Springbok, Ireland and Wales stars are among the 16-player shortlist for the URC Next-Gen award after stellar domestic seasons.

The award is open to players under the age of 23 at the beginning of the season, but have no more than five Test caps at that point. They must also have featured in nine games across the United Rugby Championship regular season.

Springbok, Wales and Ireland stars headline URC Next-Gen shortlist

All four URC nations are represented in this 16-man list, with six players from South African clubs, six Welsh, two Scottish, and one from Ireland and Italy as well.

Welsh side Scarlets lead the way for nominations in the shortlist, with Welsh internationals Blair Murray, Ellis Mee and recently named tourist Macs Page all included.

Just underneath them, the Bulls, Stormers, Lions and Edinburgh are all represented by two apiece. Springboks stars Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Cameron Hanekom make the list for the Bulls, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Andre-Hugo Venter are the two Stormers players included, Henco van Wyk and Quan Horn are the Lions’ representatives and Paddy Harrison and Matt Currie make the cut from Edinburgh. 

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Five teams also see one of their players represented to complete the shortlist, with Ospreys and Wales fly-half Dan Edwards, Cardiff’s outgoing winger Gabe Hamer-Webb, Leinster and Ireland prop Jack Boyle, Aneurin Owen of the Dragons and Zebre’s Simone Gesi also included.

The winner of the award will be decided by members of the media.

URC Next-Gen award shortlist in full

Quan Horn, Emirates Lions

Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Vodacom Bulls

Matt Currie, Edinburgh Rugby

Gabe Hamer-Webb, Cardiff Rugby

Henco van Wyk, Emirates Lions

Ellis Mee, Scarlets

Jack Boyle, Leinster Rugby

Cameron Hanekom, Vodacom Bulls

Suleiman Hartzenberg, DHL Stormers

Andre-Hugo Venter, DHL Stormers

Macs Page, Scarlets

Simone Gesi, Zebre Parma

Aneurin Owen, Dragons RFC

Paddy Harrison, Edinburgh Rugby

Blair Murray, Scarlets

Dan Edwards, Ospreys

READ MORE: Double blow for Leinster, including a worrying update about one of their Lions picks

Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/south-africa-and-wales-talents-dominate-16-player-shortlist-for-major-urc-award