The baby-faced assassin strikes again, this time taking home the SA Rugby Player of the Year award.

We are of course talking about Lood de Jager, not Patrick Lambie, the 23-year-old lock last night given the honour and becoming the youngest recipient since Bryan Habana way back in 2005.

He was in fine voice when receiving his award with this below from EWN:

“I had an unbelievable year with the Springboks, although it was a bit up and down for the team, I’m excited for a big season ahead, with a lot of challenges, and I’m sure we can all make a difference this year.”

The Toyota Cheetahs lock edged out fellow nominees for the top award, Damian de Allende, Eben Etzebeth, Schalk Burger and Jaco Kriel.

Kriel, however, was rewarded for a sublime season by walking away with two accolades – the prestigious Players’ Player of the Year Award, presented by MyPlayers, and the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year Award, after he led the Xerox Golden Lions to the crown.

So Kriel and de Jager the big winners thus far, what about the man mountain that is Damian de Allende?

De Allende, who just lost out to De Jager for the top award following an extensive voting process from the media and public, was named the Vodacom Super Rugby Player of the Year after delivering consistently strong performances for the DHL Stormers…

The Xerox Golden Lions were deservedly named the Absa Team of the Year, while Johan Ackermann walked away with the Absa Coach of the Year award for the second consecutive season, capping a fine 2015 for the Johannesburg-based union.

Fine Jozi we’ll give you guys that one, you’ve played a lekker brand of rugby for a few years now and it’s really starting to pay off. The rest of the winner from the night below:

SA Sevens Player of the Year: Werner Kok
Nominees: Seabelo Senatla, Kwagga Smith

SA Under-20 Player of the Year: Warrick Gelant
Nominees: Jason Jenkins, Hanro Liebenberg

Vodacom Cup Player of the Year: Marnus Schoeman (Steval Pumas)
Nominees: Wiaan Liebenberg (Vodacom Blue Bulls), JC Roos (Steval Pumas)

Absa Currie Cup First Division Player of the Year: Rhyno Smith (Leopards)
Nominees: Leighton Eksteen (SWD Eagles), Juan Language (Leopards)

Supersport Try of the Year: Johan Deysel (NWU-Pukke v Shimas, FNB Varsity Cup Final, presented by Steinhoff International)

Nominees: Faf de Klerk (Emirates Lions v Vodacom Bulls, Vodacom Super Rugby), Jesse Kriel (Springboks v Australia, Castle Lager Rugby Championship), Dillon Smit (FNB Varsity Cup Dream Team v SA Under-20), Rhyno Smith (FNB Varsity Cup Dream Team v SA Under-20).

Coca-Cola Craven Week Player of the Year: Ernst van Rhyn (WP)

Marriott Referee Award: Rasta Rasivhenge

Women’s Achiever Award: Veroeshka Grain

Club Player of the Year: Leon du Plessis (Rustenburg Impala)

Now to sort out exactly who the next coach is going to be…

[source:ewn]