Baby-faced 85kg back wins URC 'Ironman' award

Slightly-built Wales and Cardiff full-back, Cameron Winnett, has been rewarded for his durability by winning the United Rugby Championship’s ‘Ironman’ award.

The URC Ironman award recognises the player who has played the most minutes during the campaign, with Winnett. who weighs 85kgs and stands 1.80m tall, clocking up 1,427 minutes.

Winnett started all 18 rounds of the regular season for Cardiff, missing just 13 minutes all season. He finished ahead of Munster’s Tom Farrell (1,371 minutes) and Dragons RFC forward, Shane Lewis-Hughes (1,353 minutes).

It was one of several awards handed out before the URC semi-finals, including the Golden Boot and Top Try Scorer, which were won by fellow Welshmen, Ioan Lloyd and Harri Millard.

Scarlets’ Ioan Lloyd was the league’s points scorer with 124, while Cardiff’s Millard crossed for nine tries. That put him level with Stormers winger Leolin Zas and Munster centre Tom Farrell, but Millard had the better tries-per-minute-played ratio.

Ruben van Heerden of The Stormers was named Tackle Machine for his competition-best  171 tackles and a 98 per cent completion success rate, while Farrell claimed the new Playmaker award, which was based on the metrics of try assists, offloads and defenders beaten.

URC Awards Winners 2024-25

Gilbert Golden Boot: Ioan Lloyd (Scarlets)
OFX Top Try Scorer: Harri Millard (Cardiff Rugby)
Tackle Machine: Ruben van Heerden (DHL Stormers)
Ironman: Cam Winnett (Cardiff Rugby)
Playmaker: Tom Farrell (Munster Rugby)