Evans, who joined Harlequins from the Auckland Blues in 2008, has had an outstanding season so far and is regarded as one of the best fly-halves in world rugby.

Evans, who was voted for the award by players in the Aviva Premiership said: "I was very surprised and humbled to win this award, it's a great honour to be voted for by your fellow professionals. I was up against some fantastic players. Mike, Chris, Steve and George have all been outstanding this season and just to be nominated amongst that group is a huge honour in itself.

"Harlequins is a big machine and myself, Chris and Mike are all just small parts of that, we can't do our jobs unless everyone else in the team is doing theirs. I've got great respect and admiration for all the guys on the team and they've made my job easy this year and it's great to see so many Quins' players nominated. We've had a fantastic season so far and hopefully we can finish the job at Twickenham on Saturday."

The LV= Young Player of the Year Award was awarded to Saracens' Owen Farrell.