Schalk Burger wins South Africa rugby player of the year.

During last week the SARU rugby awards ceremony was held. here is a list of the players who recieved awards.

SARU Rugby Player of the Year

Winner: Schalk Burger
Finalists: Bismarck du Plessis, Francois Hougaard, Pat Lambie, Victor Matfield.

Absa Young Player of the Year
Winner: Pat Lambie
Finalists: Johan Goosen, Francois Hougaard, Elton Jantjies, Jaco Taute.

Absa Team of the Year
Winner: MTN Golden Lions
Finalists: Regent Boland Cavaliers, Springbok Sevens, DHL Stormers, University of Cape Town.

Absa Coach of the Year
Winner: John Mitchell (MTN Golden Lions)
Finalists: Allister Coetzee (DHL Stormers and Western Province), Eugene Eloff (Regent Boland Cavaliers), John Plumtree (The Sharks), Paul Treu (Springbok Sevens).

Vodacom Super Rugby Player of the Year
Winner: Sarel Pretorius (Toyota Cheetahs)
Finalists: Gio Aplon (DHL Stormers), Schalk Burger (DHL Stormers), Bismarck du Plessis (The Sharks), Duane Vermeulen (DHL Stormers).

Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year
Winner: Josh Strauss (MTN Golden Lions)
Finalists: Johan Goosen (Toyota FS Cheetahs), Elton Jantjies (MTN Golden Lions), Frederic Michalak (The Sharks), Jaco Taute (MTN Golden Lions).

Absa Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year
Winner: Elgar Watts (Regent Boland Cavaliers)
Finalists: Bolla Conradie (Regent Boland Cavaliers), Danwel Demas (Regent Boland Cavaliers), Willie le Roux (Regent Boland Cavaliers), Luke Watson (EP Kings).

Vodacom Cup Player of the Year
Winner: Lionel Cronje (DHL WP)
Finalists: Marnitz Boshoff (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Marcell Coetzee (Sharks XV), JJ Engelbrecht (DHL WP), Juan Imhoff (Pampas XV).

SARPA Players’ Player of the Year: Bismarck du Plessis

Springbok Sevens Player of the Year: Cecil Afrika

Supersport Try of the Year
Winner: Sibusiso Sithole (Springbok Sevens vs Australia in the final of the Edinburgh Sevens)
Finalists: Gio Aplon (DHL Stormers vs Chiefs in Hamilton), Lwazi Mvovo (The Sharks vs Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein), Sarel Pretorius (first try for Toyota Cheetahs vs Blues in Whangarei and first try vs Brumbies in Bloemfontein), Jaco Taute (MTN Golden Lions v The Sharks in Johannesburg, Absa Currie Cup final).

SA Under-20 Player of the Year: Arno Botha

Burger, Lambie, du Plessis & Mitchell - well deserved

Bismarck winning the players award,he deserves to win something, hes been a one-man wrecking machine.

How on Earth does Bismark not start for SA......What id give for England to have a player like him at 2.....

At one stage during the World Cup, i was watching Schalk Burger play, and it is quite noticeable how much more he distributes the ball now compared to only a couple of years ago.

not suprised that burger got player of the year to be honest

Yeah Burger stood out for me. Has a real presence about him reserved only for the very best. Might be that blonde hair mind you.

3 of the best 5 players effectively sat on the bench all year...hmmm

Biltong
Does Cecil Afrika play Super xv? I cant recall seeing him.

Morning Laurie, no he doesn't. I think becuase of his size he will be a specialist sevens player.

Not sure any coach of a super franchise is going to look for 70kg players anytime soon.

He is a wonderful player though.

I never knew he was that small,Ive only ever seen him on TV .
A couple of our sevens guys play part time ITM cup but mostly because the conditioning is so different.

Hi ya Biltong,
Yes thats what I first thought. He'd snap in two in the wrong place/ time scenario.
Good to watch though and has a go full on every time he plays. One of those really cheeky anything goes as long as its fast type of players.
So hows pdvs announcement gone down over there? The man just seems to be oblivious to all that going around him...

Yeah, some of our other sevens players do play some currie cup, and a few that retired from sevens went on to play fulltime, but not sure Afrika will.

Hi Taylorman, we don't want PDV to continue, the simple fact is he brought nothing to the table, he was a mere facilitator of senior players who wielded the power and he wasn't strong enough to handle it the way he should have.

Springbok rugby needs a clean out especially in the back line, there are so many young talented players who are rearing to go.

We could effectively put a whole new back line out there who may not have the experiience yet but will learn quickly.

If I was to become coach now I would experiment with these players in the back line.

9. Hougaard/ Dewald Pretorius
10. Lambie
11. Mvovo/Killian
12. Frans Steyn
13. Hollenbach/Fourie/Johann Sadie
14. Pietersen
15. Jaco Taute/ Morne Steyn

Yeah that looks good. I reckon Steynes gotta go. The attacking FB option is too good to ignore when you consider the way Beale, Dagg and Mils have found room over the last 2-3 years.
F Steynes an enigma- was terrible last year then was virtually called porky this year then found new found fame at 12 during the Wcup. Just seems you never know what youre gonna get with the guy but he was impressive this round.
Fourie's stability and experience needs to be there as long as he can keep his presence felt, especially during the winds of change as the outer back mentor and stabaliser.
Hougard is a real go forward type and really makes things happen. A full time pos needs to be found for him cos hes a livewire and stepper extraordinaire.
Havnt seen a lot of the newer ones (care of pdv and co) and sure would be good to see some Bok backplay as a rule rather than an exception for a change.
Obviously sxv is where these guys will again make their claims and the good thing is theyll probably be listened to next year. Heres hoping...

Has he? He gave away the try that lead to them crashing out of the World Cup. Strange.