Henshaw and Parsons named Player of the Year by rugby writers

Robbie Henshaw and Béibhinn Parsons have been honoured as the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Player of the Year in 2020-21 in the men's and women's categories.

Leinster centre Henshaw was rewarded for his string of excellent performances for the Lions, Leinster and for Ireland during the 2021 Six Nations.

Connacht wing Parsons has won the women's award for the second year running, after a series of fine performances in Ireland's truncated 2021 Six Nations.

Terry Kennedy was named Ireland's 7's Player of the Year for his displays in the qualification campaign for the Tokyo Olympics and at the Games themselves.

For the second successive year, Leinster were named Team of the Year, having claimed a fourth consecutive Pro14 title and reaching the Champions Cup semi-final.

Railway Union Rugby Football Club were awarded Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Club of the Year for 2021 in recognition of the club's development and promotion of women's rugby.

In December 2021, Former Ireland and current Wasps rugby player, Claire Molloy and former Ireland, Bath, London Irish and Connacht player, Simon Geoghegan were inducted into the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame while former Ireland & Munster rugby player, Billy Holland was named as the recipient of the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Tom Rooney Award for the 2020/2021 season.

Henshaw said he was privileged to receive the award after what he described as "one of my best seasons."

"It is a privilege to receive the Men's Player of the Year Award from the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland and to follow in the footsteps of many great players who have won it in the past. The 2020/2021 season was a great and, for me personally, it was probably one of the my best seasons for Leinster and Ireland."

Parsons was also delighted by the award:

"To win this award for a second time is truly incredible so I’d like to say a huge thank you to the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland for this recognition. To be able to represent my country and province and receive an award for doing something I love is an absolute honour. As a team, we are determined to hit the ground running in 2022 and we’ll continue to put everything into our rugby to get where we want to be."