Dusautoir takes top honours
24 Oct 2011
France captain Thierry Dusautoir has edged out some stiff competition to win the IRB Player of the Year Award.
Many thought that the winner of this prestigious accolade would come from the world champions. The All Blacks won the World Cup final on Sunday and while both Jerome Kaino and Ma’a Nonu were nominated in the top player category, Kaino was believed to be the strongest candidate for the award.
At the annual prizegiving on Monday, however, Dusautoir was honoured for his efforts in 2011. The powerful French flanker enjoyed two particularly good games in the semi-final and final. He was named Man of the Match in the decider even though the All Blacks won 8-7.
The All Blacks walked away with the Team of the Year accolade, while Graham Henry scooped the Coach of the Year gong.
The only South African to win an award was sevens star Cecil Afrika.
The founders of the Rugby World Cup and all previous winning captains and coaches were inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame. In addition Gareth Rees (Canada), Jonah Lomu (New Zealand), Agustin Pichot (Argentina) and Brian Lima (Samoa) were also inducted in the Hall of Fame.
The 2011 winners:
Player of the Year – Thierry Dusautoir (France)
Team of the Year – New Zealand
Coach of the Year – Graham Henry (New Zealand)
Junior Player of the Year – George Ford (England)
IRB Sevens Player of the Year – Cecil Afrika (South Africa)
IRPA Try of the Year – Radike Samo (Australia), Wallabies vs All Blacks, Brisbane
The Spirit of Rugby Award – Wooden Spoon Society for their work with disadvantaged youth
IRB Women’s Personality of the Year – Ruth Mitchell
IRPA Special Merit Award – (chosen by fellow players for outstanding contribution) George Smith
IRB Referee Award for Distinguished Service – Keith Lawrence
Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service – Jock Hobbs
IRB Development Award – USA Rugby for their Rookie Rugby Programme
98 Comments
Pages: [1] 2 » Show All
24 Oct 2011, 12:05 pm
Congrats Thierry! Thoroughly deserved and should have had a WC winners medal too!
24 Oct 2011, 12:07 pm
IRB Referee Award for Distinguished Service – Keith Lawrence
HA HA H AH AH A
Coach of the Year – Graham Henry (New Zealand)
hah ha h ah aha
24 Oct 2011, 12:11 pm
Whatta monster this guy is.
24 Oct 2011, 12:12 pm
The Spirit of Rugby Award – Wooden Spoon Society for their work with disadvantaged youth
Who is this? I thought they were called Springboks?? OUch!
24 Oct 2011, 12:13 pm
Dousatair deserves it after yesterday…
What a guy. What a game the French had yesterday.
24 Oct 2011, 12:14 pm
Samo’s try deserves it!
Although, there were some real pearls during the RWC, especially from some of the minnows
24 Oct 2011, 12:17 pm
While Dusuatoir was outstanding yesterday, IRb world player of the year is about ENTIRE season.
Should have gone to Jerome Kaino. His body of work of the last 8-12 months has been outstanding especially consistency.
This award is fast losing its appeal due to questionable judging.
Keith Lawrence getting an award as well….Pass it on to your son,Bryce did you and NZ proud mate.
24 Oct 2011, 12:18 pm
@Oxy moron(cjgrove)-2: Who would have been a better choice for coach?
Deans for wining tri nations but losing to Ireland, Samoa, and RWC semi? Johnson for 6 nations but losing in the QF? Did anyone else achieve anything else this year? A pity Japan and Tonga didn’t get further because maybe Kirwan or Maka would have been candidates
24 Oct 2011, 12:26 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-7:
Even though it is very the whole season, they have given different weights to different tournaments. The world cup performance was given a much bigger weighting….. in that sense, I agree with their choice. Nonu would have been my second choice
24 Oct 2011, 12:33 pm
@Helen(Helen)-9:
I understanding the “weighting” of the games/tournaments etc but still end the same in by books. Kaino was massive in the world cup,best blindside in the tournament and played even better with Read injured and McCaw not at 100%-still excelled. He has been class all season long. Not one single bad game. Dusautor was largely invisible much of the season & was diabolical vs AB’s in group stage game. To be fair he had ONE outstanding game in final….then wins.Mediocre criteria. By that criteria then Victor Matfield should have been IRb player of the Yr in 2007 ahead of Habana…(Juan Smith should have won that year)
24 Oct 2011, 12:33 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-7:
Agree, Dusautoir was piss poor the whole season except the vs England and New Zealand. Even against a 14 Welshmen he did bollocks.
Jerome Kaino deserves the IRB players medal.. Hell even Pocock been massive the past year
24 Oct 2011, 12:34 pm
Well Done Dusautoir! Kaino also deserves a mention.
Keith Lawrence?? What has he done?? Please enlighten us.
24 Oct 2011, 12:35 pm
ok – i would have given coach to Warren Gatland
24 Oct 2011, 12:38 pm
Simple – He got it because he is black!
