Five Bok stars in line for SA Rugby Player of the Year award

Five Springbok stars are in the running for the nation’s most coveted rugby award after being confirmed among the nominees on Wednesday for the SA Rugby Player of the Year accolade.

Lukhanyo Am, Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi were all included in the list for the second year in a row, and they will be up against Kurt-Lee Arendse and Frans Malherbe.

Springbok captain Kolisi is back in the running after winning the award last season. Etzebeth has also enjoyed a great year on the field, becoming the seventh player to earn his 100th Springbok Test cap, and Am’s influence was crucial for the SA team before he picked up a season-ending injury in August.

Former Blitzbok star Arendse was sublime in his debut season for the Boks, scoring seven tries in as many Tests, while Malherbe, who played in his 50th Test this year, was a rock in the pack.

Other categories

Nominees were also unveiled in eight other categories for the annual SA Rugby Awards, with the winners set to be announced early next year.

The list of finalists for Springbok Women’s Player of the Year features last season’s winner Lusanda Dumke, along with Aseza Hele, Zintle Mpupha, Aphiwe Ngwevu and Nadine Roos.

The next generation of national players were nominated in the category for Young Player of the Year, which only takes into consideration individuals who are in the U-23 age group, with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Jaden Hendrikse, Canan Moodie, Evan Roos and Henco van Wyk getting the nod.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu was nominated in the category for Junior Springbok Player of the Year as well after he led the SA U-20 team to an unbeaten run in the Six Nations U-20 Summer Series in Italy, while Suleiman Hartzenberg and Ruan Venter were also included on the list.

Three Blitzboks players – Selvyn Davids, Zain Davids and JC Pretorius – are up for the Springbok Sevens Player of the Year award, while Pumas stars Sebastiaan de Klerk, Willie Engelbrecht and Devon Williams are in the running for Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year, and Griffons players Jaywinn Juries and Duan Pretorius are up against Jaiden Baron of the Boland Kavaliers for Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year.

ALSO READ: Blitzboks were again disappointing at Cape Town Sevens

The Springboks, the Stormers and the Pumas are in line for Team of the Year, while John Dobson (Stormers), Jacques Nienaber (Springboks) and Jimmy Stonehouse (Pumas) have been nominated for Coach of the Year.

“This list of nominees honour those players who performed brilliantly week in and week out and I would like to congratulate all of them on their achievements in 2022,” said SA Rugby president Mark Alexander.

“All of our national teams enjoyed some form of success and again underlined our status as one of the top rugby nations in the world.”