections alongside that of Visser. Leinster full-back Nacewa picked up 16 votes, with three other candidates polling only one each.

The Scarlets' Welsh centre Jonathan Davies picked up 14 votes for one of the two centre berths with his nearest rivals getting only five.

Brian O'Driscoll, a Dream Team member for the two previous campaigns, was one of those two, but he was beaten on a second draw to the number 13 jersey by the Blues' Casey Laulala.

At scrum half, Ulster's regular match winner Ruan Pienaar was a runaway winner with 13 votes - 10 more than the man he replaced, Leinster's Isaac Boss, while his half-back partner is Munster's points machine Ronan O'Gara, who returns to the Dream Team after a season's absence.

2010/11 MAGNERS LEAGUE DREAM TEAM:

15 - Isa Nacewa (Leinster)
14 - Fionn Carr (Connacht)
13 - Casey Laulala (Cardiff Blues)
12 - Jonathan Davies (Scarlets)
11 - Tim Visser (Edinburgh)
10 - Ronan O'Gara (Munster)
9 - Ruan Pienaar (Ulster)
1 - Iestyn Thomas (Scarlets)
2 - Richardt Strauss (Leinster)
3 - Mike Ross (Leinster)
4 - Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys)
5 - Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
6 - Sean O'Brien (Leinster)
7 - Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues)
8 - Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

Pics (C) www.inpho.ie

As the semi-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup are on this weekend we thought we’d take a look back to this time last year when Connacht welcomed the mighty Toulon to the Sportsground.

On the back of a tough Magners League campaign Michael Bradley’s Connacht remained the only unbeaten team in both the Amlin Challenge Cup and the Heineken Cup by the semi-final stage. October 2009 saw Connacht hammer Olympus Madrid 46-6 in the Sportsground before travelling to the South of France and beating Montpellier 22-19. Worcester were the opposition in December, back to back home and away wins put Connacht in pole position in the group and after seeing off Montpellier at the Sportsground  an away trip to group minnows Olympus Madrid was all that stood between the team and a quarter-final spot. A 66-0 drubbing put Connacht through as group winners and secured a home quarter-final against French highflyers Bourgoin. Bourgoin fought their way back from a half time deficit of 14-10 to lead by 20 points to 14 before French international Benjamin Boyet was sent to the sin binning for killing the ball. An Ian Keatley Penalty, a Miah Nikora Penalty and an 80th minute drop goal from Nikora put Connacht through to their 3rd Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final and crucially, as top seeds, a home draw.

Toulon had an impressive tournament as well, beating Castres, Saracens and Rovigo in the pool stages before overcoming Scarlets in their quarter-final. Johnny Wilkinson, Sonny Bill Williams, Tonga Lea'aetoa and Juan Fernandez Lobbe, along with the rest of the highly bankrolled Toulon side arrived in Galway on the 30th April last year. Despite Ian Keatley’s impressive goal kicking with 4 penalties it was the French powerhouses, with the deadly accurate book of Wilkinson (1 Conversion, 1 drop-goal and 3 penalties) and a try from Mafi Kefu, who took the spoils on the day.
This weekend Munster welcome Harlequins to Thomond Park in Limerick while Stade Francais take on Clermont Auvernge in the semi-finals of the Amlin Challenge Cup.

Michael Swift scoring a crucial try against Bourgoin in the quarter-final last season

This season Connacht Rugby are celebrating their 125th year and the occasion will be marked at the annual awards dinner, this year to be held in the Galway Bay Hotel (Salthill).

The Connacht Branch was formed on the 8th of December 1885 when members of Ballinasloe RFC, Castlebar RFC, Galway Town, Galway Grammar School, Queens College Galway and Ranelagh School Athlone met in Dublin to form the Provincial body and over the last 125 seasons it has grown from strength to strength. There are currently 22 adult clubs and a further 6 youth/mini clubs in the Province, along with the Senior Professional team and representative teams at U18 (Youths & Schools), U19, U20 and Junior level.Of the original 6 clubs that formed the Connacht Branch 3 are still in operation, Ballinasloe RFC, Castlebar RFC and Queens College Galway (UCG RFC).

This year’s President of Connacht Rugby is Jim Foy of Galwegians FC. He is continuing the ambassadorial role first undertaken by Richard Biggs of Galway Grammar School who was elected in 1885.

Tickets for the black-tie event can be purchased from the Connacht Branch Office on College Rd, or by contacting Eoin at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tickets cost €85 and include dinner in the 4 star hotel as well as access to the awards ceremony, with awards in the above mentioned categories, a chance to mingle with the Connacht team and management and the prestigious Hall of Fame recipient.