24 Oct 2011, 12:39 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-10: Agreed Kaino was very consistent throughout the whole year. Dusautoir did have a bad game or 2 in the World Cup but the way he played in the Final….was outstanding.
24 Oct 2011, 12:40 pm
@grant10_is_a_maaifoedie(suffer_guy)-14:
*** off
That **** needs to knocked on the head Grant.
24 Oct 2011, 12:42 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-7:
fully agree with you, i recon all the nominees were poor choices but outta the lot i would have gone with nonu or genia….
dusautoir was good in the last 3 games no doubt but no ways is he a player of the yr
team of the yr gotta be the all blacks and likewise with coach , warren gatland must get a mention too, and btw who were the nominees fro young player of the yr??
24 Oct 2011, 12:45 pm
@gonzo(gonzo)-8:
the dam canadian coach deserves a mention with the way his boys played in the wc, most attractive style of rugga by far and defended like beasts, by far IMO the best team to watch at the tournament
24 Oct 2011, 12:46 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-16:
Don’t feed the troll.
24 Oct 2011, 12:47 pm
@seabiscuit(seabiscuit)-17: Yes Nonu also deserves a mention.
24 Oct 2011, 12:50 pm
Keith Lawrence, well F uck me dead. The IRB has not a stitch of credibility. POB, Bryce Lawrence and his old man Keith (Lets get the Yarpies). No wonder the officiating was what it was…hondkak!
These manupulative, cunning cheats have got what they wanted, but the at what price? The noble game of Rugby Union has been badly tainted by dubious officiating at the World Cup.
Congratulations AB’s not your fault, but hmmm yes.
24 Oct 2011, 12:54 pm
@Sasuke(Sasuke)-12:
Because he “got those Jappies”.
24 Oct 2011, 12:55 pm
@Connag(1112Connag)-21:
Every thread is full of the same things, seem to cant get away from this.
Are any of the good South Africans out there are embarrased by the dribble and the blaming thats been happening lately?
24 Oct 2011, 12:56 pm
@seabiscuit(seabiscuit)-17:
Genia Fell off at world cup. Not one really good performance.
Nonu very good entire season but KAINO still pips him.
When you see a player play at such a high level,quality performances and have a near perfect error rate…It ends up lookin normal…When it NOT.
Kaino.
24 Oct 2011, 12:58 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-23: When you guys admit that we got a raw deal and that Bryce Lawrence cheated, them and only then will I acknowledge the AB’s as worthy champions.
24 Oct 2011, 12:59 pm
Personal choice would be Kaino, he had a very solid year.
24 Oct 2011, 13:01 pm
@Connag(1112Connag)-25:
Dummy, i have said all along that Bryce bulleds it up but heres the kicker. You guys should have won with that much territory and possesion.
I honestly thought Morne was there to get these drop kicks?
My impression is that he is the best kicker in the world.
Now with all those things in your favour, you cant just blame a ref. Its impossible.
24 Oct 2011, 13:04 pm
Dusatori towered above kaino in the game that counted and achieved a level of performance unmatched by any other player- not least of all was his captaincy mountainous, when it counted I cannot say enough.
Keith Lawrence’s attrocious ant-bok reffing symbolizes the corruption, led by his boss Paddy O’Brien, that is at the heart of the game: to call this man a ‘good ref’ after the Australia travesty is Orwellian double-speak of the worst type.
24 Oct 2011, 13:05 pm
IRB Referee Award for Distinguished Service – Keith Lawrence
Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service – Jock Hobbs
Hahahaha
24 Oct 2011, 13:06 pm
Surprised Richie did not win it again, he played better than 2009.
24 Oct 2011, 13:10 pm
IRB Referee Award for Distinguished Service – Keith Lawrence
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=4302
I guess his son made up for it.
24 Oct 2011, 13:10 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-23:
Not embarrassed so much just stating the truth really. And this is the medium to do it. Same as for Kiwis with Wayne Barnes in 07′. Sh*t thing is that standard of reffing at nz rwc 2011 was below par. Even worse than previous controversial wc.
The knockout rounds left much to be desired.
Non-Spectacle really. From what we have heard leading up to rwc 2011 final about attack dynamism etc that would be brought to wc by likes on nz/oz to improve from the past winners largely skop/jag-conservative strategies etc…We get dished up a 8-7 lowest scoring final in history. And have NZ employ kick chase almost entire 2nd half in final.
Tisk tisk.
24 Oct 2011, 13:14 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-23: NZ have been so accustomed to having the ref on their side, they view it as normal.
24 Oct 2011, 13:14 pm
Keith Lawrence getting his just reward for being instrumental in the messing up of the Boks and Aussies.
24 Oct 2011, 13:15 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-32:
Whats wrong.
We heard we wont win the RWC with our style of rugby.
