South African rugby supporters can help decide whether Gurthrö Steenkamp, Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh, Schalk Burger or Francois Hougaard will win the coveted SARU Player of the Year award, which will be announced at a glittering banquet at Vodaworld, Midrand on Monday 1 November 2010.

For the first time members of the public are being asked to vote in the race for the prestigious award. Media polling closed on Wednesday to determine the five nominees and now members of the public can make their choice from the five with one lucky fan being randomly drawn to attend the Awards banquet as a guest of the Springbok Supporters’ Club.

To vote, please CLICK HERE, make your selection from the five candidates and enter the draw to win a set of double tickets to the exclusive event.

Gurthrö Steenkamp has been nominated for the first time and has the chance to become only the second prop (after Os du Randt in 1997) to win the title after an outstanding season for the Vodacom Bulls and Springboks. Schalk Burger is nominated for the second time – having won the title in his first full season in 2004 – while Gio Aplon is nominated for the first time after an amazing season in which he made his Springbok debut.

Meanwhile Juan de Jongh and Francoise Hougaard have been nominated in several categories for awards. Both players have also been nominated along with The Sharks’ Patrick Lambie and Basson as candidates for the Young Player of the Year Award.

GWK Griquas winger Bjorn Basson who made his Springbok debut against Wales earlier this year and starred during this year’s Absa Currie Cup Premier Division after he scored 21 tries to break the try-scoring record (19) of former Western Province wing Carel du Plessis and former Leopards wing Colin Lloyd, has also been nominated in two categories – Young Player of the Year and the Absa Currie Cup Player of the Year.

The Vodacom Bulls who claimed their third Super Rugby title this year, along with the Vodacom Stormers who competed in their first Vodacom Super 14 final; and Absa Currie Cup Premier Division semi-finalists – Vodacom Western Province and The Sharks are nominees in the category of Team of the Year. The SWD Eagles who will host Friday evening’s Absa Currie Cup First Division final against the EP Kings, are also a nominee in this category.

Coaches Allister Coetzee (Vodacom Stormers and Vodacom WP) and Frans Ludeke (Vodacom Blue Bulls and Vodacom Bulls) have been rewarded for their remarkable achievements with their respective sides during the Vodacom Super 14 and the Absa Currie Cup with nominations for the Absa Coach of the Year Award. Johann Lerm, who guided the SWD Eagles to the final of the Absa Currie Cup First Division, has also been nominated in this category.

Nominations for the Vodacom Super 14 Player of the Year include players who competed in this year’s final. The victorious Vodacom Bulls are represented by scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, flyhalf Morne Steyn and winger Gerhard van den Heever. The Vodacom Stormers lock Andries Bekker and centre Jaque Fourie are the other contenders in this category.

SWD Eagles flyhalf Ambrose Barends (127), who is the leading points’ scorer in the 2010 Absa Currie Cup First Division, and the leading try-scorer – Eastern Province Kings winger Norman Nelson (nine), received nominations in the category of Absa Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year.

All the nominations are (in alphabetical order):

SARU Player of the Year
Gio Aplon (Vodacom Western Province)
Schalk Burger (Vodacom Western Province)
Juan de Jongh (Vodacom Western Province)
Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
Gurthrö Steenkamp (Vodacom Blue Bulls)

Young Player of the Year
Bjorn Basson (GWK Griquas)
Juan de Jongh (Vodacom Western Province)
Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
Elton Jantjies (Xerox Lions)
Patrick Lambie (The Sharks)

Team of the Year
SWD Eagles
The Sharks
Vodacom Bulls
Vodacom Stormers
Vodacom Western Province

Absa Coach of the Year
Allister Coetzee (Vodacom Western Province and Vodacom Stormers)
Johann Lerm (SWD Eagles)
Frans Ludeke (Vodacom Bulls and Vodacom Blue Bulls)
John Mitchell (Xerox Lions)
John Plumtree (The Sharks)

The Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year
Bjorn Basson (GWK Griquas)
Keegan Daniel (The Sharks)
Elton Jantjies (Xerox Lions)
Patrick Lambie (The Sharks)
Duane Vermeulen (Vodacom Western Province)

The Absa Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year
Ambrose Barends (SWD Eagles)
Jacques Engelbrecht (SWD Eagles)
Jacquin Jansen (Boland Cavaliers)
Willie le Roux (Boland Cavaliers)
Norman Nelson (Eastern Province Kings)

Vodacom Super 14 Player of the Year
Andries Bekker (Vodacom Stormers)
Fourie du Preez (Vodacom Bulls)
Jaque Fourie (Vodacom Stormers)
Morne Steyn (Vodacom Bulls)
Gerhard van den Heever (Vodacom Bulls)

Vodacom Cup Player of the Year
Francois Brummer (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
Monty Dumond (The Sharks XV)
Louis Strydom (Vodacom Free State Cheetahs)
Gerrit-Jan van Velze (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
Stefan Watermeyer (Vodacom Blue Bulls)

Note: Awards will also be made in the following categories – Coca-Cola Craven Week Player of the Tournament, Marriott Referee Award, Women’s Achiever of the Year, SAA Club Championship Player of the Tournament, SA U20 Player of the Year, Supersport Try of the Year and Sasol Springbok Sevens Player of the Year.