Malcolm Marx, who was named World Rugby’s Men’s 15s Player of the Year last year, is up against his Springbok team-mates Pieter-Steph du Toit, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ox Nche and Jasper Wiese for the prestigious SA Rugby’s Men’s Player of the Year Award for 2025, while last year’s local winner, Nadine Roos, has been nominated again for the Women’s Player of the Year Award.
SA Rugby announced the nominees – as voted for by members of the media and national teams coaching staff – in nine categories on Friday.
The various winners will be announced in due course, along with the annual OUTsurance Referee of the Year, Provincial Women’s Player of the Year, Associate Member of the Year and the FNB Fans’ Moment of the Year awards.
Du Toit, a former winner of both SA Rugby and World Rugby’s top awards, and Nche were on the shortlist last year too, and both were also nominated for the World Rugby Award, while Feinberg-Mngomezulu, like the other four, was named in World Rugby’s 2025 Dream Team. Wiese equally had a stellar season for the Boks and has been nominated for the first time for the top award in South African rugby.
Four previous winners – Roos, Aseza Hele, Libbie Janse van Rensburg, and Babalwa Latsha – were nominated for SA Rugby Women’s Player of the Year. The quartet, along with the fifth nominee, Byrhandré Dolf, all played key roles helping South Africa reach the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in a watershed season for the Springbok Women.
Four of the five players nominated for the Young Player of the Year Award played Test rugby in 2025 – Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie and Zachary Porthen – while the fifth, Haashim Pead, played a key role for the Junior Boks in their World Rugby U20 Championship triumph.
Pead was also nominated in the category for Junior Springbok Player of the Year, along with SA U20 captain Riley Norton, and Cheswill Jooste, while the three nominees for the Springbok Sevens Men’s Player of the Year Award are Selvyn Davids, Shilton van Wyk and Impi Visser, all of whom were part of the Blitzbok squad that won the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles in May.
The success of South Africa’s national teams is reflected in the nominations for the Coach and Team of the Year Awards – Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks, Philip Snyman and the Blitzboks, and Kevin Foote and the Junior Boks, while Swys de Bruin also made the shortlist for the coach award after guiding the Bok Women to their best finish yet at a Rugby World Cup.
On the Carling Currie Cup front, Suzuki Griquas’ success in the Premier Division is underlined by nominations for Gurshwin Wehr and George Whitehead, who are up against the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers’ Donavan Don, and in the First Division, the NovaVit Griffons duo of Andrew Kota and Willem van den Hever will face a stern contest from Keagan Fortune of the Valke.
The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year
- Pieter-Steph du Toit
- Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
- Malcolm Marx
- Ox Nche
- Jasper Wiese
SA Rugby Women’s Player of the Year
- Byrhandré Dolf
- Aseza Hele
- Libbie Janse van Rensburg
- Babalwa Latsha
- Nadine Roos
SA Rugby Young Player of the Year
- Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Springboks / DHL Stormers)
- Ethan Hooker (Springboks / Hollywoodbets Sharks)
- Canan Moodie (Springboks / Vodacom Bulls)
- Haashim Pead (Junior Springboks / Lions)
- Zachary Porthen (Springboks / DHL Stormers)
Springbok Sevens Men’s Player of the Year
- Selvyn Davids
- Shilton van Wyk
- Impi Visser
Junior Springbok Player of the Year
- Cheswill Jooste
- Riley Norton
- Haashim Pead
Team of the Year
- Junior Springboks
- Springboks
- Springbok Sevens
Coach of the Year
- Swys de Bruin (Springbok Women)
- Rassie Erasmus (Springboks)
- Kevin Foote (Junior Springboks)
- Philip Snyman (Springbok Sevens)
Carling Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year
- Donavan Don (Sanlam Boland Kavaliers)
- Gurshwin Wehr (Suzuki Griquas)
- George Whitehead (Suzuki Griquas)
Carling Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year
- Keagan Fortune (Valke)
- Andrew Kota (NovaVit Griffons)
- Willem van den Hever (NovaVit Griffons)
FNB Fans’ Moments of the Year
- The Springboks’ defence of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship title
- The Springbok Women’s best-ever performance at a Rugby World Cup
- The Springboks’ unbeaten run on the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour in November
- The Junior Springboks winning the World Rugby U20 Championship
- The Springboks’ record victory over the All Blacks in New Zealand
- The Springbok Sevens winning the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles
Heaven Sent
Australia has a strong domestic rugby competition called the National Rugby Championship (NRC), which features clubs from across the country. In addition, Australian franchises participate in the Super Rugby competition, competing against teams from New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, and Japan.
Junkyard Dog
Sport Trivia: Who was the first South African driver win the F1 Grand Prix championship? Answer: Jody Scheckter. Jody Scheckter\’s F1 debut was with McLaren in 1972. He then had his first full season in F1 with Tyrell in 1974. In 1977 & 1978 he drove for Wolf. In 1979 he drove for Ferrari, going on to win the F1 championship that year. He also won his tenth and last GP, the Italian that year. He was one of only two drivers to ever race with the number 0, the other being Damon Hill.