The Springboks cleaned up at the World Rugby Awards winning Team of the Year, coach Rassie Erasmus winning Coach of the Year and Pieter-Steph du Toit winning World Rugby Player of the Year.
The awards by rugby union’s governing body were held in Tokyo the day after the final and are “the ultimate accolade for excellence in rugby one and off the field,” according to their website.
Pieter-Steph du Toit is the third South African player and World Cup champion to win the title, following in the footsteps of Schalk Burger and Bryan Habana.
“There’s a few struggles in our country & we’re trying to get the people together and this is the only way we know how to do that…”
? words from Peter-Steph Du Toit after he won World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year 2019 in association with @Mastercard #WorldRugbyAwards pic.twitter.com/WYOFHEnGli
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) November 3, 2019
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi accepted the rugby team of the year award on behalf of the Springboks, praising the work of their coach in his acceptance speech.
“We all just bought into his plan and he was just honest and straight forward and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He made us believe from day one when he came into camp,” he said at the ceremony.
Siya Kolisi speaks about the special bond in the @Springboks team after they were awarded Team of the Year for 2019 at the #WorldRugbyAwards pic.twitter.com/A6yk2ff471
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) November 3, 2019
Image: AllBlacks/Twitter
