Boyle In The Running For URC Next-Gen Player Award
Leinster and Ireland's Jack Boyle makes a break during the province's recent BKT URC clash with the Scarlets, their quarter-final opponents later this week ©SPORTSFILE/Chris Fairweather
Some of the brightest young talents in the game are in the running to be named the URC Next-Gen Player of the Season. The winner will be determined by a media vote.
The prestigious award is open to players who were aged 23 and under at the beginning of the campaign, and who had won no more than five international caps at that point. They also need to have made nine appearances in the league this season.
There are 16 nominees shortlisted – six apiece from South Africa and Wales, two from Scotland, and one from both Ireland and Italy.
Leinster prop Jack Boyle, who made his Ireland debut during this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations, is the sole Irish representative.
The young Dubliner helped Leinster to top the BKT United Rugby Championship table this season. Number one seeds for the play-offs, they host the Scarlets at the quarter-final stage in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 3pm – tickets are available to buy here).
Powerful scrummager Boyle made 12 appearances during the URC’s regular season, scoring a try in March’s win over Cardiff. He is third in the Leinster squad for attacking ruck arrivals (170), is credited with three breakdown steals, and has averaged over five metres per carry.
There have been Irish winners of the Young Player/Next-Gen award in 2013 (Luke Marshall – Ulster), 2017 (Joey Carbery – Leinster), 2018 (Jordan Larmour – Leinster), 2020 (Caelan Doris – Leinster), 2021 (Scott Penny – Leinster), 2023 (Tom Stewart – Ulster), and 2024 (Jack Crowley – Munster).
Meanwhile, Leinster’s opponents this weekend, the Scarlets, lead the way for Next-Gen award nominees with three in backs Blair Murray, Ellis Mee, and Macs Page.
Murray – the joint second top-try scorer in the URC this season with eight – and Mee both made their international debuts this season, while the 20-year-old Page is viewed as one of the rising stars of the Welsh game.
The Vodacom Bulls, the DHL Stormers, the Emirates Lions, and Edinburgh all have two nominees. Centre Matt Currie and hooker Paddy Harrison are flying the flag for Scotland.
Bulls forward Cameron Hanekom is another player to have won his first Test cap in the current campaign, coming on as a replacement against Wales at the Principality Stadium in November. The same goes for Ospreys out-half Dan Edwards.
Edwards is the third highest point scorer in the league in 2024/25 with 112 points, and the shortlist includes a number of other players who are flying high in the URC stats.
Fleet-footed Zebre Parma winger Simone Gesi has made more clean breaks (22) than any other player, and Lions full-back Quan Horn is fourth in terms of defenders beaten with 51.
Then there is Cardiff winger Gabriel Hamer-Webb who touched down seven times, including a hat-trick against the Ospreys on Judgement Day.
URC NEXT-GEN PLAYER OF THE SEASON – 2024/25 NOMINEES:
Quan Horn (Emirates Lions)
Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls)
Matt Currie (Edinburgh)
Gabe Hamer-Webb (Cardiff)
Henco van Wyk (Emirates Lions)
Ellis Mee (Scarlets)
Jack Boyle (Leinster)
Cameron Hanekom (Vodacom Bulls)
Suleiman Hartzenberg (DHL Stormers)
Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers)
Macs Page (Scarlets)
Simone Gesi (Zebre Parma)
Aneurin Owen (Dragons)
Paddy Harrison (Edinburgh)
Blair Murray (Scarlets)
Dan Edwards (Ospreys)