Leicester Tigers prop Dan Cole held off the challenge of teammate Ben Youngs to land the BBC East Midlands Brian Clough Breakthrough Award for 2010.

The award is given to a sports person in the region who judges at BBC East Midlands feel has broken through over the past year.

It came down to a head-to-head between Cole and Youngs, with Cole winning the vote ahead of his Tigers and England teammate.

Colin Hazelden, of BBC East Midlands Today was part of the judging panel. He said: “The judging panel ended up whittling it down to either Ben Youngs or Dan Cole and discussion on the subject was lively.

“In the end though we felt that Dan's industry in a difficult position and his sheer determination to learn from loan spells at Bedford and Nottingham really swung it in his favour.”

Cole was presented with the award at the Tigers press conference this week. You can see the presentation and what he what he had to say about the award to BBC East Midlands Today by clicking here