The Vodacom United Rugby Championship is set for a thrilling conclusion in the next few weeks as the competition reaches the playoff stages, with three South African teams in contention for the inaugural title, while 10 individual award winners are set to be revealed before the grand finale on Saturday, 18 June.
The 10 prizes up for grabs include the Tackle Machine, Gilbert Golden Boot, Top Try Scorer and Players’ Player of the Season, along with places in the end-of-season Dream Team.
A few South African players are set to be in the mix with DHL Stormers wing Leolin Zas topping the try-scorers list (11 tries), while his team-mate Manie Libbok (flyhalf) is the leading point scorer (148 points).
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While some of the awards will be determined by Vodacom URC StatMaster data provided by Oval Insights, others will be voted on by a panel of media representatives from all five territories involved in the competition.
The Vodacom URC Players’ Player of
Season and Loch Lomond Coach of the Season will be voted for by the coach, captain and vice-captain of each team respectively.
The winners will be revealed via online announcements during the Vodacom URC play-offs, with three prizes set to be handed out in the build-up to the quarter-finals, which will play out next weekend.
The Top Try Scorer, Ironman, Dream Team, Next-Gen Star and Vodacom Fans’ Player of the Season will be announced in the week of the semi-final, while the Players’ Player of the Season and Loch Lomond Coach of the Season will round off the individual awards in the build-up to the Grand Final.
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The full list of the awards on offer are as follows:
- Tackle Machine (Tuesday, 31 May)
- Turnover King (Tuesday, 31 May)
- Gilbert Golden Boot (Wednesday, 1 June)
- Top Try Scorer (Monday, 6 June)
- Ironman (Monday, 6 June)
- Dream Team (Tuesday, 7 June)
- Next-Gen Star of the Season (Wednesday, 8 June)
- Vodacom Fans’ Player of the Season (Thursday, 9 June)
- Loch Lomond Coach of the Season (Tuesday, 14 June)
- Players’ Player of the Season (Wednesday, 15 June)