Pieter-Steph du Toit crowned World Rugby Player of the Year

Springbok loose forward Pieter-Steph du Toit reigned supreme when he was crowned World Rugby Player of the Year for a second time at a glittering awards ceremony held in Monaco on Sunday night.

Du Toit won his first Player of the Year award after playing a major role in the Boks charge to the Rugby World Cup title in Japan in 2019 and becomes the first South African to win the award twice.

The only other multiple winners of the prestigious individual award are All Blacks Dan Carter and Richie McCaw, who have won three, and Beauden Barrett who has won it twice.

It was unfortunately heartbreak for Eben Etzebeth and Cheslin Kolbe who would both have been deserving winners if picked, and both have now missed out on the award more than once, after Etzebeth was also nominated in 2023 and 2013, and Kolbe in 2019.

The Boks dominated World Rugby’s team of the year with seven players, namely the three World Player nominees, Du Toit, Kolbe and Etzebeth, as well as prop Ox Nche, hooker Malcolm Marx and centres Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel.

Ireland had four players selected, the All Blacks three and one from Argentina to round out the 15.

Rassie snub

Earlier in the evening Bok coaching maestro Rassie Erasmus was incredibly snubbed for the Coach of the Year award, in favour of French Sevens coach Jerome Daret, who led his team to the Sevens Series and Olympic titles.

Last year World Cup winning coach Jacques Nienaber was snubbed in favour of Ireland’s Six Nations winning coach Andy Farrell.

So it will leave a bitter taste in many fans mouths after Erasmus was also ignored this time, despite a brilliant year for the Boks that saw them win 11 out of 13 games, with just two one point losses, and claim a dominant Rugby Championship title.

Another South African to miss out was exciting young utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, with his injury that kept him out of the Boks final five games of the season, probably assisting All Blacks loose forward Wallace Sititi winning the Breakthrough Player of the Year award ahead of him.

Despite missing out on an award himself, Erasmus was immensely proud of the Bok players involved in the awards.

“To have so many of our players feature in the awards a testament to their hard work and dedication to the team and the Springbok brand, and that’s what makes this such a special group,” said Erasmus.

“What makes this achievement even significant is that we used 50 players in total this season and rotated our squad regularly, which shows the calibre of players they are. But rugby is a team sport, and it takes each one of the squad members to do their bit to place one another in positions to shine.

“With the vast player depth in our squad, I’m sure a few more players were close to being nominated, but each one of these players certainly deserves this recognition and we are very proud of them.”