Three Springboks players are in line to win the Player of the Year as the World Champions dominate nominations for 2024 World Rugby Awards.
Eben Etzebeth, Cheslin Kolbe and Pieter-Steph du Toit, who’s a former winner of the award, are up against Caelan Doris of Ireland for the prestigious Men’s 15s Player of the Year.
Du Toit won the award after the 2019 Rugby World Cup and became the first South African to win the award twice.
Etzebeth, who’s the Boks most capped player of all time, would be hoping to win the award, after he missed out last year.
In addition, Bok flyhalf Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu, was nominated along with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (England), Jamie Osborne (Ireland) and Wallace Sititi (New Zealand) for the Men’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year award.
Meanwhile, SA Rugby president Mark Alexander has wished all the nominated players good luck.
“Having Springboks players feature in two categories is a testament to their hard work and dedication to the team and South Africa, and we are very proud of them.
Each one of the Springbok players has shone out this season, and given the quality of the Springbok squad Rassie Erasmus has been building, I’m sure many more players could have been nominated.
They all deserve this recognition, and we wish them luck for the awards ceremony in Monaco,” said Alexander.
Boks coach Rassie Erasmus echoed Alexander’s remarks.
“Congratulations to the players for being nominated and making their mark on the biggest stage in rugby this season.
Making their nominations even more remarkable is that most of them have won two Rugby World Cup titles already and that they have continued to deliver the high standards we expect at the Springboks over several years.
Over and above that, we have used 50 players in our Tests so far this season, and to see them shine among the best players in the world is fantastic.
We are extremely proud of them, and we wish them luck when the winners are revealed,” explained Erasmus.
The coach of the year and the Dream Teams of the Year categories will be announced next week.
The Awards will be hosted in Monaco on Sunday, 24 November, after the conclusion of the November internationals.
