All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year Scott Curry and Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year Michaela Blyde at the New Zealand Rugby Awards. Photo / Getty Images
All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year Scott Curry and Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year Michaela Blyde at the New Zealand Rugby Awards. Photo / Getty Images
Somebody start building Michaela Blyde a bigger trophy cabinet.
Fast becoming the Bay of Plenty's greatest sevens product, Blyde has been collecting awards left, right and centre this year, the most recent being Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year at the New Zealand Rugby Awards on Thursday.
In recentmonths she has also won her second World Rugby's Women's Sevens Player award and Sportswoman of the Year at the Bay of Plenty Sports Awards.
On Thursday, her Black Ferns Sevens team, coached by Rotorua's Allan Bunting, was crowned the adidas New Zealand Team of the Year – its first time winning the honour after a remarkable year in which the team won gold at the Commonwealth Games and the Sevens World Cup.
Blyde said she was honoured and humbled by all the individual awards she had received this year, but the highlight was the Team of the Year Award she was able to share with her "sevens sisters".
"It was a massive honour [to win sevens player of the year]. Being identified in New Zealand with the talent we have in the women's rugby world is extremely humbling. It was an awesome night.
"I say it every single time, but it's so true, I couldn't do any of it without my team-mates. If it weren't for them doing what they do on the field to help me be a better rugby player, I wouldn't be recognised or even nominated for those awards.
"Obviously we had an incredible season, but in saying that we have to congratulate the men's sevens team as well because they did the same," she said.
Michaela Blyde makes a break against the United States during their semifinal on day two of the Rugby World Cup Sevens. Photo / Getty Images
This year's New Zealand Rugby Awards was also an event during which history was made as Black Fern Kendra Cocksedge became the first woman to be named the Kelvin R. Tremain Memorial Player of the Year.
Cocksedge and Blyde both hail from Taranaki originally.
"To see Kendra get up and win the main Player of the Year award was amazing. Being a proud Naki girl myself it brought a tear to my eye to have history like that, to have a first female win an award as prestigious as that.
"I'm extremely proud of what Kendra has done, not just this year, but in rugby her whole career. She's always proud to put on the black jersey and she has done a lot for rugby on and off the field. That's what a lot of kids look up to," Blyde said.
Blyde was joined in the winner's circle by the man most capable of challenging her for the title of Bay of Plenty's greatest sevens product, Scott Curry, who was named the Richard Crawshaw Memorial All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year.
Just like their female counterparts, the All Blacks Sevens claimed Commonwealth gold and a Sevens World Cup title this year.
"It's a massive honour to be recognised [at the New Zealand Rugby Awards]. I was up against some pretty talented players in Regan [Ware] and Vilimoni [Koroi]. I thought they both had really amazing years.
Scott Curry in action for the All Blacks Sevens. Photo / Getty Images
"This year is probably up there with the best for us. To win gold at the Commonwealth Games and back it up with a win at the World Cup - I think to do it the way we did as well was awesome. It was a new format too, a knockout style, which made it tougher as well. It's definitely a year I'll look back on with a lot of pride," Curry said.
Curry missed the Cape Town Sevens last week due to a calf strain, along with several other experienced players, but he was impressed by the way some of the young players stood up in their absence.
"I was really proud of how they came together as a team. Obviously there were a lot of guys, with a lot of experience, sitting at home watching them, but they did really well. Some of the guys with a decent amount of experience on the world series really stepped up as leaders as well."
