Five members of the Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok squad in France were nominated for the coveted SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year Award for 2023.
The South African Rugby awards are fast approaching with five of the World Cup-winning springboks leading the nominations for the SA Rugby Player of the Year Award.
The nominees for all the awards have also been announced today as they were voted by members of the media and key stakeholders within the governing body – in nine categories.
The winners will be announced early next year (2024).
Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph u Toit, Frans Malherbe and Damian Willemse have all been nominated for the Player of the Year award.
The nominations are in... 🤩
— Springboks (@Springboks) November 28, 2023
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For the Young Player of the Year award, four of the five players from last year namely Canan Moodie, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Jaden Hendrikse and Evan Roos have once again been nominated with now the inclusion of Ruan Venter.
The categories for Coach and Team of the Year are between Jacques Nienaber and the Springboks, John Dobson and the DHL Stormers, and Hawies Fourie and the Toyota Free State Cheetahs.
Mark Alexander – the president of South African Rugby was truly excited about the nominees and how SA Rugby is in a good space.
“We had a wonderful year culminating in the Rugby World Cup victory, and I would like to congratulate all the nominees not only for their performances during the year but also for their contribution to the local rugby landscape,” said Mark.
The president reserved special praise for the Springboks including the outgoing head coach Jacques Nienaber and captain Siya Kolisi.
“A special word of thanks and congratulations to Jacques, Siya and the Springboks. You are great ambassadors for South Africa and by defending the Webb Ellis Cup in France, you have ensured that the name of the Bok team of 2023 will forever be written in the history books of our game as one of the greatest”, says Mark.
