DHL Stormer Du Toit up for top award
DHL Stormers utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit is in line to win the prestigious SA Rugby Player of the Year Award for the second time.
Du Toit first won the award in 2016 following his first season with the DHL Stormers and is one of five nominees alongside Malcolm Marx, Aphiwe Dyantyi, Franco Mostert and Handré Pollard.
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Du Toit was also named the Defender of the year at the Brightrock Players’ Choice Awards on Tuesday.
DHL Western Province outside backs SP Marais (top points-scorer) and Sergeal Petersen (top try-scorer) were both nominated as Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year.
DHL Stormers and DHL Western Province’s Damian Willemse was nominated for both the SA Rugby Young Player of the Year and Junior Springbok Player of the Year, the former along with lock Salmaan Moerat.
DHL Western Province centre Ruhan Nel was nominated as Springbok Sevens Player of the Year.
“These are exciting times for South African rugby and the number of new players who made their mark for the Springboks is encouraging for the future,” said Mr Mark Alexander, President of SA Rugby.
“I would like to congratulate all the nominees for their outstanding performances over the last year and wish them well for 2019, which is a massive year for us.
“The Springboks have shown a great resurgence under Rassie Erasmus and his coaching team and the fact that the media nominated him as one of the three Coaches of the Year is testimony to this. We believe we are heading in the right direction in our preparation for the Rugby World Cup in 2019.
“We’re also very proud of the Blitzboks and their coach, Neil Powell, who recently started their defence of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series trophy, which has stood proudly in South Africa for the last two years. Their nominations are just reward for consistently performing at a world-class standard.”
The other categories where awards will be made are: Coca-Cola Craven Week Player of the Tournament, Outsurance Referee of the Year and Springbok Women’s Achiever of the Year.
Details of the announcement of the winners’ names will be made early in the new season next year. The winners will be announced before the start of the Vodacom Super Rugby season.
The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
SA Rugby Player of the Year
1 Pieter-Steph du Toit
2 Aphiwe Dyantyi
3 Malcolm Marx
4 Franco Mostert
5 Handré Pollard
SA Rugby Young Player of the Year
1 Aphelele Fassi
2 Sbu Nkosi
3 Embrose Papier
4 RG Snyman
5 Damian Willemse
Team of the Year
1 Emirates Lions (Vodacom Super Rugby runners-up)
2 Cell C Sharks (Currie Cup Premier Division winners)
3 Springbok Sevens (HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series winners)
Coach of the Year
1 Swys de Bruin (Emirates Lions)
2 Rassie Erasmus (Springboks)
3 Neil Powell (Springbok Sevens)
Springbok Sevens Player of the Year
1 Werner Kok
2 Ruhan Nel
3 Dylan Sage
Junior Springbok Player of the Year
1 Tyrone Green
2 Salmaan Moerat
3 Wandisile Simelane
4 Damian Willemse
Vodacom Super Rugby Player of the Tournament
1 Aphiwe Dyantyi (Emirates Lions)
2 Malcolm Marx (Emirates Lions)
3 Franco Mostert (Emirates Lions)
Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year
1 SP Marais (DHL Western Province)
2 Sergeal Petersen (DHL Western Province)
3 Akker van der Merwe (Cell C Sharks)
Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year
1 Divan Nel (SWD Eagles)
2 Anrich Richter (Hino Valke)
3 Etienne Taljaard (Hino Valke)
SuperSport Rugby Challenge Player of the Year
1 Enver Brandt (Tafel Lager Griquas)
2 Ruwellyn Isbell (iCOLLEGE Pumas)
3 Chris Smith (iCOLLEGE Pumas)
4 Stefan Ungerer (iCOLLEGE Pumas)
