World Cup winner Kolbe clinches French Top 14 player of the year award

Rugby World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe was named the Top 14’s player of the season on Monday, the French league announced at a ceremony in Paris.

Kolbe, 26, lifted the Webb Ellis trophy with the Springboks earlier this month as well as the Rugby Championship in August after having helped his club Toulouse to the French domestic title in June.

“It’s been a phenomenal season, not just for me but for my club and for my country, winning the Top 14, The Rugby Championship and then World Cup in one year, I’m really blessed,” Kolbe said.

“I couldn’t have done this without all my team-mates. I give credit to all of them because if they didn’t create opportunities for me as a winger to finish off I wouldn’t be standing here now,” he added.

The Rio Olympic Games bronze medallist, who made his international debut after joining Toulouse in 2017, scored six tries in 16 league appearances before Ugo Mola’s side lifted the Bouclier de Brennus for a record-extending 20th time at the Stade de France.

Kolbe also won the award for the best Top 14 player at the World Cup, beating Fiji’s Semi Radradra and France’s Damian Penaud as well as winning the award for the try of the campaign.

Clermont’s Penaud took the prize for the France international after ‘Les Bleus’ were knocked out of the World Cup in the quarter-finals.

Lyon’s 21-year-old centre Pierre-Louis Barassi, who made his Test debut during the tournament in Japan, won the young player of the season award.

Bayonne scrum-half Pauline Bourdon won the women’s player of the season award as France beat New Zealand’s Black Ferns for the first time.

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