It’s been a successful evening for New Zealand’s rugby stars at the World Rugby Awards, with several All Blacks and Black Ferns being named to teams of the year and Chiefs star Wallace Sititi taking out breakthrough player of the year.
Loose forward Sititi joins current teammates Mark Tele’a,Will Jordan, and Rieko Ioane as previous winners of the award.
Speaking after his nomination last week, Sititi expressed his gratitude, stating he would have been happy just to play one game for the Chiefs in Super Rugby.
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement, like there always is, and you can see from the weekend that sometimes our best isn’t good enough. So, we’ve got to keep moving forward, work with the coaches, who have been amazing, and see where we end up.”
No All Blacks or Black Ferns were nominated for Player of the Year awards, which went to South Africa’s Pieter-Steph Du Toit for the men and England’s Ellie Kildunne for the women. However, three All Blacks were selected in the Men’s 15s Dream Team of the Year: Jordan, Damian McKenzie and Tyrel Lomax. In the Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year, New Zealand’s Georgia Ponsonby, Sylvia Brunt and Katelyn Vahaakolo were included.
Michaela Blyde and Jorja Miller were named in the Women’s Sevens Dream Team of the Year, with Australia’s Maddison Levi named the Women’s Sevens Player of the Year.
Nolann Le Garrec’s try against England has been selected as the Men’s 15s Try of the Year, while France’s Marine Menager’s try against Canada was chosen for the Women’s 15s Try of the Year.
Meanwhile, French superstar Antoine Dupont has been crowned Men’s Sevens Player of the Year and in the Men’s Sevens Dream Team for 2024. He was named Men’s 15s Player of the Year in 2021 and made the 15s Dream Team from 2021 to 2023.
