Swansea full back Nick Thomas has won the first Principality Premiership Player of the Month award for the 2009/10 season following his impressive performances in September. The 25 year old scored seven tries, including two against Cardiff in the opening game of the season (August 29) and a hat trick against Llanelli. He also scored 23 points with the boot during the month.
Principality Premiership head coaches, WRU and Regional academy staff, and from this season, selected journalists select the winner who receives £100 from the Principality Building Society, title sponsors of the competition.
Thomas’ efforts helped Swansea sit at the top of the Principality Premiership throughout September, with the St Helens side winning all five of their matches in the opening month, beating Cardiff and Bedwas on the road, and Newport, Llanelli and Aberavon at home.
Swansea head coach Richard Webster said, “Nicky’s outstanding performances really helped to kick start our campaign this season. He has been with us for five years and has always been good but this season he has certainly stepped up a gear in terms of consistency in his play and kicking. He has ironed out any mistakes that previously crept into his game and has really given us the go forward impetus we needed in our game.
“We’ve had an enjoyable start to the campaign, compared to the stress of relegation that we were under for a lot of last season. We just want to keep on winning and to have a competitive season. If we are in with a shout of honours come March, I’m sure we will put everything into the final push.”
Thomas, who didn’t start playing rugby until seven years ago for Mumbles RFC said, “I can’t quite put my finger on why the start of this season has been so good for me, but we seem to have really gelled as a team. We have a good forward platform which enables us to play a really positive attacking style of rugby, and the weather has helped too. The fact that we’ve been playing well as a team has no doubt benefitted me personally too, and I’m sure scoring a few tries has had a positive effect on my goal kicking.
“We will have to adapt our rugby for the winter months but if we can build on our performances so far, it would be great to win a trophy with Swansea.
“On a personal note, I obviously hope I can keep up my recent form, and it would be great to gain some experience of Regional rugby at some point.”
Rhian Davies, Senior Branch Manager at Principality’s Swansea branch welcomed the opportunity to present Nick with his award and commented, “We are delighted that the first Player of the Month award this season has gone to a talented local player and it was a pleasure to meet Nicky in the branch and give him his award. Competition in the Principality Premiership gets harder every year and it is great to see Swansea RFC sitting in the top three in the table at the moment. We wish them every success as the season progresses.”
