Handré Pollard nominated for SA Rugby Player of the Year 2018
After the excellent season he has had for the Bulls and the Springboks in 2018, Handré Pollard is on the shortlist as one of the nominees to be crowned as South African Player of the Year.
Two previous winners, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Malcolm Marx, are among the five nominees for the prestigious SA Rugby Player of the Year Award for 2018.
The Blitzboks and their coach, Neil Powell, were also yet again nominated in two categories following the successful defence of their HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series crown.
The two bruising Springbok forwards – winners in 2017 (Marx) and 2016 (Du Toit) – are up against their national team mates Aphiwe Dyantyi, who won the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year Award last month, Franco Mostert and Handré Pollard.
And in the category for Young Player of the Year, Springbok lock RG Snyman is up against four fleet-footed backs in Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Embrose Papier and Damian Willemse.
Two teams and their coaches were nominated in the categories for Team and Coach of the Year –Powell of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series champions, the Springbok Sevens team, and Swys de Bruin of the Emirates Lions, who finished as runners-up in Super Rugby.
They are joined by SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus (Coach of the Year nomination) and Currie Cup Premier Division champions, the Cell C Sharks (Team of the Year nomination).
“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. 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,” said Mr Mark Alexander, President of SA Rugby.
Alexander also said they are 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,” Alexander said.
The nominations for the Junior Springbok Player of the Year award were very close, with four players making the short-list – Tyrone Green, Salmaan Moerat, Wandisile Simelane and Damian Willemse.
And the three Blitzboks who are nominated for the Springbok Sevens Player of the Year award are Werner Kok, Dylan Sage – who was included in the World Rugby Sevens Dream Team – and Ruhan Nel.
The other categories where awards will be made are: Coca-Cola Craven Week Player of the Tournament, 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 Super Rugby season.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
