New Zealand\u2019s top rugby talent \u2013 across Super Rugby, international teams, sevens and age-grade competitions \u2013 has been recognised in the final slate of nominees for the 2024 New Zealand Rugby Award.<\/p>\n
Blues teammates Braxton Sorensen-McGee and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe join Amy du Plessis (Matat\u016b) as finalists for Super Rugby Aupiki Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
In the men\u2019s competition, Hurricanes flanker Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi, Will Jordan (Crusaders) and Moana Pasifika captain Ardie Savea are nominated for the Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
Savea also features as a nominee for All Blacks Player of the Year, joined by teammates Cam Roigard, Quinn Tupaea and Fabian Holland. Four players are in consideration for Black Ferns Player of the Year, including Sorensen-McGee, Jorja Miller, Georgia Ponsonby and last year\u2019s winner, Kaipo Olsen-Baker.<\/p>\n
Dylan Collier, Tone Ng Shu and Frank Vaenuku are in the running for the Richard Crawshaw Memorial All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year, with Michaela Brake, Risi Pouri-Lane and Miller receiving nods for Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year.<\/p>\n
Woodman-Wickliffe (Ng\u0101puhi\/Ng\u0101ti Kahu ki Whaingaroa\/Ng\u0101ti Porou) earns a second nomination for the year in the Tom French Memorial M\u0101ori Player of the Year category, alongside M\u0101ori All Blacks captain Kurt Eklund (Ng\u0101ti Kahu) and Quinn Tupaea (Ngaati Tiipa, Ngaati Amaru).<\/p>\n
Three exciting young talents are up for the New Zealand Age Grade Player of the Year \u2013 Otago\u2019s Dylan Pledger, Oli Mathis (Waikato) and Sorensen-McGee (Auckland), her third nomination for the year.<\/p>\n
Recognising the best from New Zealand\u2019s national competitions, the Blues, Otago Spirit and Waikato are in the running for adidas National Women\u2019s Team of the Year, while it\u2019s a Canterbury region trifecta for the adidas National Men\u2019s Team of the Year nominees \u2013 Canterbury, Crusaders and Mid-Canterbury.<\/p>\n
Coaches for these competitions have also been acknowledged, with Matt Direen (Otago Spirit), Reuben Samuel (Waikato) and Willie Walker (Blues) named as finalists in the ASB National Women\u2019s Coach of the Year category, and Marty Bourke (Canterbury), Mark Brown (Otago), and Rob Penney (Crusaders) shortlisted for the ASB National Men\u2019s Coach of the Year.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Rugby Referee of the Year acknowledges the performance of match officials domestically and on the international stage. The finalists this year are Maggie Cogger-Orr (Auckland), James Doleman (Otago) and Ben O\u2019Keeffe (North Harbour).<\/p>\n
This group of finalists joins the nominees in the community and provincial medallist categories announced earlier this month. The full list of nominees can be found below.<\/p>\n
Five awards will be presented on the night. The Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year will be awarded to one of the winners of the major Player of the Year categories. The ASB New Zealand Coach of the Year and adidas New Zealand Team of the Year will be announced on the night, with all Teams in Black and their respective coaches eligible.<\/p>\n
The Steinlager Salver, the most prestigious award in New Zealand rugby, will acknowledge someone who has given sustained service to the game. Previous recipients include Sir Colin Meads, Jock Hobbs, Waka Nathan, Sir Tuifa\u2019asisina Bryan Williams and Dr Deb Robinson.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Rugby Players\u2019 Association Kirk Award recognises former players who have made an outstanding contribution on behalf of fellow professional players and led by example off the field. Last year\u2019s recipient was Daniel Carter.<\/p>\n
