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Henry Pollock beats Jeremy Fernandez to score Northampton’s fifth try against Castres on April 12 - Getty Images/David Rogers
Henry Pollock’s remarkable breakthrough season has taken another step forward after the England and Northampton flanker received a nomination for the Champions Cup player of the year.
Pollock, who made his full England debut and first Premiership start only this season, is the only English-based player among eight nominations for the Investec Player of the Year 2025.
The 20-year-old, who has been tipped as a bolter for this summer’s Lions tour of Australia, will go up against the Leinster trio of Jordie Barrett, Caelan Doris and Jamison Gibson-Park; Bordeaux duo Damian Penaud and Maxime Lucu; and the Toulouse pair of Jack Willis and Thomas Ramos. Louis Bielle-Biarrey, the Bordeaux wing who was named this year’s Six Nations player of the championship, is a surprise omission.
The eight-player shortlist features no previous winners. Ronan O’Gara, Jonny Wilkinson, Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell have all won the award in the past, while Toulouse scrum-half Antoine Dupont, currently recovering from a serious knee injury sustained in the Six Nations, is the only two-time winner, in 2021 and 2024.
Pollock’s Saints face a daunting trip to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to face four-times winners Leinster in the semi-finals, the same fixture in which the Premiership side came a cropper at the same stage of last season’s competition. Union Bordeaux-Bègles, who have never won the Champions Cup, host reigning champions and six-time winners Toulouse in the former’s football stadium a day later. The final takes place in Cardiff on Saturday May 24.
Here is a look at the contenders...
Jordie Barrett (Leinster Rugby)
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Jordie Barrett has lived up to his reputation as one of the world’s best players - Getty Images/Charles McQuillan
Half a season with Leinster and the marvellous New Zealander already finds himself nominated for top gongs – and not without reason. Critics might argue that Leinster signing one of the world’s best, with their squad already stocked full of internationals, was futile but Barrett’s impact – whether at 15, 12 or off the bench – has been emphatic. The Irish province fell narrowly at the final hurdle last year to an inspired Toulouse showing, but maybe Barrett might be able to carry them over it this season. Watch this space. No one has carried the ball more in this year’s tournament.
Caelan Doris (Leinster Rugby)
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Caelan Doris would be in prime position to win the award if Leinster win the Champions Cup - Getty Images/Charles McQuillan
Leinster’s captain, Ireland’s captain, Doris was a banker for this list. And should the great No 8 lift the trophy on May 24 then the smart money will be on him adding his name to the individual roll of honour, too, despite the stiff competition and presence of two team-mates.
Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster Rugby)
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Jamison Gibson-Park is a shoo-in for the Lions’ first Test against Australia - PA Wire/Damien Eagers
It is going to take a surge in form the likes of which the Home Nations have never seen to displace Gibson-Park from the starting XV for the Lions’ first Test against Australia this summer. Leinster will have to beat a fine side if they are to lift the Champions Cup for the first time since 2018 and, to do that, Gibson-Park will be at the forefront. Although possessing the snappiest service, it is the work Gibson-Park does off the ball which is so impressive. A majestic reader of the game.
Maxime Lucu (Union Bordeaux-Bègles)
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Maxime Lucu has stepped out of Antoine Dupont’s shadow at Test level - Getty Images/Romain Perrocheau
Deserved reward for a man who so often finds himself out of the limelight, twiddling his thumbs in the shadow of Antoine Dupont – certainly at Test level. But it is often forgotten that Lucu is a wonderful scrum-half in his own right. The beating heart of Bordeaux – as well as their captain – Lucu proved his class to the sceptics in France’s phenomenal Six Nations win over Ireland, where the understudy had to take over prematurely from the lead actor.
Damian Penaud (Union Bordeaux-Bègles)
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Damian Penaud scored six tries in one match against Sharks - Getty Images/Lionel Hahn
It might often look like Penaud does not know what he is going to do next, but the evidence of his excellence speaks for itself. The most clean breaks in the tournament, the most tries by a mile – a record-breaking tally which includes an eye-watering six in one match against the Sharks – second-most metres, second most defenders beaten
Henry Pollock (Northampton Saints)
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Henry Pollock has gone from strength to strength since breaking into the Northampton and England sides - Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Deserved for his display away at Stade Français alone, even if he does top the turnover stats for this year’s tournament.
It is an achievement in itself for a 20-year-old to be shortlisted but if Northampton were to win the whole competition then he would claim the top prize by default. Two of Europe’s mightiest sides stand in their way, however. Where will this rapid rise finish this season? Surely a place on England’s tour of Argentina as a bare minimum.
Thomas Ramos (Stade Toulousain)
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Thomas Ramos makes Toulouse tick with his metronomic kicking and attacking qualities - Getty Images/David Rogers
If I were picking now, Ramos would be my choice. Although France’s full-back did not enjoy his best day out in the quarter-final victory over Toulon – missing several kicks before finally slotting the winner – Ramos’s value to Toulouse is in more than goal-kicking, despite his usual metronomic abilities. As a second playmaker but also a lethal counter-attacker in his own right, Ramos makes Toulouse tick. In the January obliteration of Leicester, he and Dupont almost looked as though they were playing a different sport.
Jack Willis (Stade Toulousain)
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Jack Willis shone during Toulouse’s victory over Toulon in the quarter-final - Getty Images/David Rogers
The English rose now tearing it up in the Ville Rose. Such is Willis’s impact in the pink city that head coach Ugo Mola has bestowed the captaincy on his flanker numerous times this season. A try-scorer in both the last 16 and quarter-final – shining particularly in the latter, a gruesome victory over Toulon – Willis would be completely deserving of clinching this award. Should Andy Farrell look beyond the clash with the Top 14 final, then Lions selection surely beckons.
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