Best in the West: Kaapse ysters rack up klomp accolades at SA Rugby 2023 ceremony
Cape-born Springbok World Cup winners Eben Etzebeth, Canan Moodie and Cheslin Kolbe headline a star-studded group to clean up at the SA Rugby Awards for 2023.
Etzebeth became only the second player to win back-to-back gongs at the ceremony in Johannesburg last Thursday, and he was joined on stage by the likes of Stormers playmaker Manie Libbok and Blitzboks dynamo Ricardo Duarttee, who also hail from the western region of Mzansi.
Junior Springbok No.8 Corne Beets, while now plying his trade up north with the Bulls, put himself on the map as a standout laaitie at Paarl Gimnasium.
Durbanville native Duarttee, who burst onto the sevens scene in 2022, making his debut in that year’s Dubai Sevens and earning the 2022/23 World Rugby Sevens Series Rookie of the Year award was named SA Men’s Sevens Player of the Year, while Beets took home the Junior Springbok Player of the Year honour.
The 21-year-old Paarliet Moodie, like Etzebeth, also did the double by again walking away with the Young Player of the Year Award after another year of klas performances for the Bokke and the Bulls.
Kraaifontein’s own Kolbe won the Fans’ Moment of the Year award for his incredible charge-down of a Thomas Ramos conversion in the 2023 World Cup quarterfinal, a match the Boks won by 29-28 against hosts France in Paris.
Libbok was recognised as the United Rugby Championship Fans’ Player of the Season, and was one of five Stormers nominated for awards with Frans Malherbe and Damian Willemse finalists for SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Evan Roos both finalists for the SA Rugby Young Player of the Year award.
John Dobson was a finalist in the Coach of the Year category, won by Jacques Nienaber for leading his country to an unprecedented fourth world title, for which the Bokke won Team of the Year accolade.
Meanwhile, Libbie Janse van Rensburg cleaned up in the women’s categories as veteran Ruan Pienaar and Boland Kavaliers’ Cameron Hufke claimed Currie Cup Premier Division and First Division trophies, respectively.
The Young Player of the Year for the best U23 player goes to #Springboks speedster Canan Moodie for a second successive year 🏆#SARugbyAwards @SuperSportTV pic.twitter.com/ru1xutuPK5
— Springboks (@Springboks) March 14, 2024
SA Rugby Awards 2023 winners:
Men’s Player of the Year: Eben Etzebeth.
Women’s Player of the Year: Libbie Janse van Rensburg.
Young Player of the Year: Canan Moodie.
Sevens Men’s Player of the Year: Ricardo Duarttee.
Junior Player of the Year: Corne Beets.
Team of the Year: Springboks.
Coach of the Year: Jacques Nienaber.
Currie Cup Player of the Year: Ruan Pienaar.
Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year: Cameron Hufke.
Fans’ Moment of the Year: Cheslin Kolbe.
Provincial Women’s Player of the Year: Libbie Janse van Rensburg.
Referee of the Year: Jaco Peyper.
United Rugby Championship Fans’ Player of the Season: Manie Libbok.
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