{"id":178749,"date":"2025-12-11T09:31:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/178749\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:31:08","slug":"2025-nz-rugby-awards-ardie-saveas-player-of-the-year-prize-caps-a-dominant-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/178749\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NZ Rugby Awards: Ardie Savea\u2019s Player of the Year prize caps a dominant year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Savea will miss the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season due to a sabbatical<\/a> in Japan, but will be back for the start of the Nations Championship in July.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, young Black Ferns star Braxton Sorensen-McGee added two more awards to her trophy cabinet to complete a stunning debut season.<\/p>\n

After being announced as World Rugby\u2019s Women\u2019s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year, the 19-year-old was named as Black Ferns Player of the Year and New Zealand Age Grade Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

\"BraxtonBraxton Sorensen-McGee during the Rugby World Cup. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Portia Woodman-Wickliffe also took home multiple awards; recognised as the Sky Super Rugby Aupiki Player of the Year and, for the first time in her storied career, named the Tom French Memorial M\u0101ori Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

It was also a big night for the Black Ferns Sevens and their coach Cory Sweeney, taking out the adidas New Zealand Team of the Year and Coach of the Year awards, having also won those categories in 2024.<\/p>\n

Sweeney becomes the most successful coach in this category, having now been named the top coach in the country six times.<\/p>\n

Jorja Miller adds Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year to her World Rugby Women\u2019s Sevens Player of the Year title, while new All Blacks Sevens captain Tone Ng Shiu was acknowledged as Richard Crawshaw Memorial All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Rob Penney and Willie Walker were acknowledged as national men\u2019s and women\u2019s Coach of the Year respectively, while their championship-winning teams, Crusaders and Blues, took home the men\u2019s and women\u2019s National Team of the Year awards.<\/p>\n

\"CoachCoach Rob Penney with the Super Rugby Pacific trophy. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

After taking control of a Rugby World Cup semi-final match, Maggie Cogger-Orr was named as New Zealand Rugby Referee of the Year for the first time.<\/p>\n

Former international players Sam Whitelock and Les Elder were honoured with the New Zealand Rugby Players\u2019 Association Kirk Award, acknowledging their service to their fellow players through their long tenures on the New Zealand Rugby Players Association Board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s great about the New Zealand Rugby Awards is being able to celebrate every level of the game \u2013 elite players, emerging stars, referees, amateurs and our grassroots game,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see community rugby volunteers and clubs acknowledged right alongside our professional players shows how special rugby is right around the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

NZ Rugby Award finalists and winners (in bold)<\/p>\n

Sky Television Fans Try of the Year<\/p>\n

Lucas Casey (Otago)<\/p>\n

Matt Fleming (Westlake Boys High School)<\/p>\n

Damian McKenzie (All Blacks)<\/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

Charles Monro Rugby 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

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

Te H\u0101pai New Zealand Rugby Community Impact Award<\/p>\n

Cian Byrne-Hansen (Counties Manukau)<\/p>\n

Peter Hastings (Bay of Plenty)<\/p>\n

Sosoli Talawadua (Whanganui)<\/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

NZRPA Kirk Award<\/p>\n

Sam Whitelock and Les Elder<\/p>\n

Steinlager Salver \u2013 outstanding contribution to New Zealand Rugby<\/p>\n

Luke Crawford<\/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

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 Fa\u2019amausili 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

ASB National Men\u2019s Coach of the Year<\/p>\n

Marty Bourke (Canterbury)<\/p>\n

Mark Brown (Otago)<\/p>\n

Rob Penney (Crusaders)<\/p>\n

ASB National Women\u2019s Coach of the Year<\/p>\n

Matt Direen (Otago)<\/p>\n

Reuben Samuel (Waikato)<\/p>\n

Willie Walker (Blues)<\/p>\n

ASB New Zealand Coach of the Year<\/p>\n

Cory Sweeney (Black Ferns Sevens)<\/p>\n

DHL 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

Sky 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

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

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

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

All Blacks Player of the Year<\/p>\n

Fabian Holland<\/p>\n

Cameron Roigard<\/p>\n

Ardie Savea<\/p>\n

Quinn Tupaea<\/p>\n

Adidas National Men\u2019s Team of the Year<\/p>\n

Canterbury<\/p>\n

Crusaders<\/p>\n

Mid-Canterbury<\/p>\n

Adidas National Women\u2019s Team of the Year<\/p>\n

Blues<\/p>\n

Waikato<\/p>\n

Otago Spirit<\/p>\n

Adidas New Zealand Team of the Year<\/p>\n

Black Ferns Sevens<\/p>\n

Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year<\/p>\n

Ardie Savea<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Savea will miss the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season due to a sabbatical in Japan, but will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[836,9082,10779,8136,50372,42574,2046,41309,19134,82010,114231,19872,111,43,139,69,1118,9617,10512,6327,9083,26531,223,3755,2044,2563,114232,18457,379],"class_list":["post-178749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-836","tag-ardie","tag-awards","tag-blacks","tag-capped","tag-caps","tag-career","tag-dominant","tag-forward","tag-kelvin","tag-loose","tag-memorial","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-player","tag-prize","tag-rugby","tag-savea","tag-saveas","tag-the","tag-third","tag-time","tag-title","tag-tremain","tag-winning","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}