Vermeulen, Bulls clean up at SA Rugby Awards

Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen was the big winner on Thursday when SA Rugby announced their players and teams of 2020.

Vermeulen, the man of the match in the World Cup final against England in 2019, was named SA Rugby Player of the Year for the second time. He also picked up the award for Super Rugby and Unlocked Player of the Year.

The Bulls, winners of the Unlocked competition as well as the Currie Cup, were named Team of the Year, while coach Jake White was announced as the Coach of the Year.

Stedman Gans, who made a successful transition from the Blitzboks to star for the Bulls after the World Rugby Sevens Series was cancelled, was named Springbok Sevens Player of the Year, for his role as the Blitzboks won two tournaments out of six to finish second overall on the standings.

Wandisile Simelane, a former Junior Springbok star who got his first taste of senior rugby in green and gold in the successful Springbok Showdown before going on to star for the Lions in the local competitions, was named Young Player of the Year.

Cornal Hendricks capped a brilliant season by walking away with the accolade for Currie Cup Player of the Year, and Jaco Peyper was named the Referee of the Year.

“It was a very tough season but Duane was superb – not only on the field, where his performances were on par with the very high standard we’ve become accustomed to from him, but he also led the Vodacom Bulls with aplomb as our teams had to navigate numerous new curve balls and challenges,” said Mark Alexander, President of SA Rugby.

The winners and finalists for 2020 are:

SA Rugby Player of the Year: Duane Vermeulen

Finalists: Curwin Bosch, Cornal Hendricks, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Steyn

SA Rugby Young Player of the Year: Wandisile Simelane

Finalists: Curwin Bosch, Stedman Gans, Ruan Nortje, Dylan Richardson

Springbok Sevens Player of the Year: Stedman Gans

Finalists: Angelo Davids, Selvyn Davids

Team of the Year: Bulls

Finalists: Sharks, Springbok Sevens

Coach of the Year: Jake White

Finalists: Sean Everitt, Neil Powell

Super Rugby and Unlocked Player of Year: Duane Vermeulen

Finalists: Frans Steyn, Marco van Staden

Currie Cup Player of the Year: Cornal Hendricks

Finalists: Marco van Staden, Duane Vermeulen

Referee of the Year: Jaco Peyper

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