By Phill Mason
I WOULD imagine the club have already had Chris Pennell’s name engraved on the fans’ player of the season trophy, but his latest accolade is not so cut and dry.
Chris has been nominated – by a selection panel – as one of six contenders for Aviva Premiership Player of the Season.
He will contend with fellow full-back Mike Brown (Harlequins), Dan Braid (Sale Sharks), Jacques Burger (Saracens), Vereniki Goneva (Leicester Tigers) and Samu Manoa (Northampton Saints).
Does Chris deserve to be held in such high esteem by the league that we currently prop up? In a word, ‘yes’. Chris has played every minute of every Worcester Premiership game this season and has been a contender for man of the match in each and every game.
Twenty matches, three tries, four conversions and 17 penalties, totalling 74 points in 1840 minutes, are certainly club player of the season statistics.
But considering he has been putting in these amazing performances for a bottom of the league side, which has left everybody from visiting fans to TV pundits wondering what he needs to do to get into the England set-up, these are most definitely the achievements of a worthy Aviva Premiership Player of the Season 2013/14.
All I can say is I hope Chris has bought himself a quality black tie outfit as he is going to get plenty of use from it as the season draws to a close.