King Named Breakthrough Player Of The Year As Six Irish Players Named In Dream Teams

Erin King was named Women’s Breakthrough Player of the Year at the World Rugby Awards in Monaco tonight. Six Irish players made the Dream Teams in 7s and 15s.

King, who has been a stalwart of the Ireland Women’s 7s side and was part of Team Ireland at the Olympics in Paris, made her 15s debut in the IRFU 150 Celebration match against Australia in September, beating three defenders in ten carries when she came on as a replacement.

Her next game was as a replacement in the WXV1 victory over the Black Ferns which she marked with her first and second tries at this level. The latter levelling the score before Dannah O’Brien kicked the conversion for a famous win.

Another player to make a huge impact at WXV1 was King’s team mate and fellow backrower Aoife Wafer who has been named in the Women’s Dream Team, to add to Guinness Rugby Writers Women’s Player of the Year award she picked up last week.

Wafer started in all nine test matches in 2024, scoring six tries and picking up three Player of the Match awards along the way.

Her explosive ball carries, whether off the back of a scrum or in the loose, have been a real highlight of Ireland’s play, while she was the joint-top breakdown stealer, and one of the leading tacklers and offloaders, at the recent WX1 tournament.

Caelan Doris, who missed out on the Men’s Player of the Year gong to South Africa’s Pieter Steph du Toit, is one of four Irish players named in the Men’s Dream Team. He is joined in the pack by Tadhg Beirne while Jamison Gibson Park and James Lowe were also picked in the illustrious team.

Men’s Sevens star Terry Kennedy was again selected in the Dream Team, the former Player of the Year winner and Top Try Scorer had another incredible year that included coming back from a sabbatical to help steer Ireland to second place on the HSBC SVNS World Series and play at his second Olympic Games.

WORLD RUGBY AWARDS 2024 – WINNERS

Selected by the World Rugby Awards panels (except for International Rugby Players Try of the Year categories voted by fans online)

World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year: Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa)

Springboks forward Pieter-Steph du Toit becomes only the fourth male player to win the award more than once. Du Toit was an integral part of the South Africa side that won a first Rugby Championship title in five years and followed that up with a perfect Autumn Nations Series tour, beating Scotland, England and Wales. Only three players made more carries than him during The Rugby Championship and Du Toit has come up with some vital tries as well, crossing the whitewash for the fourth time in 2024 during the 29-20 defeat of England at Allianz Stadium.

Nominees: Caelan Doris (Ireland), Eben Etzebeth (South Africa), Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa)

World Rugby Women’s 15s Player of the Year: Ellie Kildunne (England)

Ellie Kildunne was the standout performer as England once again swept aside their rivals in 2024. The full-back scored a remarkable nine tries as the Red Roses claimed another Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam and then – having represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 – dusted off her trademark cowboy celebration a further four times as England defended their WXV 1 title in Canada. In total, Kildunne scored 14 tries in only 10 test appearances during a year to remember.

Nominees: Pauline Bourdon Sansus (France), Alex Matthews (England), Alex Tessier (Canada)

World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year in partnership with HSBC: Antoine Dupont (France)

Only the second player, male or female, to win both the sevens and 15s Player of the Year awards, it is hard to quantify the impact Antoine Dupont had on France’s fortunes. Prior to Dupont’s arrival, Les Bleus Sevens were a good team, but they had not won a series title in 19 years. He helped end that long wait in his second tournament, in Los Angeles in March, and would go on to propel the side to HSBC SVNS Championship success and an Olympic gold medal. In front of packed Stade de France crowds at Paris 2024, Dupont was at his inspirational best, scoring four tries, including the match-confirming score in the quarter-final against Argentina and a brace to help beat back-to-back defending champions Fiji in the gold medal match.

Nominees: Aaron Grandidier Nkanang (France), Terry Kennedy (Ireland)

World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year in partnership with HSBC: Maddison Levi (Australia)

It was another awe-inspiring year for Australia star Maddison Levi, who claims the award for the first time having been nominated in 2022 and 2023. Levi scored 69 tries across the HSBC SVNS 2024 to help drive her side to the Championship title in Madrid. Only five women have scored more tries in series history than the Australian, which is some feat given she only made her debut in November 2021. Levi followed up her SVNS heroics by crossing the whitewash 14 times in six matches at Paris 2024. But despite racking up two hat-tricks and one four-try haul, she could not help her country to a medal, losing the bronze medal match to USA.

Nominees: Michaela Blyde (New Zealand), Jorja Miller (New Zealand)

World Rugby Men’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year: Wallace Sititi (New Zealand)

Son of former Samoa captain Semo Sititi, Wallace Sititi has been on an incredible journey this year. Heading into 2024, Sititi was yet to make his Super Rugby Pacific debut for the Chiefs, but he has gone on to become an almost automatic pick in the All Blacks back row. The 22-year-old came of age during a narrow defeat to South Africa in Cape Town in which he went toe-to-toe with a strong Springbok pack, and he has been a near ever-present since that day. Sititi started all five of New Zealand’s matches on their end-of-year tour of Japan and Europe.

