The 29-year-old put in a series of superb performances as Gregor Townsend’s Scotland beat France, England and Italy over the course of a campaign that captured the imagination of fans. The final round win over France was Scotland’s first in Paris since 1999, while the victory over England was the first at Twickenham since 1983.

Losses against title winners Wales and Ireland came by narrow margins of just one and three points respectively.

Watson was an all-action performer in the Scottish back-row, missing just 14 minutes over the course of five matches. He scored one try and provided one try assist, carried 67 times for 321 metres, and successfully made every single tackle of his 55 in defence.

The fan vote was as keenly contested as ever with the Edinburgh star capturing 35% of over 125,000 votes cast by fans to finish ahead of 2020 winner Antoine Dupont of France, Louis Rees-Zammit and Taulupe Faletau of Wales, and Ireland duo Robbie Henshaw and Tadhg Beirne.

The six nominees were chosen by a panel of media comprising two media representatives from each participating nation.

Hamish Watson is the second Scot to claim the award since its inception in 2004, joining Stuart Hogg 2016 and 2017 winner on the Roll of Honour. He is the 15th player to be named Player of the Championship with five Irishmen, Gordon D’Arcy, Brian O’Driscoll (3), Tommy Bowe, Paul O’Connell and Jacob Stockdale, the previous winners of the coveted crown.

Watson commented: “I’m very surprised, obviously loads of top players were up for the award. I think when you do win something like that, it’s full credit to the team I’m in as well and to all of the guys who have won it previously.

“It shows what good teams you’re playing for. The Scotland team we’re all playing in at the moment is a great team and we really believe we can achieve things in the next few years.

“We think we’re heading in the right direction and full credit to the whole team, because without them, boys can’t win these personal accolades.”

In other news, Michael Bradley has been named Pro14 coach of the year after his side, Zebre, punched above their weight to record four wins, despite working off the smallest budget in the championship and being denied their Italian internationals for the bulk of the season.

Bradley said: ”Obviously, I’m delighted to receive this award. I do so on behalf of all the technical team in Zebre Rugby Club, in particular my two fellow-coaches Andrea Moretti and Fabio Roselli.

“We see this award as recognition for the work that has been done in challenging the skill and composure level of our players as we strive to play an attractive and exiting brand of rugby.

“This award gives a great encouragement to everybody in Zebre Rugby Club to keep working hard to achieve our goals. The opportunity to continue to work in Zebre Rugby Club has been given to me by Andrea Dalledonne, our CEO, who has a great belief in our technical direction.”