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| 17 May 2005, 9:00 am |
| Lordy takes the top prize at awards dinner and farewells are made to 16 outgoing Saintsmen |
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Northampton Saints lock Matt Lord was named the Chronicle & Echo Player of the Year at last night's award ceremony, sponsored by Corus, held in the Rodber Suite at Franklin's Gardens. Ben Jones was named Young Player of the Year, Bruce Reihana claimed try of the year for the second year in a row and Pete Sweet was posthumously presented with the Clubman of the Year award for his 333 appearances for Northampton Saints. |
Lord won the vote with a landslide result on the back of the brave performances he had put through this difficult season. The rest of the players on the shortlist were Shane Drahm, Andrew Blowers and Bruce Reihana. Lord was also presented with the Players' Player of the Year award by Corne Krige.
Scrum-half Jones, who made his first start for Saints this season, was selected from an Academy shortlist that also included Brett McNamee, Neil Starling and Paul Diggin.
Sweet, who died last month after battling with cancer, served the club between 1966 and 1982, first as a centre and than as a flanker. He captained the side for two seasons and scored 58 tries. His award was collected Godfrey Hammond, on behalf of the family.
 Pete Sweet
The evening was also an opportunity to bid farewell to Saints' outgoing players. The full list includes James Ross and Johan van Wyk, who both suffered serious injuries this season, as well as Paul Grayson, Shane Drahm, Alex Codling, Andrew Blowers, Wylie Human, Chris Hyndman, Corne Krige, Robbie Morris, Ed O'Donoghue, Mark Tucker, Billy Fulton and Academy youngster Tom Tombleson. Robbie Kempson also left earlier in the season, as well as Rob Hunter, who is now Saints' Academy coach. |
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