It’s that time of the year when all sorts of awards and prizes get handed to players who have performed well in the Super Rugby tournament. Here at Sharksworld, we tend to do things a little differently, rewarding those players that performed well, performed poorly as well as rewarding them for those idiotic moments.
Next in our series of Sharksworld Awards we will be looking at the performances of the openside flanks in the tournament. We have a few categories that will be applied throughout this series of awards.
Player of the Tournament: The nominees for best openside flank of the season are as follow: 1. Schalk Burger, had a really good season for the Stormers, leading them to yet another set of playoffs. Great timing on the form in this all important World Cup Year. 2. Beau Robinson, the blonde steamroller from the Reds has proven to be a great asset and will almost certainly feature in the Aussie jersey. 3. Luke Braid, the Blues opensider has had a great season, getting the opportunity to play after his brother Daniel was ruled out for most of the competition.
South African openside flank of the Tournament: The nominees for South African openside flank for the year are: 1. Schalk Burger from the Stormers, 2. Keegan Daniel from the Sharks, 3. Deon Stegmann from the Bulls
Most promising openside flank of the tournament: 1. Jack Lam from the Hurricanes, 2. Beau Robinson from the Reds, 3. Matt Todd from the Crusaders
The Peter de Villiers “Let’s-rest-all-our-top-players” award goes to the Crusaders and Richie McCaw for playing less than half of the Super Rugby season due to some very dodgy foot injuries that somehow kept him out of the game for weeks at a time.
The Welcome-Back award goes to Heinrich Brussow for finally getting some rugby action, and just in time to be in consideration for the World Cup squad. Looking forward to Heinrich making David Pocock and Richie McCaw his bitch later this year.
Please make your selections in the comments below, and I will gather the necessary information to report back after all the positions have been discussed. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please mail me Richard@sharksworld.co.za
I’d like to call this competition closed, we have Deon Stegmann as a candidate and that can only mean a flawed system.
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 1) :
I second!!
Nice one Rich, so glad to see Brussow back as well.
Schalky for everything
Also, Minnie had a good season for the Lions, didn’t he?
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 1) : @Ice (Comment 2) : I third, fourth, fifth… eight thousand, four hundred and twelve… nine hundred and sixteen thousand, four hundred and sixty-three… nearing infinity that motion!
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 1) :
Hahaha! Brilliant!
@Culling Song (Comment 5) : I infinity that motion!
@molly (Comment 4) : I’d take Minnie over “penalty-machine” Stegmann anyday!
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 1) : Defiantly a flaw in this system somewhere…
Schalk Burger, Schalk Burger and Matt Todd. Robison would have to be my second choice under all the categories.
Player of the Tournament: Schalk Burger
South African openside flank of the Tournament: Schalk Burger
Most promising openside flank of the tournament: Matt Todd
@The Sharks Sharkie (Comment 7) : Stegman’s got as many penalties as Flouw, he’s really not that bad. Stegman also has less yellow cards than Keegan DanielS.
Its just a perception we all have against him.
Don’t get me wrong, he isn’t good enough for bok colours, but he isn’t as bad as we all make him out to be.
@molly (Comment 10) : I think most of the negative commentary is aimed at Stegmann the person (or at least his public persona) rather than Stegmann the player. I know that in my case he is one of the few people on the planet that I would be willing to forego a month’s salary for the opportunity to kick him in the unmentionables.
And he should have got a red card for taking a bite of Keegan
@Culling Song (Comment 11) : hahaha, true
@Culling Song (Comment 11) : Nah . . Van den Heever tops my hitlist!
@Original Pierre (Comment 14) : Derick Kuun
oh, and if I didn’t appreciate his immense talents, I’m pretty sure I’d dislike Hougaard alot.
@molly (Comment 15) : Derick Kuun is definitely another one on my list.
@molly (Comment 10) : Interesting stat.
Although I also remember that both Louw and Stegmann didn’t perform well in the Bok jersey when given a chance. But Stegmann must just go and bury himself… Louw at least performed badly agianst the world’s best team and Stegmann… don’t get me started!
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 12) : The Loftus crowd should have gotten a red card for shining lasers into Lambie’s eyes!
@molly (Comment 16) :
My favourite player of all time is P3 Wannenberg!!
Love him to bits!!
@The Sharks Sharkie (Comment 19) :
And the Kings Park ‘faithful’ for booing the Bok coach and captain in 2008!!
@wpw (Comment 20) : Why? coz he’s an ex Shark?
@Villie (Comment 22) : What!? Please tell me that’s not true!!
And the Cape Town crowds for supporting all the wrong teams
Beau Robinson must be the signing of the season. Discarded by the Waratahs, he initially paid his own way down to Brisbane and was working in a bar and only playing part time until the Reds gave him his chance. Shows just what hunger and determination to secure a contract can do. He was awesome.
I would agree with Molly that Minnie was outstanding for the Lions too. He gives away a lot of penalties but what opensider doesn’t?
@Culling Song (Comment 23) : Very True. He was in our junior ranks and highly rated. I’m not sure if we let him go or he was bought by the Bulls. Rob will probably know the story.
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 24) :
The last time I checked people are free to support whoever they prefer to support.
@wpw (Comment 21) : @Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 24) :
@wpw (Comment 27) : Well in that case maybe the Crusaders should really consider moving to Cape Town
@Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 24) : just a small (irritating) portion of them
How good was that 19 year old Gill from the Reds for the short while that he played.
@Pokkel (Comment 31) : Yep..excellent prospect. Saw him play a full game for the Reds a few weeks back (can’t remember who they played) and he didn’t look out of place!
WPW