Despite the omission of two precociously talented flyhalves, and a departing Springbok captain there will be much satisfaction following the announcement of South Africa’s players of the year at a function in Sandton on Thursday.
The major awards all went to players on the right side of 25 and, in an evening devoted to looking forward, there were also special retrospective awards for three giants of the game — Mark Andrews, Andre Venter and Chester Williams (proving the South African Rugby Football Union does not bear too many grudges for comments made in Williams’s autobiography). If the departing Andre Vos had been honoured also it would have been perfect, but he is still a young man and may yet play in this country again.
The Player of the Year award went to Joe van Niekerk and, while it could be argued that he spent rather too much time on the physio’s couch over the course of the season, there is no doubt that when he played he made a difference. The single most exciting aspect of the forthcoming Springbok tour to Europe will be to see how Van Niekerk adapts to playing eighth man at international level.
Van Niekerk received his first start in a Test match on last season’s ill-fated tour, as did Lawrence Sephaka, voted the Players’ Player of the Year. The irony with Sephaka is that he was a hastily included quota player under Harry Viljoen, while under Rudolph Straeuli he has matured visibly from match to match.
The missing flyhalves were the combatants in the Currie Cup final, Andre Pretorius and Derick Hougaard. Pretorius played more games and was more consistent than Van Niekerk, but his time will surely come again.
As for Hougaard, the Springbok selectors thought long and hard before leaving him out of the touring side and Straeuli made a point of finding the young man at the post-match reception to speak to him personally. Hougaard was also pipped for the Most Promising Player by his Bulls teammate Pedrie Wannenburg, of whom more will be known after the end-of-season tour.
Two flyhalves who did make it were Brent Russell (Sevens Player of the Year) and Kennedy Tsimba (Currie Cup Player of the Year). Those who wonder where Russell gets his ideas should have seen him play Sevens. He was the single most important cog in Chester Williams’s machine when the South Africans won a tournament for the first time on the world circuit; there was added poignancy in that it happened in New Zealand.
As for Tsimba, his award recognises his vast input into the game in this country as well as his team, the Cheetahs, who tripped up in the semi- finals, but were capable of producing thrilling rugby.
Awards 2002
Player of Year: Joe van Niekerk (Lions)
Players’ Player: Lawrence Sephaka
Super 12: Corné Krige (Stormers)
Currie Cup: Kennedy Tsimba (Cheetahs)
Sevens: Brent Russell (Pumas)
Vodacom Cup: Denzil Frans (Bulls)
Craven Week: Earl Rose (WP)
Most Promising: Pedrie Wannenburg (Bulls)
Try of the Year: Werner Greeff vs Australia, Ellis Park
Outstanding Achievement: Under-21 World Cup squad
Service to the game: Mark Andrews, Andre Venter, Chester Williams
Refereeing Achievement: Eugene Daniels