2025 New Zealand Rugby Awards finalists:<\/p>\n
Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Will Jordan (Crusaders)<\/p>\n
Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi (Hurricanes)<\/p>\n
Ardie Savea (Moana Pasifika)<\/p>\n
Super Rugby Aupiki Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Amy du Plessis (Matat\u016b)<\/p>\n
Braxton Sorensen McGee (Blues)<\/p>\n
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (Blues)<\/p>\n
Richard Crawshaw Memorial All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Dylan Collier<\/p>\n
Tone Ng Shiu<\/p>\n
Frank Vaenuku<\/p>\n
Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Michaela Brake<\/p>\n
Jorja Miller<\/p>\n
Risi Pouri-Lane<\/p>\n
New Zealand Rugby Age Grade Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Oli Mathis (Waikato)<\/p>\n
Dylan Pledger (Otago)<\/p>\n
Braxton Sorensen-McGee (Auckland)<\/p>\n
National Men\u2019s Coach of the Year<\/p>\n
Marty Bourke (Canterbury)<\/p>\n
Mark Brown (Otago)<\/p>\n
Rob Penney (Crusaders)<\/p>\n
National Women\u2019s Coach of the Year<\/p>\n
Matt Direen (Otago)<\/p>\n
Reuben Samuel (Waikato)<\/p>\n
Willie Walker (Blues)<\/p>\n
New Zealand Rugby Referee of the Year<\/p>\n
Maggie Cogger-Orr (Auckland)<\/p>\n
James Doleman (Otago)<\/p>\n
Ben O\u2019Keeffe (North Harbour)<\/p>\n
National Women\u2019s Team of the Year<\/p>\n
Blues<\/p>\n
Otago Spirit<\/p>\n
Waikato<\/p>\n
National Men\u2019s Team of the Year<\/p>\n
Canterbury<\/p>\n
Crusaders<\/p>\n
Mid-Canterbury<\/p>\n
Tom French Memorial M\u0101ori Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Kurt Eklund (Ng\u0101ti Kahu)<\/p>\n
Quinn Tupaea (Ngaati Tiipa, Ngaati Amaru)<\/p>\n
Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (Ng\u0101puhi\/Ng\u0101ti Kahu ki Whaingaroa\/Ng\u0101ti Porou)<\/p>\n
All Blacks Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Fabian Holland<\/p>\n
Cam Roigard<\/p>\n
Ardie Savea<\/p>\n
Quinn Tupaea<\/p>\n
Black Ferns Player of the Year<\/p>\n
Jorja Miller<\/p>\n
Kaipo Olsen-Baker<\/p>\n
Georgia Ponsonby<\/p>\n
Braxton Sorensen-McGee<\/p>\n
Previously announced:<\/p>\n
Bunnings Warehouse Rugby Club of the Year<\/p>\n
Hunterville Rugby Football Club (Whanganui)<\/p>\n
Rangataua Sports and Cultural Club (Bay of Plenty)<\/p>\n
Waimate Rugby Football Club (South Canterbury)<\/p>\n
Charles Monro Volunteer of the Year<\/p>\n
Glen Devenie (Auckland Rugby Referee Association, Auckland)<\/p>\n
Stacey Kobus (Cambridge Junior Rugby and Community Sports Club, Waikato)<\/p>\n
Jodi Taylor (Strath Taieri Rugby Club, Otago)<\/p>\n
Te H\u0101pai Community Impact Award<\/p>\n
Cian Byrne-Hansen (Counties Manukau)<\/p>\n
Peter Hastings (Bay of Plenty)<\/p>\n
Sosoli Talawadua (Whanganui)<\/p>\n
Duane Monkley Medal (Bunnings Warehouse NPC Player of the Year)<\/p>\n
Sam Darry (Canterbury)<\/p>\n
Folau Fakatava (Hawke\u2019s Bay)<\/p>\n
Josh Jacomb (Taranaki)<\/p>\n
Fiao\u2019o Faamausili Medal (Farah Palmer Cup presented by Bunnings Warehouse Player of the Year)<\/p>\n
Taufa Bason (Auckland)<\/p>\n
Grace Houpapa-Barrett (Waikato)<\/p>\n
Holly Williams (North Harbour)<\/p>\n
Ian Kirkpatrick Medal (Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship Player of the Year)<\/p>\n
Declan McCormack (Mid Canterbury)<\/p>\n
Keanu Taumata (Poverty Bay)<\/p>\n
Sam Walton-Sexton (Wairarapa Bush)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s top rugby talent \u2013 across Super Rugby, international teams, sevens and age-grade competitions \u2013 has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-313930","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}