Rugby enjoyed a stellar night at the South African Sports Awards in Durban on Saturday, collecting five titles – in the Team, Coach, Player, Federation and People’s Choice categories.
Major winners on the night included Springbok winger Makazole Mapimpi for the Sportsman of the Year, Rassie Erasmus for Coach of the Year, the Springboks the Team of the Year while People’s Choice Sports Star of the Year went to Siya Kolisi. Tatjana Schoenmaker won Sports Star and Sportswoman of the Year awards. Schoenmaker was also one of three winners of the Shield Of Jove award alongside Ntando Mahlangu and Bianca Buitendag.
Springbok Sevens rising star, Ronald Brown, was also nominated in the Newcomer of the Year category, which athlete Mine de Klerk won.
The awards covered the Covid-19 interrupted period 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2021.
Mark Alexander, President of SA Rugby, said, “This is a proud day for the Springboks and SA Rugby, and I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the winners for their hard work and dedication on and off the field. Winning five awards in the country’s biggest awards ceremony is a massive achievement.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc around the world in the last two years and it placed SA Rugby under huge strain with matches being cancelled and the sport literally coming to a halt for almost two full seasons, so to win the National Federation of the Year award was also very rewarding,” Alexander continued.
Schoenmaker said, "What an honour. I always get the question, 'how much does my team contribute to my success?' Well, my team, everyone is everyone supporting me and who has my back. So, it’s an easy question to answer. They are my success. Everyone is a winner. This is dedicated to every athlete out there who perseveres. I always say that a happy swimmer is a fast swimmer. You must love your sport because you are allowed to do it.”
