Bok giants go head to head for SA Rugby’s top award

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SA Rugby is set to announce the 2021 Player of the Year award on Thursday morning, with Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth favourites to win it.

The winners of the SA Rugby awards will be announced on social media on Thursday from 9.30am, culminating in the naming of the winner of the SA Rugby Player of the Year award.

Bok captain Kolisi and lock Etzebeth are among the nominees for the top award, as are wing Makazole Mapimpi,  and centre pair Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende.

Kolisi, the only player to start in all 13 Tests this year, led the team to a British & Irish Lions series triumph.

Etzebeth, the most experienced member of the current Springbok squad, was one of the most consistent players this season, often leading the charge of the pack.

Am and De Allende, who have now started together as Bok centre partners in 22 Tests, formed a lethal midfield combination, often opening up space on the outside for Mapimpi to score, with the Bok speedster scoring six tries this year.

After a good year in which they won the Lions series, beat the All Blacks and won two of their three Tests in November, the Springboks and head coach Jacques Nienaber, are also up for awards and will square off against the Blitzboks and Neil Powell, as well as the Currie Cup-winning Vodacom Bulls and Jake White for the Team and Coach of the Year awards.

The Hendrikse brothers, Jaden and Jordan, are two of the five nominees in the category for Young Player of the Year, where they will face stiff opposition from Aphelele Fassi, and two of the best young loose forwards in the country in Elrigh Louw and Evan Roos.

Full list of nominees

Photo: TOM SANDBERG/PPAUK/Shutterstock/BackpagePix 

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Dylan Jack