Nominees: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (South Africa), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (England), Jamie Osborne (Ireland)

World Rugby Women’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year: Erin King (Ireland)

Ireland flanker Erin King has enjoyed an incredible rise since transitioning from sevens following the Olympic Games Paris 2024. King made her test debut in only her fourth senior 15s match and then provided a match-winning cameo against the six-time world champion Black Ferns in the opening round of WXV 1 in Vancouver. That two-try performance as a replacement earned her a first start against Canada and she retained the number six jersey for Ireland’s final WXV 1 assignment against USA. King scored the first of her side’s four tries as they secured a 26-14 victory and second place in the standings.

Nominees: Maddie Feaunati (England), Caitlyn Halse (Australia), Hannah King (New Zealand)

World Rugby Men’s 15s Dream Team of the Year:

Four nations are represented in the Dream Team with world champions South Africa boasting seven players, Ireland four, New Zealand three and Argentina one.

1. Ox Nche (South Africa) 2. Malcolm Marx (South Africa) 3. Tyrel Lomax (New Zealand) 4. Eben Etzebeth (South Africa) 5. Tadhg Beirne (Ireland) 6. Pablo Matera (Argentina) 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit (South Africa) 8. Caelan Doris (Ireland) 9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland) 10. Damian McKenzie (New Zealand) 11. James Lowe (Ireland) 12. Damian de Allende (South Africa) 13. Jesse Kriel (South Africa) 14. Cheslin Kolbe (South Africa) 15. Will Jordan (New Zealand).

World Rugby Women’s 15s Dream Team of the Year:

Six nations are represented in the Dream Team with unbeaten England accounting for six players, Canada and New Zealand three apiece and one each for USA, Ireland and France.

1. Hope Rogers (USA), 2. Georgia Ponsonby (New Zealand) 3. Maud Muir (England) 4. Zoe Aldcroft (England) 5. Laetitia Royer (Canada) 6. Aoife Wafer (Ireland) 7. Sophie de Goede (Canada) 8. Alex Matthews (England) 9. Pauline Bourdon Sansus (France) 10. Holly Aitchison (England) 11. Katelyn Vahaakolo (New Zealand) 12. Alex Tessier (Canada) 13. Sylvia Brunt (New Zealand) 14. Abby Dow (England) 15. Ellie Kildunne (England).

World Rugby Men’s Sevens Dream Team of the Year in partnership with HSBC:

Selvyn Davids (South Africa), Antoine Dupont (France), Aaron Grandidier Nkanang (France), Terry Kennedy (Ireland), Nathan Lawson (Australia), Ponipate Loganimasi (Fiji), Matías Osadczuk (Argentina).

World Rugby Women’s Sevens Dream Team of the Year in partnership with HSBC:

Olivia Apps (Canada), Michaela Blyde (New Zealand), Kristi Kirshe (USA), Maddison Levi (Australia), Ilona Maher (USA), Jorja Miller (New Zealand), Séraphine Okemba (France).

International Rugby Players Men’s Try of the Year: Nolann Le Garrec (France, v England, Men’s Six Nations, 17 March)

A brilliant team try from the Men’s Six Nations takes the award. Nolann Le Garrec finished off a flowing counterattack for France against England in March after a stolen lineout had set the platform for Gaël Fickou and Léo Barré to show their class. A sumptuous dummy and offload from the latter putting the score on a plate for scrum-half Le Garrec.

Nominees: James Lowe (Ireland, v England, Men’s Six Nations, 10 March), Lorenzo Pani (Italy, v Wales, Men’s Six Nations, 17 March), Akaki Tabutsadze (Georgia, v Australia, July

International Rugby Players Women’s Try of the Year: Marine Ménager (France, v Canada, WXV 1, 29 September)

It is a French Try of the Year double as Lina Queyroi and Marine Ménager’s quick thinking struck a chord with voters. Having launched an impressive 50:22 in Les Bleues’ WXV 1 encounter with Canada in Vancouver, Queyroi caught the home defence napping and delivered a swift lineout throw to the onrushing Ménager, who cantered over the try-line. Magnifique.

International Rugby Players Special Merit Award: Vickii Cornborough (England)

Former England prop Vickii Cornborough officially announced her international retirement in April having played 75 times for the Red Roses. During a glittering playing career, Cornborough won six Women’s Six Nations titles, five Grand Slams and started two Women’s Rugby World Cup finals, both of which ended in heart-breaking defeats to the Black Ferns. Away from the pitch, she served as the vice-chair of the Rugby Players’ Association in England and played a pivotal role in the creation of the Rugby Football Union’s maternity policy.

World Rugby Coach of the Year: Jérôme Daret (France)

The man who masterminded France’s sevens renaissance, Jérôme Daret, is recognised as Coach of the Year – the first-ever sevens recipient. Daret has overseen the team’s transformation into HSBC SVNS contenders, leading his side to only their second-ever series title, in Los Angeles in March, and following that up with a stunning HSBC SVNS Championship success in Madrid. Daret’s crowning moment came at Paris 2024 in July when he guided Les Bleus Sevens past Argentina, South Africa and Fiji and onto the top step of the Olympic podium in front of a sold-out Stade de France.