Springbok stars Malcolm Marx, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ox Nche and Jasper Wiese have been nominated for SA Rugby’s prestigious Men’s Player of the Year Award for 2025.
In the women’s section, it is going to be a battle between Byrhandré Dolf, Aseza Hele, Libbie Janse van Rensburg, Babalwa Latsha and last year’s local winner, Nadine Roos.
Marx, who was named World Rugby’s Men’s 15s Player of the Year last year, will be the favourite, but he faces tough competition from Du Toit, Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Nche and Wiese, who were immense for the Boks.
Du Toit, a former winner of both SA Rugby and World Rugby’s top awards, and Nche were on the shortlist last year too, and both were also nominated for the World Rugby Award.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, like the other four players, was named in World Rugby’s 2025 Dream Team, and Wiese, who had a stellar season for the Boks, has been nominated for the first time for the top award in South African rugby.
For the women, four previous winners — Roos, Hele, Janse van Rensburg and Latsha — have been nominated again.
The quartet, along with the fifth nominee, Dolf, all played key roles in helping South Africa reach the Women’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinals for the first time in a watershed season for the Springbok Women.
Four of the five players nominated for the Young Player of the Year Award played Test rugby in 2025: Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ethan Hooker, Canan Moodie and Zachary Porthen.
The fifth, Haashim Pead, played a key role for the Junior Boks in their World Rugby U-20 Championship triumph.
Pead was also nominated in the category for Junior Springbok Player of the Year, along with South African U-20 captain Riley Norton and Cheswill Jooste.
Three nominees for the Springbok Sevens Men’s Player of the Year Award are Selvyn Davids, Shilton van Wyk and Impi Visser, all of whom were part of the Blitzbok squad that won the HSBC SVNS World Championship in Los Angeles in May.
For coach of the year, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has been nominated together with Philip Snyman of the Blitzboks and Kevin Foote of the Junior Boks.
Swys de Bruin also made the shortlist for the coach award after guiding the Bok Women to their best finish yet at a Rugby World Cup.
Full nominees:
SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year: Pieter-Steph du Toit, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche, Jasper Wiese
SA Rugby Women’s Player of the Year: Byrhandré Dolf, Aseza Hele, Libbie Janse van Rensburg, Babalwa Latsha, Nadine Roos
SA Rugby Young Player of the Year: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Springboks/Stormers), Ethan Hooker (Springboks/Sharks), Canan Moodie (Springboks/Bulls), Haashim Pead (Junior Springboks/Lions), Zachary Porthen (Springboks/Stormers)
Springbok Sevens Men’s Player of the Year: Selvyn Davids, Shilton van Wyk, Impi Visser
Junior Springbok Player of the Year: Cheswill Jooste, Riley Norton, Haashim Pead
Team of the Year: Junior Springboks, Springboks, Springbok Sevens
Coach of the Year: Swys de Bruin (Springbok Women), Rassie Erasmus (Springboks), Kevin Foote (Junior Springboks), Philip Snyman (Springbok Sevens)
Carling Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year: Donavan Don (Sanlam Boland Kavaliers), Gurshwin Wehr (Griquas), George Whitehead (Griquas)
Carling Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year: Keagan Fortune (Valke), Andrew Kota (Griffons), Willem van den Hever (Griffons)
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