Players from the Vodacom Super 14 finalist Bulls and Stormers have unsurprisingly monopolised the nominations in the race for the title of Vodacom Super 14 Player of the Year award, the South African Rugby Union announced on Tuesday.
Our own poll will be up on Sunday
Go ahead, nominate your players, closing date for nominations Saturday after the last Test of the day.
The 2009 winner, Vodacom Bulls flyhalf Morne Steyn, has again been nominated along with team-mates Fourie du Preez and Gerhard van den Heever.
They are joined by the Vodacom Stormers’ lock Andries Bekker and centre Jaque Fourie in the five nominations.
The five polled the most votes among rugby media from a total of 26 players that were nominated.
Steyn set a record of 263 points in a Vodacom Super Rugby season as the Vodacom Bulls won the title for the third time in four seasons. Van den Heever scored eight tries in the Bulls’ march to the title, while Du Preez, the 2009 SA Rugby Player of the Year, was outstanding once again.
The Vodacom Stormers’ first appearance in a final was reflected in several nominations for their players with lock Andries Bekker and centre Jaque Fourie – who scored seven tries in his debut season with the franchise – garnering enough media votes to be in the running for the award.
Meanwhile the Vodacom Blue Bulls’ last-gasp win in the Vodacom Cup was also reflected in nominations for the competition’s Player of the Year award.
Team captain Gerrit-Jan van Velze, fullback Tiger Mangweni and flyhalf Francois Brummer – who kicked the after-the-hooter drop goal against the luckless Vodacom Cheetahs to clinch the R1m first prize – were all among the nominees.
Free State flyhalf Louis Strydom and Sharks No 10 Monty Dumond, who edged the former as the competition’s top scorer, completed the nominations.
The winners of the awards, as well as the rest of the SA Rugby Player of the Year awards, will be announced at the Springbok Banquet on November 2.
If Player of the year had to be awarded now it would have to be Andries Bekker (for his outstanding End of Year Tour last year and his strong showing in the Super 14), with Fourie du Preez and Morné Steyn following close behind…followed again closely by Mossie.
Fourie du Preez will be out of action for a while now though, and Andries will feature to a lessor extent in the Tests, being Victor’s understudy, whilst Morné Steyn continues his run and so too Mossie….
I don’t think Gerhard van den Heever deserves player of the year, with some defensive lapses early in the season.
Agree on Shaddow, its too early, he did well but being in the top 5 is a bit far fetched even for most of our Bulls.
My Top 5 (not necessarily in this order)
Fdp
Morne
Danie Roussouw ( i like a tight lock so no Bekker for me)
Ruan
Jaque Fourie
and then i really feel like i betrayed Guthro Steenkamp.
2@ superBul:
Damn yes, Gurthro had a fabulous Super 14!!
Winter is really here, it has been bitterly cold today and the freegin wind was blowing, adding to the chill-factor.
What might have swayed my choice between Danie and Bekker is the focus they had at the end. Then again Bekker had a serious worry in the back of his mind after he was caught out.
Wonder if he is in the same type of dip that Tiger Woods went into.
But Pakslae is a man with BMT. When the chips are down the hard man stands up. This will be his biggest legacy. Hell we have a few monuments coming up around Loftus.
@ grootblousmile:
i phoned Pietmans mother to hear were our friend is, she said that the Swartberge is white under snow from the top to the bottom. Ice cold freezing weather.
here in warm Hoedspruit we started feeling the icy winds from 15h00 and we sit here all closed up at 10 degrees, that is bloody cold here , hey.
Tomorrow is a nice holiday to stay indoors, it will be around 5 degrees here. On Mariepskop it will be the same temperature as in Jo’burg. Mariepskop is 1250 meter higher than Hoedspruit town.
