I can’t recall a shortlisted quintet being so potent in star quality as is the case for the 2023 South African Rugby Player of the Year awards, but my winner would be the least expected.
World Cup winners Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Frans Malherbe and Damian Willemse were confirmed as the contenders for the most prestigious individual prize.
None would be out of place as a winner, because all of them put in big performances in 2023, at club and international level.
The consideration for the award is not just the title-winning World Cup in France, but their contribution throughout 2023, which does alter the landscape.
Damian Willemse, for example, was superb for the Stormers and transferred that form internationally in becoming the Boks’ run-on No 15 at the World Cup.
Siya Kolisi was massive in his contribution as a leader and his inspiration to the Springboks, but he spent four months recovering from a serious knee injury and in the play-offs, seldom went past 50 minutes.
Pieter-Steph du Toit was monumental in the 12-11 World Cup final win against the All Blacks, making a tournament match record 28 tackles, with several of them dominant tackles. Du Toit, the 2019 World Player of the Year, looked every bit the world’s best in the World Cup final.
Du Toit plays his club rugby in Japan and those matches are not screened in South Africa. Coverage of the Japanese League is also limited to South Africans, with the extent of the exposure usually a Monday overseas wrap on SA Rugby Magazine detailing the results of the teams featuring South Africans in the Japanese League, the French Top 14 and the English Premiership.
Malherbe knows how to move a piano and provide the set-piece platform, but he can also play that piano and he would easily be the most understated of all South Africa’s World Cup heroes, in 2019 and 2023.
Du Toit, in the build-up to the World Cup, would not have been top of mind to South African supporters, but he must have played consistently well in Japan because he was one of five South Africans named in the League’s Dream Team for the season.
Etzebeth was a man-mountain against France in the pulsating 29-28 World Cup quarterfinal win, in a Test many rated his finest ever for the Boks, but a week later he was subbed early against England in the semifinal. He responded with a powerful and dominant display in the final.
Etzebeth, despite missing a Pool match at the World Cup because of a hurt shoulder, was the only Bok player named in World Rugby’s Dream Team and he was one of five nominees for World Rugby’s Player of the Year.
He also returned to URC action a week ago with an inspiring performance for the Sharks against the Dragons and when the five-strong shortlist was announced, the immediate reaction on social media was to give it to Etzebeth.
SA Rugby Magazine, the world’s leading rugby website in audience numbers, asked their million-plus monthly users to vote and Etzebeth was a unanimous winner. He got 53% of the votes, followed by Du Toit (24%), Malherbe (11%), Willemse (6%) and Kolisi (6%).
Which brings me to my favourite, tighthead prop Malherbe.
The best tighthead props in the world are as sought after as the most influential No 10s and the likes of Malherbe could comfortably command one of the biggest contracts in the game.
But they seldom win the big individual awards as people tend to view them more as the piano movers and not the piano players.
Malherbe knows how to move a piano and provide the set-piece platform, but he can also play that piano and he would easily be the most understated of all South Africa’s World Cup heroes, in 2019 and 2023.
He was also a massive contributor to the Stormers winning the inaugural URC title and hosting the final for a second successive time last season.
Malherbe, for me, has been the most consistent throughout the year of the fabulous five because he hardly missed a game through injury, and he was as good for the Stormers as he was for the Springboks. He doesn’t play a poor game and I haven’t seen him come second to any loose head in the one-on-one scrum battle.
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