The International Rugby Board have announced the shortlist of nominees for the IRB Player of the Year 2011 Award.
The winner of the prestigious individual accolade will be announced at the IRB Awards ceremony at Vector Arena in Auckland on Monday, 24 October, a day after the Rugby World Cup 2011 champions are crowned.
Four of the nominees are in the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final at Eden Park on Sunday with France captain Thierry Dusautoir joined by the New Zealand trio of scrum half Piri Weepu, flanker Jerome Kaino and centre Ma’a Nonu.
The other two nominees are Australia’s flanker David Pocock and scrum half Will Genia, who will both play against Wales in the Bronze Final on Friday. Pocock has been nominated for the second year in a row, having missed out to New Zealand captain Richie McCaw in 2010.
“The IRB Player of the Year Award is the ultimate accolade for a player to receive in his career. It takes on added significance in a Rugby World Cup year and takes into account player performances in all major internationals, including matches in the 6 Nations and Tri Nations,” said IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset.
“The list of past winners of this prestigious award is very impressive and comprises players of the calibre of Schalk Burger, Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Bryan Habana, Shane Williams and Richie McCaw, the only player to have received the coveted award on more than one occasion.”
The IRB Player of the Year nominees were selected by the IRB Awards independent panel of judges, which is chaired by Australia’s RWC 1999 winning captain John Eales and is made up of former internationals with more than 500 caps and four Rugby World Cup winners’ medals between them.
The IRB Awards panel comprises some of the biggest names in the Game with Will Greenwood, Gavin Hastings, Raphael Ibanez, Francois Pienaar, Agustin Pichot, Scott Quinnell, Tana Umaga and Paul Wallace having deliberated on every major Test played in 2011, starting with the opening 6 Nations match and culminating with the RWC Final.
In total the panel have watched more than 100 hours of action, awarding points to the three players they thought stood out in each match. In order to recognise the importance of Rugby World Cup matches in determining the Player of the Year, an additional weighting has been applied to matches in the Tournament.
“This has been one of the closest years to date. In fact the result could be influenced significantly by the next two matches and that’s what it should be like in a World Cup year,” said panel chairman Eales.
The IRB Player of the Year is one of 12 Awards that will be presented at the star-studded ceremony at Vector Arena, the others include the IRB Coach of the Year, IRB Team of the Year, IRB Sevens Player of the Year in association with HSBC, IRB Junior Player of the Year and IRB Women’s Personality of the Year.
2011 Player of the year Nominees
Thierry Dusautoir (Fra)
Piri Weepu (NZ)
Jerome Kaino (NZ)
Ma’a Nonu (NZ)
David Pocock (Aus)
Will Genia (Aus)
Previous winners of the IRB Player of the Year Award:
2010 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2009 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2008 – Shane Williams (Wales)
2007 – Bryan Habana (South Africa)
2006 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2005 – Dan Carter (New Zealand)
2004 – Schalk Burger (South Africa)
2003 – Jonny Wilkinson (England)
2002 – Fabien Galthie (France)
2001 – Keith Wood (Ireland)
And no Bok deserves it!
I agree, when you look at the form of the nominated players, if we are honest, we don’t really come close
Kak, this is a RWC player of the year.
Look at player who [RWC excluded] have stood out.
Danie should at least be there.
@ Loosehead:
Do you really think so, or are you looking for a SA player that might just about make it onto the fringes of the selection process.
Let’s face facts, the Boks have been poor for 24 months, and there have been no consistent stand out players.
Our standout players have been our “impact” players like Hougaard and Bismark. Unfortunately they didn’t play enough to be considered.
Don’t see that Piri Weepu deserves his place there. Beale should rather have got a look in.
But think this should clearly go to Pocock or Genia.
How Ma’a Nonu can be one of the nominees is beyond me…
He had a very kak Super Rugby series, and even got dumped by the Chiefs, not renewing his contract for a new season.
Piri Weepu had an off and on season, struggled with a lot of injuries, did not play that much in Super Rugby… but had an outstanding World Cup… the only reason he is there.
What is Kaino’s name doing there?
Pocock, Genia, Quade Cooper, Kurtley Beale and James O’Connor had fantastic seasons, even though Cooper fell a little flat at the Rugby World Cup.
The Froggie… well, I suppose they just had to have a Northern Hemisphere player in the mix.
On the New Zealand side, Israel Dagg and Cory Jane had massive seasons.
On SA side, the best performer all year has been Bismarck du Plessis (even despite the propensity to choose John Smit above him). Schalla is a monster, as always and Danie Rossouw, Francois Hougaard & Pat Lambie had some very good overall seasons.
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