The flanker won his first nomination for the award after impressing during the club's win over Rotherham Titans. The 25 year old scored two tries at St Peters during the home side's 44-27 victory, one after running onto a high kick and the other from an impressive maul.

He was also part of a powerful Jersey pack whose late penalty tries helped narrowly overcome Nottingham and London Scottish.

Despite the club’s finish outside the top four, following defeat to Ealing Trailfinders last weekend, James was delighted to receive the accolade, saying:

"It's a massive honour to be named on the shortlist, let alone to win. "It shows the way Jersey have come on during the season - we've picked up a few wins recently and worked our way up the table and that's helped me to get recognised. I've scooped up a few tries along the way, but it comes down to the efforts of the whole squad.

"I'll look forward to celebrating the award, but there's an important game first and we will be going all out to finish the season on Saturday with a win against Yorkshire Carnegie in front of our home supporters, just as a thank you to everyone for voting for me."