6@ superBul:
Tomorrow, I’m a carpenter… me and BonzaiGBS…. time to work on some more Built-in cupboards which Handbriekie has been patiently waiting for…
… but fark, It’s going to be cold in and out the weather, doing it… eishhhhhhhhhh
I might tackle the garden again , but i was cured of that thought when i put my head out of the house to feed my dog. The weather is all farked lately.
If I had to nominate 5 players for Player of the year… that is R-T Player of the year, it would have to be:
Andries Bekker
Fourie du Preez
Morné Steyn
Schalk Burger
Gurthro Steenkamp
What about Ricky
Young player of the year
Shaddow
Juan de Jongh
@ 4man:
he is making his comeback after the S14 😀
@ superBul: ha ha, Ja…anyway, what will be will be.
the one and only MORNE STEYN!!!!!!
rugby365.com All Star XV:
15 – Israel Dagg (New Zealand):
Continuing his dream year the Kiwi fullback showed the depth New Zealand have in the outside backs.
Bubbling under: James O’Connor (Australia)
14 – Gio Aplon (South Africa):
He made a mockery of the claims that size matters on the international stage.
Bubbling under: Digby Ioane (Australia)
13 – Conrad Smith (New Zealand):
He was, after all, facing the mighty Brian O’Driscoll and came through the test with flying colours.
Bubbling under: Jaque Fourie (South Africa)
12 – Berrick Barnes (Australia):
Tough choice between Barnes and Benson Stanley. Barnes got our vote because the opposition he faced was of a high quality.
Bubbling under: Benson Stanley (New Zealand)
11 – Drew Mitchell (Australia):
Part of a very impressive Aussie back three.
Bubbling under: Bryan Habana (South Africa)
10 – Quade Cooper (Australia):
Another player who has taken his superb Super form into the Test arena.
Bubbling under: Dan Carter (New Zealand)
9 – Luke Burgess (Australia):
Left Aussie coach Robbie Deans with a very pleasant headache – with Will Genia on the bench.
Bubbling under: Jimmy Cowan (New Zealand)
8 – Pierre Spies (South Africa):
Showed there is a lot more to him than just a speedy, athletic player who runs great support lines. His all round game was great.
Bubbling under: Kieran Read (New Zealand)
7 – Francois Louw (South Africa):
On this form he is going to be around for a very long time. South Africa is truly blessed with an abundance of world class loose forwards.
Bubbling under: Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
6 – Thierry Dusautoir (France):
Tough call, but Dusautoir gets our vote because at times he was fighting a lone battle against the dominant South Africa loose trio.
Bubbling under: Rocky Elsom (Australia)
5 – Victor Matfield (South Africa):
Once again showed his line-out mastery and the rest of his game wasn’t too shoddy either.
Bubbling under: Nathan Sharpe (Australia)
4 – Danie Rossouw (South Africa):
If it wasn’t that he has been playing off the bench so much, you could call him a late bloomer. Classic case of a player biding his time and taking his opportunities.
Bubbling under: Sam Whitelock (New Zealand)
3 – Dan Cole (England):
If only the rest of England’s game was as impressive as their scrumming, then maybe they would have posed a real threat to the Aussies.
Bubbling under: Owen Franks (New Zealand)
2 – Steve Thompson (England):
Ditto for the scrumming.
Bubbling under: Dimitri Szarzewski (France)
1 – Gurthrö Steenkamp (South Africa):
In the form of his life and showed a nice turn of pace on the wing – nice birthday try.
Bubbling under: Tim Payne (England)
How true a word spoken
2) SARU/Newlands. All weekend, South Africa has been… doing something… to the ‘tune’ of the vuvuzela. They drowned out the Super 14 Final, they’ve smothered the soccer World Cup, they’ve irritated the hell out of anyone within earshot of the rainbow nation. All except Newlands on Saturday, where not one plastic trumpet was in attendance. As a result, we got crowd songs, the occasional live damp thud of flesh on flesh on the pitch, players shouting, referees whistling… all the things we go to live sport for. Thank goodness.
Danie Russouw and FDP. There are no other choices.
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