In various cultures of South Africa, rain during an official ceremony means blessing on the parties involved

Friday night’s slightly untimely rainstorm over Loftus Versfeld was disruptive for the staff of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union who had to arrange the annual awards ceremony, but it could of course also have symbolically indicated that the Bulls, after years of underperformance, are finally a blessed institution again.

However, after the ceremony, which was scheduled to take place on the rugby field in the stadium, had to be moved indoors due to the rainstorm, the Bulls were able to continue to celebrate the success of the past season, while still maintaining the necessary Covid regulations.

A special mention must go to Vodacom Bulls’ captain and Springbok World Cup winning number eight, Duane Vermeulen, as well as one of rugby’s greatest comeback stories, Cornal Hendricks, as they continued to rack up the accolades after winning SA Rugby’s Player of the Year and Carling Currie Cup Player of the Year in the past week.

After these latest accolades, Vermeulen has undoubtedly become South Africa’s most honoured player for the 2020 season. Last week he also received two awards from MyPlayers, the South African professional rugby players’ organization via their Annual BrightRock Players’ Choice Awards.

MyPlayers, named Vermeulen their Forward of the Year, while he was also honoured by his fellow players when they named him their Player of the Year.

On Friday night, however, it was time for the Bulls to celebrate their year of success and honour as many players and other officials as possible.

* Amongst the juniors, Jordan van Dyk was named u.21 Forward of the Year, while Stravino Jacobs was the Backline player of the Year. The overall u.21 Player of the Year is Janco Uys.

* As for the Currie Cup season, Trevor Nyakane walked away with the accolade as Forward of the Year and Cornal Hendricks was named Backline player of the Year. Duane Vermeulen concluded his string of awards after a formidable season as the Bulls’ overall Currie Cup player of the year.

* The exiting young lock, Ruan Nortjé was named SuperRugby Forward of the Year and Ivan van Zyl was the Backline player of the Year for this tournament. The workhorse flanker, Marco van Staden, was named SuperRugby Player of the Year.

* Then the main awards followed, where Douglas Chauke was first named the Blue Bulls’ employee of the year. Stravino Jacobs was named the Most improved Player of the season and David Kriel was the Newcomer of the Year in the senior ranks.

The Team man of the Year was the young lock, Jan Uys and Duan Vermeulen received his umpteenth accolade of the season when he was named Fans’ Player of the Year. This accolade was awarded after the fans’ votes were counted on the Blue Bulls APP.

Finally, the Bulls made history when the Grand Player of the Year award was shared for the first time ever by Marco van Staden and Cornal Hendricks.

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