MARTIN JOHNSON WINS O2 PLAYER OF THE CENTURY AWARD

England Team Manager and RWC 2003 winning Captain Martin Johnson has won the prestigious 'O2 Player of the Century' award at the Twickenham Stadium Centenary Dinner this evening held in the South Stand Rose Suite. The award is representative of the best players seen at Twickenham Stadium in the last hundred years who have retired from the game.

The Leicester Tigers, England and British Irish Lions second row gathered over 10% of the 31,000 votes cast by rugby fans around the world via rfu.com/museum.

The award which will be presented to Johnson this evening at the Centenary Dinner, part of the 100 year celebrations of Twickenham Stadium, saw him edge out Wales legend Gareth Edwards and fellow RWC 2003 winner Jason Robinson.

The top ten short list for the award chosen from *100 great players was as follows:

Martin Johnson (England), Gareth Edwards (Wales), Jason Robinson (England), Lawrence Dallaglio (England), Richard Hill - RWC 2003 winner (England), Jonah Lomu (New Zealand), David Duckham (England), Rory Underwood (England), Neil Back (England), Serge Blanco (France).

Johnson said: "I've got so many good memories of Twickenham Stadium from receiving my first cap at 24 hours notice when I was in camp with the England B team through to beating South Africa in 1998 and all three SANZAR countries in 2002. This is a huge honour and it's a privilege to be named in the cmnpany of so many great players."

The announcement of the 'bmi Try of the Centenary' will be made at approximately 10.30pm this evening and quotes from the winner and pictures from Getty Images will be available from 11.00pm tonight.

The winning try will be voted on by the 800 people attending the Centenary Dinner. The short list of five has been reduced from twenty-five tries which were adjudicated on by the Centenary Ambassadors chaired by Alastair Hignell and includes Lawrence Dallaglio, Rob Andrew, Bill Beaumont and Dickie Jeeps, each of whom represent a winning England Grand Slam decade.

The short listed tries are: Prince Alexander Obolensky (England) - England v New Zealand 1936; Ben Cohen (England), England v Ireland 2002; Philippe Saint-Andre (France) England v France 1991; Bob Hiller (England) England v Scotland 1971 and Andy Hancock (England) England v Scotland 1965