Johannesburg - Lions players dominate the nominations in the various categories of the SA Rugby Player of the Year awards, with Warren Whiteley, Jaco Kriel and Ruan Combrinck in the running to be named the country’s top player for 2016.
The trio are joined by Stormers and Western Province locks Pieter-Steph du Toit and Eben Etzebeth, who’ll both fancy their chances of winning the award after also standing out as Test players this season.
In the Young Player category, two more Lions players are in the running, namely Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Malcolm Marx, with the other contenders being SA U-20 star Curwin Bosch, Sevens flier Seabelo Senatla and Bulls lock RG Snyman.
The Lions are also up for Team of the Year following their impressive run to the Super Rugby final, while Johan Ackermann is also the favourite to be named Coach of the Year.
Flyhalf Elton Jantjies completes the nominations for the Lions, with his being nominated for Super Rugby Player of the Year but he’ll have to beat off the challenges of Whiteley and Combrinck if he’s to bag the award.
The awards ceremony takes place on October 24 in Johannesburg, two days after the Currie Cup final.
The nominees are:
SA Rugby Player of the Year:
Ruan Combrinck, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Jaco Kriel, Warren Whiteley
Young Player of the Year:
Curwin Bosch, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Malcolm Marx, Seabelo Senatla, RG Snyman
Team of the Year:
Emirates Lions (Super Rugby), Springbok Sevens, Free State Cheetahs (Currie Cup Premier Division)
Coach of the Year:
Johann Ackermann (Emirates Lions, Golden Lions), Brent Janse van Rensburg (Boland), Neil Powell (Springbok Sevens)
Junior Springbok Player of the Year:
Curwin Bosch, Manie Libbok, Jeremy Ward
SA Sevens Player of the Year:
Kyle Brown, Seabelo Senatla, Rosko Specman
Super Rugby Player of Year:
Ruan Combrinck (Emirates Lions), Elton Jantjies (Emirates Lions), Warren Whiteley (Emirates Lions)
Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year:
Huw Jones (WP), Nico Lee (Free State Cheetahs), Ox Nche (Free State Cheetahs)
Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year:
Masixole Banda (Border), Johan Deysel (Leopards), George Whitehead (Griffons)
Other awards that will be presented are in the categories of Players’ Player of the Year, Try of the Year, Craven Week Player of the Year, Referee Award, Springbok Women’s Achiever Award and Best Development Programme. The Club Player of the Year will be awarded after the Gold Cup final.
@jacq_west
Independent Media