Three South Africans Scoop Top World Rugby Awards

Seabelo Senatla, referee Rasta Rasivhenge and Jean de Villiers made South Africa proud winning honours in various categories at the prestigious World Rugby Awards in London on Sunday night.

Seabelo Senatla became the third South African to be crowned the World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year, when he edged out Fiji’s Osea Kolinisau and Virimi Vakatawa of France for the top award at an event in London.

He scored 66 tries in 10 events in the 2015/16 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, which was the second-highest in the 17-year history of the series, before adding four more tries at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

“Seabelo gave us many reasons to smile during the last Sevens Series and all of us involved in South African rugby are very proud of this humble and hard-working young man,” said Mark Alexander, President of SA Rugby.

Rasta Rasivhenge shared the World Rugby Referee Award with Alhambra Nievas from Spain. They had the honour of refereeing the men’s and women’s Olympic gold medal matches in Rio to bring the curtain down on an impressive season of Sevens rugby.

South Africa’s Jaco Peyper was also a nominee.

Former Springbok captain Jean de Villiers received the International Rugby Players’ Association’s Special Merit Award.

De Villiers, who played 109 Tests for South Africa, brought the curtain down on a 13-year international career after breaking his jaw at Rugby World Cup 2015. He captained the Boks in 37 Tests and scored 27 tries for the Springboks.

“When people speak of Jean, he is always referred to as a gentleman and a true ambassador for our country – and I fully agree with those sentiments,” said Alexander.

“It’s humbling to see one of our finest players honoured by World Rugby in this way and he’s fully deserving of this award as he has represented the best values of our game in many countries during his illustrious career.”

New Zealand scooped the three main awards – Team of the Year, Coach of the Year (Steve Hansen) and Player of the Year (Beauden Barrett).

Awesome Footage of Seabelo Senatla in action:

Source: SARugby.net