Five Bok stars up for Players’ Player of Year award

World Rugby Player of the Year, Pieter-Steph du Toit, is up for another major prize, that of SA Men’s Fifteens Players’ Player of the Year, which is decided by this country’s professional players.

MyPlayers, the organisation that looks after the interests of South Africa’s professional rugby players, announced the nominees on Tuesday afternoon.

According to MyPlayers, the awards celebrate excellence and recognise the outstanding contributions of South Africa’s top rugby players across three categories: Men’s Fifteens, Springbok Sevens and Springbok Women.

Nominees

“Following a comprehensive evaluation process and in-depth discussions with player leadership groups, the professional players themselves have carefully selected the nominees. This final list represents those who have demonstrated remarkable skill, dedication and impact on the field throughout the year,” said MyPlayers in a statement.

Joining Du Toit, who was recently crowned the best in 2024 by World Rugby, for the second time after also picking up the award in 2019, are fellow Player of the Year nominees, Eben Etzebeth and Cheslin Kolbe, and they’re joined by Ox Nche and Damian de Allende.

In the running for the Women’s Players’ Player of the Year award are Vainah Ubisi, Libbie Janse van Rensburg, Ayanda Malinga and Nadine Roos.

The Men’s Sevens Players’ Player of the Year nominees are Selvyn Davids, Ryan Oosthuizen and Quewin Nortje.

The winners will be announced later this month.

Previous Winners of the Men’s Fifteens award are:

John Smit (2005), Kabamba Floors (2006), Willem de Waal (2007), Jean de Villiers (2008), Morné Steyn (2009), Gio Aplon (2010), Bismarck du Plessis (2011), JP Pietersen (2012), Willie le Roux (2013), Duane Vermeulen (2014), Jaco Kriel (2015), Jean-Luc du Preez (2016), Siya Kolisi (2017), Malcolm Marx (2018), Pieter-Steph du Toit (2019), Duane Vermeulen (2020), Cheslin Kolbe (2021), Lukhanyo Am (2022), Eben Etzebeth (2023).