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Jamie Heaslip's end of season form has been impressive. ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
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Jamie Heaslip on 5-man shortlist for ERC Player of the Year

The Leinster man is the only nominee not to be playing in this year’s Heineken Cup Final.

REMEMBER THAT ERC Player of the Year longlist that was announced after the Heineken and Amlin Cup pool stages in January? Turns out that they were not really all that accurate for predicting who Europe’s best player is.

The ERC has released its shortlist of five players for the accolade, which will be named early next week.

Out of the 15 players named on the original longlist, only two names remain — Clermont duo of Julien Bonnaire and Wesley Fofana. They are joined on the five-man list by club colleague Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Rounding out the cream of the rugby crop are Leinster’s Jamie Heaslip and Jonny Wilkinson of Toulon. The ERC blurb on Heaslip reads:

Extremely solid, if unspectacular, in the early stage of Leinster’s European campaign, Heaslip has exploded into peak form in the knockout phase of the Amlin Challenge Cup with stand-out displays against both London Wasps and Biarritz.”

Wilkinson, having kicked 100 points en-route to the Heineken Cup Final, is acknowledged for wielding ‘the conductor’s baton’ and ‘playing some of the best rugby of his career’.

Longlist players to fall by the wayside include Munster’s Simon Zebo and the Ulster duo of Rory Best and Ruan Pienaar.

ERC Player of the Year shortlist

  • Julien Bonnaire (Clermont Auvernge)
  • Sitiveni Sivivatu (Clermont Auvergne)
  • Wesley Fofana (Clermont Auvergne)
  • Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon)
  • Jamie Heaslip (Leinster)

The ERC panel of judges are Stuart Barnes, Will Greenwood, Stephen Jones, Jacques Verdier and Gerry Thornley.

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