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Ardie Savea stands out as nominee for prestigious All Blacks award

rdie Savea of New Zealand celebrates with teammates after scoring his team's fourth try during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 match between New Zealand and Italy at Parc Olympique on September 29, 2023 in Lyon, France. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

After being crowned the world’s best men’s player at the World Rugby Awards in Paris last month, Ardie Savea would have to be considered a clear favourite for another prestigious honour in New Zealand.

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New Zealand Rugby has revealed the award nominees for the best women’s, men’s, coaches, teams, referees and volunteers in the country ahead of the prestigious 2023 ASB Rugby Awards.

Savea, who will miss the entirety of next year’s Super Rugby Pacific season after taking up a sabbatical in Japan, is one of four nominees for the All Blacks Player of the Year accolade.

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While the nominees for the illustrious Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year award, which recognises the best rugby player in New Zealand, Savea certainly appears to be the favourite.

Barrett brothers Jordie and Scott are also up for the All Blacks POTY of the Year honour, as well as legendary halfback Aaron Smith who played his last Test in the Rugby World Cup final defeat.

Scott Barrett is also in the running to be named Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year but will face still competition from fellow All Blacks Mark Tele’a and Damian McKenzie.

Also in the men’s game, World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year nominees Leroy Carter and Akuila Rokolisoa are in the running for the Richard Crawshaw Memorial All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year award.

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Interestingly, both Michaela Blyde and Tyla Nathan-Wong have missed out on the Black Ferns Sevens’ equivalent despite being recognised as contenders for the World Rugby Award. Nathan-Wong picked up the award in Paris.

Instead, rising stars Jorja Miller and Risaleanna Pouri-Lane have been nominated for Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year along with fan favourite Stacey Waaka.

“We know that right across New Zealand many rugby clubs serve their communities far beyond rugby and recognising the great work of our clubs, with the support of Bunnings Warehouse, is a great inclusion in the awards,” NZR CEO Mark Robinson said in a statement.

“As is acknowledging the dedication from individuals across the game, we had some incredible nominations which highlights the special people involved in rugby.

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“Congratulations to all those nominated for awards, it is a reflection on the hard work and tenacity shown across all levels of the game both on and off the field. We’ve had another bumper year of rugby so it’s fantastic to be able to recognise the teams and individuals that have contributed to that.”

Here are the nominees for the other awards:

2023 ASB Rugby Award nominees are;

New Zealand Rugby Referee of the Year
Maggie Cogger-Orr
Angus Mabey
Ben O’Keeffe

Charles Monro Rugby Volunteer of the Year
Chris Fife (Northland)
John Hume (Counties Manukau)
Sharlene Wiselam (Canterbury)
Allen Grainger (Waikato)

Bunnings Warehouse Rugby Club of the Year
Tamatea Rugby Sports Clubs (Hawke’s Bay)
Auckland University Rugby Football Club (Auckland)
Beachlands Maraetai Rugby Club (Counties Manukau)

Te H?pai New Zealand Rugby Community Impact Award
Steven Li (Asian Non-Contact Rugby Program)
Te Kahurangi Skelton (Otago M?ori Rugby)
Richard Perkins (Otago Rugby Football Union)

New Zealand Rugby Age Grade Player of the Year
Harry Godfrey (Hawke’s Bay)
Macca Springer (Tasman)
Angelica Mekeke-Vahai (Auckland)

Ian Kirkpatrick Medal (Bunnings Warehouse Heartland Championship Player of the Year)
Siu Kakala (South Canterbury)
Stuart Leach (Poverty Bay)
Alekesio Vakarorogo (Whanganui)

Duane Monkley Medal (Bunnings Warehouse NPC Player of the Year)
Etene Nanai-Seturo (Counties Manukau)
Adrian Choat (Auckland)
Fergus Burke (Canterbury)
Timoci Tavatavanawai (Tasman)

Fiao’o Faamausili Medal (FPC presented by Bunnings Warehouse Player of the Year)
Krysten Cottrell (Hawke’s Bay)
Laura Bayfield (Canterbury)
Kaipo Olsen-Baker (Manawatu)

ASB National Men’s Coach of the Year
Nigel Walsh (South Canterbury)
Neil Barnes (Taranaki)
Scott Robertson (Crusaders)

ASB National Women’s Coach of the Year
Rawinia Everitt (Northland)
Blair Baxter (Matat?)
Willie Walker (Auckland)

