Sore losers Fiji fume after Senatla is named World Sevens Player of the Year

Blitzbok flyer Seabelo Senatla has praised his teammates after being named World Sevens Player of the Year on Sunday night‚ but the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) are upset that he won the award.

Senatla‚ who became the third South African after Cecil Afrika (2011) and Werner Kok (2015) to win the award‚ scored 66 tries during the 2015/16 HSBC World Sevens Series.

“I’m chuffed to have been honoured because it’s a wonderful accolade and something I don't take lightly‚” Senatla said.

“But in the same breath it’s not purely on me. I have to give credit to my teammates because I believe the hard work is done way before I get the ball.

“I have the easy job of just dotting the ball down. So credit to them and to the management for allowing me to do what I do.

“I’d also like to thank all my family‚ friends and coaches for backing me even when times weren’t going well.”

World Sevens Series winners and Olympic gold medallists Fiji‚ though‚ are unhappy that they were snubbed at the awards.

Fiji’s Osea Kolinisau lost out to Senatla for the World Sevens Player of the Year award while the FRU were upset over several other categories as well.

"The impact Osea Kolinisau had on the game of Sevens in the last two seasons by far outclasses any performance by Seabelo Senatla and we are disappointed he was not awarded the Sevens best player of the year‚" an FRU statement read.

The islanders were overlooked in the coach of the year category‚ which went to All Black head coach Steve Hansen over Fiji’s English coach Ben Ryan.

Fiji lost the team of the year award to the All Blacks‚ who won the 2015 World Cup and set a record for a tier one nation of 18 consecutive Test wins.

• Sevens star Senatla now sets his sights on a Springbok placeAfter ticking off participation in the Olympic Games‚ Blitzboks flier Seabelo Senatla has now set his sights on taking the 15-man game by storm with a World Cup next on his bucket list. 

The FRU are considering an official complaint to World Rugby.

"While we respect the achievement of the All Blacks during the year‚ we strongly believe that the impact of the Fiji Sevens team winning back to back World 7s Series titles and more importantly winning the gold medal at the Rio Olympic Games had a far greater impact to the game of rugby globally‚" an FRU statement said.

"We believe that our Sevens team with the meagre resources available to them has outperformed any other rugby team in 2016.

"The rugby world expects the All Blacks to do well every time because they have all resources available to them."

- TMG Digital