One All Blacks nomination as Boks dominate rugby awards

Wallace Sititi is the sole All Blacks nomination for this year’s World Rugby awards with the Springboks dominating the Player of the Year category.

The young All Blacks number eight is up for Men’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year, with fellow nominees Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (South Africa), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (England) and Jamie Osborne (Ireland).

Black Ferns number 10 Hannah King has been nominated for Women’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year in a category with Australian Caitlyn Halse, England’s Maddie Feaunati and Erin King of Ireland.

No All Blacks or Black Ferns were nominated for Player of the Year awards. Sititi could join teammates Mark Tele’a, Will Jordan and Rieko Ioane who are past winners of the breakthrough award.

Three Springboks are nominated for Men’s 15s Player of the Year - Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Cheslin Kolbe along with Ireland’s Caelan Doris.

The Springboks sit top of the World Rugby standings with just two defeats in 2024 following their World Cup triumph last year.

Du Toit won the award in 2019 while Etzebeth was a nominee last year when Ardie Savea was crowned best in the world.

In the Women’s 15s Player of the Year, Alex Matthews and Ellie Kildunne of England are up against France’s Pauline Bourdon Sansus and Alex Tessier of Canada.

Black Ferns Sevens stars Michaela Blyde and Jorja Miller have been nominated for Women’s Sevens Player of the Year alongside Aussie Maddison Levi.

French halfback Antoine Dupont has been nominated for Men’s Sevens Player of the Year after leading his nation to the gold medal at the Olympics. He is a previous winner of the 15s Player of the Year award. Teammate Aaron Grandidier Nkanang and Ireland’s Terry Kennedy are the other nominees.

Other categories such as coach of the year and the Dream Teams of the Year will be announced next week.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission