The morning in sport: Spies out, Deysel in, SA rugby awards all in one

03 November 2009 in Club Rugby, Currie Cup, Springboks by Dooley

Get off of me you fly...

In a heavy blow to the Springboks, Pierre Spies has been ruled out of the Springbok end of year tour with a surgery requiring finger injury. Spies apparently injured his finger in the Currie Cup final this past Saturday an had to have surgery on Monday night. Spies’ athleticism will no doubt be missed by many of the Springbok fans, but all is not lost. In a country where we are currently blessed with a whole host of extremely talented loose forwards, as the door closed for Spies last night, it opened for Sharks loose forward, Jean Deysel.

Many rugby fans around the country were disappointed to see Deysel originally left out of the Springbok end of year tour squad, whilst a host of shock selections, some unwarranted, were included. Deysel has been knocking on the door for Springbok selection, or there andthere abouts, for some time now. Diesel Deysel as he is called by many of his fans has what it takes to make the step up an should do us proud in the Green and Gold strip. He is a player who relishes in the physical contact, enjoys running with the ball, and shows good interplay. My only gripe with him is that from time to time his handling is a bit kak, but I’m sure he will be working on this. All in all, I think it is not a bad call at all.

In other news, Fourie Du Preez has been rewarded for his sublime form this season, scooping up the player of the year award at the annual South African rugby awards ceremony last night. This is the second time that Du Preez, who played a pivotal role in the Springbok’s wide success this year, has won the award. I’m pretty confident that we can expect him to be named IRB player of the year 2009

Awards Included: (provincial union)

SA Player of the Year – Fourie du Preez (Blue Bulls)
Players’ Player of the Year – Morné Steyn (Blue Bulls)
Young Player of the Year – Heinrich Brüssow (Free State Cheetahs)
Test player of the B&I Lions Series – Morné Steyn (Blue Bulls)
Provincial player of the B&I Lions Series – Heinrich Brüssow (Free State Cheetahs)
Team of the Year – The Springboks
Coach of the Year – Peter de Villiers
Super 14 Player of the Year – Morné Steyn (Bulls)
Curie Cup Premier Division Player of the Year – Luke Watson (Western Province)
First Division Player of the Year – Allistair Kettledas (Pumas)
SuperSport Try of the Year – Jaque Fourie, 2nd Test v British & Irish Lions (Loftus Versfeld)
Sevens Player of the Year – Frankie Horne
SA Under-20 Player of the Year – Lionel Cronjé (Free State Cheetahs)
Vodacom Cup Player of the Year – Jonathan Mokuena (Griquas)
Club Champs Player of the Year – Dustin Jinka (Hamilton)
Women’s Rugby Achiever of the Year – Saloma Booysen (Eastern Province)
Refereeing Achievement of the Year – Jonathan Kaplan
Craven Week Player of the Tournament – Andile Jho (Border)