Three Springboks nominated for World Player of the Year

World Rugby announced the shortlists on Monday for their annual award, and the Springboks feature prominently, as expected.

Nominated for the prestigious Men’s 15s Player of the Year are South Africa’s most capped player of all time, Eben Etzebeth – who broke fellow lock Victor Matfield’s record of 127 Test matches in September – Cheslin Kolbe (wing) and Pieter-Steph du Toit (utility forward), a former winner of the award. The Bok trio are up against Caelan Doris of Ireland.

Springbok flyhalf Sacha-Feinberg Mngomezulu, who made a strong statement in his first foray into the Test team before a knee injury cut short his season, was nominated for the Breakthrough Player of the Year.

He was nominated along with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (England), Jamie Osborne (Ireland) and Wallace Sititi (New Zealand) for the Men’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year award.

Etzebeth was nominated in 2013 and last year, while Kolbe and Du Toit were on the shortlist in 2019, the year the versatile Bok forward won the award. Only two other South Africans have walked away with top honours – Schalk Burger in 2004, and Bryan Habana in 2009.

Other South Africans who received nominations for the Men’s 15s Player of the Year Award in the last decade, are Willie le Roux and Duane Vermeulen (both in 2014), Faf de Klerk and Malcolm Marx (both in 2018), and Lukhanyo Am (2022).

South Africa’s Springbok nominees are:

Men’s 15s Player of the Year:

Eben Etzebeth

Cheslin Kolbe

Pieter-Steph du Toit

Men’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year:

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu

Lighting up the world stage ⚡️

Introducing 2024’s nominees for Men’s 15s Player of the Year#WorldRugbyAwards pic.twitter.com/BKRZD6xzwJ

— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) November 18, 2024

Rassie Erasmus congratulated the players for being nominated and making their mark on the biggest stage in rugby this season.

“Making their nominations even more remarkable is that most of them have won two Rugby World Cup titles already and that they have continued to deliver the high standards we expect at the Springboks over several years.

“Over and above that, we have used 50 players in our Tests so far this season, and to see them shine among the best players in the world is fantastic. We are extremely proud of them, and we wish them luck when the winners are revealed.”