By Rugby World reader, Stephen Thomas

First of all apologies for the lateness of this month’s awards I have been busy revising for exams so my mind has been elsewhere.
Today I’m going to give out my end of season awards.
Player of the Year goes to Phil Dowson. He has impressed me so much. A great captain, a great ball carrier, great tackler; basically a great all round player! Special credit has to go to Chris Ashton who has deservedly got himself in the England set up after scoring lots of tries.
There are quite a few contenders to team of the year: first of all Leicester for yet again winning another title in what was the best final around. Saracens deserve a huge reward for their end of season form as they were just sensational; great attractive rugby. But the real winners of this award is Leeds Carnegie. They showed the spirit, the determination and the passion to stay in the Guinness Premiership and I’m glad.
Coach of the Year echoes my last award and goes to Neil Back. He has managed to be as good as he was as a player as a coach so huge credit to him. There are numerous moments of the season; the final was one of the best for decades. The last 5 minutes has incredible and had me on tenterhooks. The EDF Final was again a great final. It was free flowing entertaining rugby. Next month I will concentrate on the summer internationals.