JOHANNESBURG – The third annual rugby's Players Choice Awards will be held at The Park at Hyde Park, on Tuesday, November 19.
The awards – held by the players, for the players – are the only of their kind in South Africa and sees professional rugby players from the country's 14 unions vote for their top players across six awards categories.
The seventh award is the Fans' Choice category where SA rugby fans have the chance to vote for their favourite players of 2019.
The award ceremony will see professional South African rugby players honour and acknowledge their peers for playing the bounce over the past season.
"The awards ceremony promises to be a memorable evening," said Eugene Henning, Chief Executive Officer of MyPlayers, the South African rugby players’ organisation.
In 2018, the most sought-after Players’ Player of the Year award was won by Malcom Marx, while Springbok rugby captain, Siya Kolisi scooped this honour, in 2017.
Nominees:
Defender of the year:
1 Pieter-Steph du Toit
2 Franco Mostert
3 Lukhanyo Am
4 Damian de Allende
Forward Player of the year:
1 Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira
2 Trevor Nyakane
3 RG Snyman
4 Pieter-Steph du Toit
Backline Player of the year:
1 George Whitehead
2 Rabz Maxwane
3 Cheslin Kolbe
4 Herschel Jantjies
Best off the bench:
1 Steven Kitshoff
2 Herschel Jantjies
3 Bongani Mbonambi
4 Selvyn Davids
Most-improved player over the past year:
1 Joseph Dweba
2 Tyrone Green
3 Herschel Jantjies
4 Kurt-Lee Arendse
The Players' Player of the Year (the flagship award of the evening for the player selected as the best player of the year, as chosen by his peers):
1 Pieter-Steph du Toit
2 Duane Vermeulen
3 Schalk Brits
4 Cheslin Kolbe