ASB New Zealand Coach of the Year
All Teams in Black coaches eligible

DHL Super Rugby Pacific Player of the Year
Mark Tele’a (Blues)
Scott Barrett (Crusaders)
Damian McKenzie (Chiefs)

Sky Super Rugby Aupiki Player of the Year
Renee Holmes (Matat?)
Lucy Jenkins (Matat?)
Luka Connor (Chiefs Manawa)
Tanya Kalounivale (Chiefs Manawa)

Tom French Memorial M?ori Player of the Year
Aaron Smith (Ng?ti Kahungunu, Manawatu)
Billy Harmon (Ng?i Tahu)
Stacey Waaka (Ng?i T?hoe)
Arihiana Marino-Tauhinu (Nga Puhi, Ngai Tahuhu)

Richard Crawshaw Memorial All Blacks Sevens Player of the Year
Leroy Carter
Akuila Rokolisoa
Dylan Collier

Black Ferns Sevens Player of the Year
Jorja Miller
Stacey Waaka
Risaleaana Pouri-Lane

Black Ferns Player of the Year
Maiakawanakaulani Roos
Liana Mikaele-Tu’u
Amy du Plessis

All Blacks Player of the Year
Jordie Barrett
Scott Barrett
Ardie Savea
Aaron Smith

adidas National Men’s Team of the Year
Crusaders
Taranaki Bulls
South Canterbury

adidas National Women’s Team of the Year
Auckland Storm
Northland Kauri
Matat?

adidas New Zealand Team of the Year
All Teams in Black eligible

To be presented on the night: Steinlager Salver – Outstanding contribution to New Zealand Rugby and Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year

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1 Comment
P
Pecos 402 days ago

Lucy Jenkins Aupiki POTY.

Scott Barrett SRP POTY

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J
JW 2 hours ago
Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

I rated Lowe well enough to be an AB. Remember we were picking the likes of George Bridge above such players so theres no disputing a lot of bad decisions have been made by those last two coaches. Does a team like the ABs need a finicky winger who you have to adapt and change a lot of your style with to get benefit from? No, not really. But he still would have been a basic improvement on players like even Savea at the tail of his career, Bridge, and could even have converted into the answer of replacing Beauden at the back. Instead we persisted with NMS, Naholo, Havili, Reece, all players we would have cared even less about losing and all because Rieko had Lowe's number 11 jersey nailed down.


He was of course only 23 when he decided to leave, it was back in the beggining of the period they had started retaining players (from 2018 onwards I think, they came out saying theyre going to be more aggressive at some point). So he might, all of them, only just missed out.


The main point that Ed made is that situations like Lowe's, Aki's, JGP's, aren't going to happen in future. That's a bit of a "NZ" only problem, because those players need to reach such a high standard to be chosen by the All Blacks, were as a country like Ireland wants them a lot earlier like that. This is basically the 'ready in 3 years' concept Ireland relied on, versus the '5 years and they've left' concept' were that player is now ready to be chosen by the All Blacks (given a contract to play Super, ala SBW, and hopefully Manu).


The 'mercenary' thing that will take longer to expire, and which I was referring to, is the grandparents rule. The new kids coming through now aren't going to have as many gp born overseas, so the amount of players that can leave with a prospect of International rugby offer are going to drop dramatically at some point. All these kiwi fellas playing for a PI, is going to stop sadly.


The new era problem that will replace those old concerns is now French and Japanese clubs (doing the same as NRL teams have done for decades by) picking kids out of school. The problem here is not so much a national identity one, than it is a farm system where 9 in 10 players are left with nothing. A stunted education and no support in a foreign country (well they'll get kicked out of those countries were they don't in Australia).


It's the same sort of situation were NZ would be the big guy, but there weren't many downsides with it. The only one I can think was brought up but a poster on this site, I can't recall who it was, but he seemed to know a lot of kids coming from the Islands weren't really given the capability to fly back home during school xms holidays etc. That is probably something that should be fixed by the union. Otherwise getting someone like Fakatava over here for his last year of school definitely results in NZ being able to pick the cherries off the top but it also allows that player to develop and be able to represent Tonga and under age and possibly even later in his career. Where as a kid being taken from NZ is arguably going to be worse off in every respect other than perhaps money. Not going to develop as a person, not going to develop as a player as much, so I have a lotof sympathy for NZs case that I don't include them in that group but I certainly see where you're coming from and it encourages other countries to think they can do the same while not realising they're making a much worse experience/situation.

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