Tuesday 1 November 2016 20:04, UK
England's rebirth under Eddie Jones has been recognised with a series of nominations for the 2016 World Rugby Awards, including one for the head coach himself.
Jones took over from Stuart Lancaster in the wake of England's shambolic exit at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, when they failed to make it out of the group stage.
England's rise since the Australian's arrival has been sharp, with nine wins out of nine encompassing a Six Nations Grand Slam and a win over Wales which preceded an impressive 3-0 whitewash on the summer tour of Australia.
Jones will face competition from New Zealand coach Steve Hansen and Englishman Ben Ryan in the Coach of the Year category.
Under Hansen, the All Blacks have set a world record for consecutive wins at tier one level, which included winning the World Cup late last year and whitewashing Wales 3-0 before winning the Rugby Championship with a 100 per cent record.
Ryan's Fiji Sevens team provided one of the stories of the summer as they cruised to the nation's first Olympic gold medal in the Games' inaugural sevens tournament in Rio de Janeiro, beating Team GB 43-7 in the final.
Those same three teams also make up the shortlist for World Rugby Team of the Year.
England's international resurgence has coincided with the emergence of Saracens forward Maro Itoje, and he has been selected as one of three candidates for Breakthrough Player of the Year.
Itoje is yet to be on the losing side in a Test match and had won 31 consecutive games in which he had started for club and country before Saracens were beaten 17-10 by Harlequins in September.
His competition for the award comes from a pair of All Blacks - Anton Lienert-Brown and Ardie Savea.
The fourth England nomination comes in the Women's Sevens Player of the Year where Emily Scarratt is rewarded for her performances in Rio, although she was unable to guide Team GB to a bronze medal.
She is up against Australia's Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Caslick and the top try-scorer from the Olympics, Portia Woodman of New Zealand.
Ireland's Jamie Heaslip is a candidate for Try of the Year for his score against France, with the competition coming from New Zealand's TJ Perenara for his try against Argentina and Japan's Kaito Shigeno for a try against Scotland.
Fiji's Osea Kolinisau is on the shortlist for Sevens Player of the Year along with Seabelo Senatla of South Africa and France's Virimi Vakatawa.
And the World Rugby Referee award is between Jerome Garces of France, Alhambra Nievas from Spain and South African pair Jaco Peyper and Rasta Rasivhenge.
The nominees for World Rugby men's and women's player of the year will be announced on November 7.
