The Ospreys key man was handed the title at the end-of-season’s awards ceremony in Edinburgh last night.
Biggar becomes the first Welshman to pick up the accolade from his peers. He beat Glasgow Warriors’ Nikola Matawalu and Ulster’s Ruan Pienaar to the title in an incredibly tight vote.
He follows in the footsteps of Tommy Bowe (Ospreys), Ruan Piennar (Ulster), Tim Visser (Edinburgh) and Nick Williams (Ulster) in picking up the award.
Jonny Gray picked up the ‘Young ‘Player of the Year’ title after not only breaking into and starting in the Glasgow side, but also into the Scottish national team.
It was a good night for Connacht and Ulster, as they share a £10,000 cheque to put towards youth development after jointly claiming the ‘SpecSavers Fair Play Award’ for having the fewest yellow and red cards and citings over the 22 games.
Rob Penney (Munster) won the ‘Coach of the Year’ award after steering Munster into the Play-Offs again. His side put together a record number of wins during the campaign and finished in 3rd place overall to secure an away tie to face Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun next Friday.
Leinster legends Leo Cullen and Brian O’Driscoll both received the ‘Chairman’s Award’ in recognition of their outstanding service to their province, their country, the tournament as a whole and the game of rugby union.
Connacht took over from Scarlets as winners of the ‘Rhino Collision Kings’ title after a panel of experts assessed their efficiency at the breakdown and tackling,
Munster No. 10 JJ Hanrahan scooped the Rhino Golden Boot Award with 87.30% (55 kicks out of 63) with Cardiff Blues outhalf Gareth Davies coming a close second with 86.96%.
RABODIRECT PRO12 AWARD WINNERS 2013/14
PLAYERS’ PLAYER OF THE SEASON Dan Biggar (Ospreys)
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
COACH OF THE SEASON Rob Penney (Munster Rugby)
CHAIRMAN’S AWARD Leo Cullen and Brian O’Driscoll (both Leinster Rugby)
RHINO GOLDEN BOOT JJ Hanrahan (Munster Rugby)
RHINO COLLISION KINGS Connacht
SPECSAVERS FAIRPLAY AWARD Ulster and Connacht – Shared
TRY OF THE SEASON Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors)
