THE Golden Lions rugby players were rewarded for their efforts during the year at a stylish year-end function hosted by the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) at Carnival City on Tuesday, December 1.
The Johannesburg based team not only won the Currie Cup as an unbeaten team, but also showed their worth in the SuperRugby ending the tournament second in the South African conference.
The most outstanding player for the Golden Lions was none other than Jaco Kriel as he walked away with three of the night’s most prestigious accolades. He was crowned Lions Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and the Supporters Player of the Year.
Kriel had an impressive season leading the unbeaten side to Currie Cup victory in 2015.
Warren Whiteley was named Emirates Super Rugby Forward of the Year while Ruan Combrinck received the award for Backline Player of the Year for Emirates Super Rugby.
Lock Franco Mostert proved another firm favourite and took the top honour as the unions’ Forward of the Year while Ross Cronjé made the Lions Backline Player of the Year award his own.
Newcomer Lourens Erasmus paved his way into the limelight with his strong performances during the Currie Cup season and was aptly awarded the Most Promising Player of the Year title.
Among the juniors Bobby de Wee grabbed Player of the Year for the u. 21s while strong centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg was named Best Backline Player for the u.21s with Ramone Samuels the Forward of the Year in this age group.
James Venter received the top honours as the u.19 Player of the Year with Hendrick Mulder and Juandré Michau sharing the spoils respectively for Best Back and Best Forward Players of the Year.
Among the female contingency, flanker Luyanda Koi (21) was named the Forward of the Year and wing Refilwe Ramahlo (20) the Backline Player of the Year. Both only started playing rugby in Soweto last year. Koi is a student at the Johannesburg College just adjacent to the Emirates Airline Park and Ramahlo works part-time.
The full list of prize winners are:
Women’s Rugby
Women’s Forward Of The Year – Luyanda Koi
Women’s Backline Player Of The Year – Refilwe Ramahlo
Referees
GLRU Referee Of The Year – Lesego Legoete
GLRU Women’s Referee Of The Year – Ashleigh Murray
Fittest Referee Of The Year – Zandre Janse van Rensburg
Highest Exam Marks – Richard Schwulst and Hermanus Schwulst
Player Awards
GLRU u.19 Forward Player of the Year – Juandre Michau
GLRU u.19 Backline Player of the Year – Hendrik Mulder
GLRU u.19 Player of the Year – James Venter
GLRU u.21 forward player of the year – Ramone Samuels
GLRU u.21 Backline Player of the Year – Rohan Janse van Rensburg
GLRU u.21 Player of the Year – Bobby de Wee
SuperRugby forward player of the year – Warren Whiteley
SuperRugby Backline Player of the Year – Ruan Combrinck
GLRU Forward Player of the Year – Franco Mostert
GLRU Backline Player of the Year – Ross Cronje
GLRU Most Improved Player of the Year – Lourens Erasmus
GLRU Players’ Player of the Year – Jaco Kriel
GLRU Supporters Player of the Year – Jaco Kriel
GLRU Player of the year – Jaco Kriel.
