Here are Times LIVE's Super Rugby awards for 2011.

Player of the season: Quade Cooper (Reds) – for his 5 tries and 203 goal points making him the top points collector at 228 points.

Team of the season: Crusaders – for doing all they could to bring joy to Earthquake-ravaged Christchurch

Golden ball award for the most tries: Sarel Pretorius (Cheetahs), Bjorn Basson (Bulls) and Sean Maitland (Crusaders) - all tied on 9 tries

Rookie of the year: Bjorn Basson (Bulls) – Top scoring with 9 tries is a good feat for a first timer.

Try of the year: Gio Aplon (Stormers v Chiefs) – Aplon’s 50 metre try in which he dummied past Mills Muliaina, Sitiveni Suvivatu and Stephen Donald was a sensational one that can be viewed over and over and over again. A special mention for Will Genia (Reds) for his match-winning try in the final against Crusaders.

Best combination: Sonny Bill Williams and Robert Fruean (Crusaders) – This was a tough one to call, with other notable duos such as Will Genia and Quade Cooper (Reds), Wyatt Crockett and Owen Franks (Crusaders) deserving of the award, but in the end it went to the most devastating midfield combo.

Best front trio: Wyatt Crockett, Corey Flynn and either of the Franks brothers (Owen or Ben) (Crusaders)

Most improved player: Radike Samo (Reds) – His call-up to the Wallabies’ Tri-Nation squad is testament to how much he has upped his game this season. Ashley Johnson also deserves a mention.

Best brothers: Sias and Robert Ebersohn – They were the chief contributors to the Cheetahs’ explosive running game.

Best Referee: Craig Joubert – great communicator on the field, we can’t recall him making one shoddy decision.

Worst Referee: Stuart Dickinson (followed closely by Bryce Lawrence) – The Aussie ref penalised Richie McCaw in the final minute of the Reds v Crusaders league encounter for a perfectly legitimate steal in the ruck - which turned out to be a costly penalty. Then in the match between the Stormers and Chiefs, Dickson sin-binned Gio Aplon, awarded the Chiefs a penalty try which sparked the beginning of the end for the South African team. The list goes on ...

Coach of the season: Without a doubt Ewen McKenzie who coached the Reds to their first Super Rugby title of the professional era.

Dunce of the season: Brad Thorne (Crusaders) – This award had the name of Lions flanker Michael Rhodes all over it for his wrestling move in his controversial clean-out of Highlanders’ winger Siale Piuta. But then Thorne refused to pass the ball during the final with the Crusaders boasting a five man overlap five metres from the try line. He was of course held-up.

Dance award: Digby Ioane - for his celebration in the final vs. Crusaders. Just as we were marvelling at the quality of the try, he shocked us with the dance celebration.

Comeback of the season: Chiefs – They came back from a 20-3 half time deficit to record a memorable 30-23 win over the Stormers, albeit with the aid of a certain Mr. Dickinson.

Choke of the season: Blues – the Blues choked spectacularly against a team that suffered a choke of their own against the Chiefs the previous weekend, the Stormers. The Blues led 19-3 at half time. The midfield duo of Juan de Jongh and Johann Sadie scored a try apiece in three minutes of each other to spark the unthinkable and bring the Stormers within five points at 26-21. With two minutes remaining, a trademark Stormers driving maul allowed Schalk Burger to score. Makeshift flyhalf Dewaldt Duvenage slotted the winning conversion.