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All Black Ardie Savea nominated for prestigious New Zealand sports award
The award nominations just keep on coming for All Black Ardie Savea who has been named as one of five finalists for the Sportsman of the Year honour at New Zealand’s prestigious Halberg Awards.
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About 24 hours after New Zealand’s agonising one-point defeat to South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final, Savea was crowned World Rugby’s Player of the Year for the first time in Paris.
Savea, 30, has since been named the All Blacks best player for the third consecutive year, and the rampaging backrower also collected the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial Player of the Year.
But going beyond the realms of rugby, Savea is now in the running to be named New Zealand’s best sportsman of 2023 – but the All Black will come up against world-class competition for the accolade.
Track cyclist Aaron Gatee, squash star Paul Coll, golfer Ryan Fox – who is the son of legendary All Black Grant Fox – and motorsport champion Shane van Gisbergen are also in the running.
While the All Blacks fell short of World Cup glory, the team is up for Team of the Year and former boss Ian Foster is in the mix for Coach of the Year.
The All Blacks Sevens and Black Ferns Sevens are also up for Team of the Year after both winning last season’s World Sevens Series.
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Camron Leslie, who is a dual international, has been nominated for Para Athlete of the Year. Leslie has won three Paralympic golds in swimming and has also represented New Zealand at three world championships in wheelchair rugby.
The rugby-related nominees are below:
Sportsman of the Year
Aaron Gate (track cycling), Ardie Savea (rugby), Paul Coll (squash), Ryan Fox (golf), Shane van Gisbergen (motorsport)
Para Athlete/Para Tam of the Year
Anna Taylor (para cycling), Cameron Leslie (Para swimming and wheelchair rugby), Daniell Aitchison (Para athletics), Lisa Adams (Para athletics), Nicole Murray (Para cycling)
Team of the Year
All Blacks (rugby), All Blacks Sevens (rugby sevens), Black Ferns Sevens (rugby sevens), New Zealand Warriors (rugby league), Women’s K4 500m (canoe racing)
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Coach of the Year
Cory Sweeney (rugby sevens), Gordon Walker (canoe racing), Ian Foster (rugby), Lars Humer (swimming), Sean Thompson (snow sports)
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
3 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
3 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
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