Northampton flanker Henry Pollock’s breakout season has been rewarded with a nomination for the Champions Cup Player of the Year.
The 20-year-old has scored six tries in six games during Saints’ run to a second consecutive semi-final.
Leinster and New Zealand centre Jordie Barrett also makes the eight-strong shortlist, along with Toulouse’s English back row Jack Willis.
Ireland and Leinster pair Caelan Doris and Jamison Gibson-Park are nominated, with Willis’ club team-mate Thomas Ramos and Bordeaux-Begles pair Maxime Lucu and Damian Penaud also in the running.
Northampton face Leinster in Dublin on Saturday, 3 May before holders Toulouse face Bordeaux Begles in an all-French face-off the following day.
Pollock had made only one Premiership appearance before the start of this season, spending much of last campaign on loan at Championship side Bedford.
However, the departure of back rows Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam has accelerated his progress, and, after winning the under-20 World Cup with England last summer, he has become a key part of the first team.
Pollock scored two tries off the bench on his Test debut against Wales at the end of England’s Six Nations campaign and has been touted as a possible bolter for British and Irish Lions squad selection in May.