Defence wins the RWC.
SA kicked in all of 2007 tsk tsk but they won.
Play to win i say, dont you agree?
BY the way, twice as many tries in the RWC final than the last one and was closer. What more do you want?
24 Oct 2011, 13:17 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-32: Ja it was funny to see NZ playing for territory and kicking that much.
24 Oct 2011, 13:17 pm
@Schalk is Pote Fouries daughter(richardmarais)-33:
So NZ should not be the #1 team or the world champs?
Do you also think we have won all these games cos we are not a better team?
24 Oct 2011, 13:24 pm
Kaino should’ve won the IRB player award, he was without doubt the best blindside flanker all year consistently! Dusautoir was colossal in the final but if you take the whole year plus the rwc, kaino should’ve taken it easily! Well at least he has a gold medal to show for it!
24 Oct 2011, 13:48 pm
@Sasuke(Sasuke)-12: He sent emails between him and Paddy O B saying they should:
“Get The Jarpies!”
24 Oct 2011, 13:50 pm
@Connag(1112Connag)-21: My sentiment exactly, it seems fitting that Keith Lawrence won it this year. Corrupt piece of ****
24 Oct 2011, 13:52 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-23: you should be embarrassed that a ref could be that biased , be caught doing it and still receive an award.
Average Kiwi is an inbred scotsman, they make the Aussies seem like model citizens.
24 Oct 2011, 14:05 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-37: I am not denying that NZ are very good at rugby. Of course they are, there are some brilliant playes and professional structures and a huge desire to win. A culture of rugby which I respect.
But refs favour NZ, kind of how Brazil get favoured in football, but to a greater extent. I know a lot of kiwis after living in Auckland for 2.5 years, and to be honest in my opinion your average kiwi is very closed minded. They don’t want to know about anything outside their world.
It is good to be patriotic, but don’t close your eyes. A trivial example is, your average South African fan will probably be able to name all the NZ playes in all 5 franchises on any given S15 weekend, I am am sure your average kiwi fan could too, but not know many of the SA players.
My point is, I believe you guys have been so used to having been favoured, that you just view it as normal. We always say, to beat the ABs, you need to be at least 10 points better than them.
24 Oct 2011, 14:09 pm
Funny how many neautrals also think the refs were biased. I work with Scots, Chineese and English guys who did not care who won out of AUS v SA. And Fra NZ, and are saying the exact same things about the refs.
24 Oct 2011, 14:37 pm
Are Keith Lawrence and Bryce Lawrence the same chap?
24 Oct 2011, 15:36 pm
Keith is Bryce’s dad
24 Oct 2011, 17:08 pm
Schalk is Pote Fouries daughter – The ABs were very lucky ti win yesterday, i am glad for the nation, but the team was very lucky indeed. In hindsight the French were better on the day and probably deserved to win their first RWC. New Zealand seem to have this idea that they deserve to be world champs!! One thing is certian they will not defend their title next time, neutral gournd , neutral refs, never!!
24 Oct 2011, 17:14 pm
@Schalk is Pote Fouries daughter(richardmarais)-42: Out of interest, in your opinion has a ref ever favoured your team, or are they always against the Boks?
24 Oct 2011, 17:19 pm
@race of tan(race of tan)-46: Obviously four years is a long way off and a lot will change in the set up. The northern hemisphere has been a happy hunting ground for the AB’s since professionalism hit the sport, RWC implosions aside. Grand slams have been scored by which team? The NZ’ers. Have to agree, NZ were damn lucky yesterday. NZ must just be a very lucky rugby nation. Except they never deserve to win do they, it’s only because the ref helps out. Right?
24 Oct 2011, 18:08 pm
@Cane 73(Cane 73)-47: Hi Cane,
Yes. What I find tends to happen is generally the refs favour the home team (in all sports). Be it the collective influence of the crowd I guess. I thought SA were lucky to win against Wales in this RWC. But generally NZ are favoured imo.
Bob Dwyer did some analysis last year, I can’t remember the exact figures, but it was something like this. In the last 5 years Trinations for every 6 penalties SA got a yellow card, Aus for every 8, and NZ for every 46 penalties.
If you can get footage of the 2003 Trinations, and look at Stu Dickinsons performance, interesting too.
In the Superrugby, the bans/punisments dished out are never comparable either. That can never be blamed on emotion/spur of the moment because there is time for anaysis.
I generrally find when SA has an English speaking coach, e.g. Jake White, the refs are more partial. I have noticed that countries that English are not their first languages always get worse treatement. France, Argies, SA, Italy.
For instance, do you think the ref favoured NZ in the NZ v Arg game this RWC?
24 Oct 2011, 18:18 pm
TThis is pretty normal but I don’t think most kiwis notice
http://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DvFshWX2ypgE%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player&h=QAQHKb2Xq&refid=20
Pages: [1] 2 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.