The world champions wrapped up a challenging Test season this past Saturday and the fans have nominated a clear winner as the Springboks’ most valuable player.
In a long Test season, Jacques Nienaber’s team won the British & Irish Lions series 2-1, beat Argentina twice and defeated the All Blacks in the Australia-hosted Rugby Championship.
On the tour of the United Kingdom, the Springboks claimed wins over Wales in Cardiff and Scotland in Edinburgh, before suffering a hard-fought loss to England at Twickenham in a game that went down to the wire.
SARugbymag.co.za offered fans the opportunity to vote on the Bok MVP for 2021 and there was a clear favourite, with Eben Etzebeth earning a majority (55%) of votes.
Etzebeth has been a tower of strength for the Boks in the second row, starting 12 of the 13 Tests this year, including all three games against the Lions.
While he was mostly utilised off the bench this season, Frans Steyn enhanced his value as an anchor of experience at fullback and, surprisingly, won 11% of votes, while captain Siya Kolisi was given 10% of votes after leading the Springboks expertly through the season.
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