Five members of the Springboks’ World Cup squad have been nominated for the SA Rugby Player of the Year Award, with the winner due to be announced at a function at Gold Reef City on November 3.

rugby365

Schalk Burger, Bismarck du Plessis, Francois Hougaard, Pat Lambie and Victor Matfield got the most votes following a nomination process by the country’s rugby media.

Burger and Du Plessis are also nominated in the category for Super Rugby Player of the Year, while Hougaard and Lambie also feature in the list of nominees for Young Player of the Year.

The only other players to get nominations in more than one category, are the Lions duo of Elton Jantjies (flyhalf) and Jaco Taute (fullback), as well as Cheetahs flyhalf Johan Goosen, who were all three nominated in the categories for Young Player and Currie Cup Player of the Year.

The Stormers’ performance in Super Rugby, where they hosted a semifinal, is also reflected in the nominations. They are nominated as Team of the Year, Allister Coetzee is one of the five coaches on the shortlist for Coach of the Year and Burger is joined by Gio Aplon and Duane Vermeulen on the list of nominees for Super Rugby Player of the Year.

Also nominated in the categories for Coach and Team of the Year are Paul Treu and the Springbok Sevens side, who won three tournaments during the 2010/11 Sevens World Series.

The winners in six other categories have already been determined – Craven Week Player of the Tournament, Referee Award, Women’s Achiever of the Year, SARU National Club Championship Player of the Tournament, SA Under-20 Player of the Year and Springbok Sevens Player of the Year.

SARU Rugby Player of the Year:
1. Schalk Burger
2. Bismarck du Plessis
3. Francois Hougaard
4. Pat Lambie
5. Victor Matfield

Young Player of the Year:
1. Johan Goosen
2. Francois Hougaard
3. Elton Jantjies
4. Pat Lambie
5. Jaco Taute

Team of the Year:
1. Boland Cavaliers
2. Lions
3. Springbok Sevens
4. Stormers
5. University of Cape Town

Coach of the Year:
1. Allister Coetzee (Stormers and Western Province)
2. Eugene Eloff (Boland Cavaliers)
3. John Mitchell (Lions)
4. John Plumtree (Sharks)
5. Paul Treu (Springbok Sevens)

Super Rugby Player of the Year:
1. Gio Aplon (Stormers)
2. Schalk Burger (Stormers)
3. Bismarck du Plessis (Sharks)
4. Sarel Pretorius (Toyota Cheetahs)
5. Duane Vermeulen (Stormers)

Currie Cup Player of the Year:
1. Johan Goosen (Cheetahs)
2. Elton Jantjies (Lions)
3. Frederic Michalak (Sharks)
4. Josh Strauss (Lions)
5. Jaco Taute (Lions)

Provincial First Division Player of the Year:
1. Bolla Conradie (Boland Cavaliers)
2. Danwel Demas (Boland Cavaliers)
3. Willie le Roux (Boland Cavaliers)
4. Luke Watson (EP Kings)
5. Elgar Watts (Boland Cavaliers)

Vodacom Cup Player of the Year:
1. Marnitz Boshoff (Blue Bulls)
2. Marcell Coetzee (Sharks XV)
3. Lionel Cronje (WP)
4. JJ Engelbrecht (WP)
5. Juan Imhoff (Pampas XV)