Duhan van der Merwe is among the four nominees for the Six Nations Player of the Year award after finishing the tournament as top try scorer.
Scotland wing Van der Merwe finished the campaign as joint-top try scorer, alongside Ireland hooker Dan Sheehan, with five tries in four games.
Van der Merwe became the first Scotland player to score a hat-trick in the Calcutta Cup match against England, while he also made the most carry metres (355) and beat the most defenders (15) of any Scotland player in this year’s championship.
Bundee Aki was the only member of the Ireland side that won back-to-back Six Nations championships to be nominated for the award.
The 33-year-old centre, who was born and brought up in New Zealand, made a total of 144 metres in contact – the best of any player in the championship – as the Irish triumphed for a second successive year.
England back row forward Ben Earl is also on the shortlist of four after making 73 carries, the most in this year’s championship.
Italy centre Tommaso Menoncello completes the quartet of nominees.
Menoncello was a revelation as Italy notched up two wins and a draw to mark their best-ever Six Nations since joining the competition in 2000.
The four were the highest scoring in a fan vote for the team of the championship.
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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