Five Springboks who secured victory in the Rugby World Cup, namely Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Frans Malherbe, and Damian Willemse, have been nominated for the SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year for 2023.
The nominations for the nine awards were revealed by SA Rugby on Tuesday, and the winners will be announced in early 2024, alongside the OUTsurance Referee of the Year and Provincial Women’s Player of the Year.
Previous winners Kolisi and Du Toit, who received the award in 2021 and 2019, respectively, will provide strong competition for Etzebeth, last year’s recipient. Malherbe, a crucial figure in the Bok scrum, and Willemse, honored with the Youth Weeks Player of the Year Award in 2016, are also contenders.
In the women’s category, Nadine Roos aims to defend her title as South Africa’s Women’s Player of the Year against nominees Aseza Hele, Babalwa Latsha, Libbie Janse van Rensburg, and Rights Mkhari.
For the Young Player of the Year Award, four of the five nominees from 2022 are back, with Bulls and Springbok player Canan Moodie being the victor. Ruan Venter joins the quartet for this year’s nominations.
Ricardo Duarttee, the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series Rookie of the Year, along with Christie Grobbelaar and Shilton van Wyk, are in the running for the Springbok Sevens Men’s Player of the Year Award.
Nominees for the Junior Springbok Player of the Year Award include team captain Paul de Villiers, who led the SA U20 side to a bronze medal at the World Rugby U20 Championship, as well as Corne Beets and Damian Markus.
The Coach and Team of the Year categories feature a direct competition between Springboks’ Jacques Nienaber, the Stormers’ John Dobson, and Hawies Fourie of the Cheetahs.
In the Premier Division award, Cheetahs veteran Ruan Pienaar competes with the Pumas pair of Devon Williams and Tinus de Beer, while the First Division Award sees the Boland duo of Cameron Hufke and Darian Hock facing off against Keagan Fortune of the Valke.
SA Rugby president Mark Alexander commended all the nominees for their contributions to local rugby, highlighting the exceptional performances that made the 2023 season memorable.
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