2006 IRB Awards - first nominees
Basson, Mai and Tait on the Sevens shortlist
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced the nominees in three of the twelve categories ahead of the ceremony to be held on 26 November at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, Scotland.
Shortlists have been published for IRB Sevens Player of the Year, IRB Under-19 Player of the Year and IRB Under-21 Player of the Year, with the nine players nominated representing six different countries.
For their outstanding contributions in Sevens, Steffan Basson (South Africa), Uale Mai (Samoa) and Mathew Tait (England) are nominated for IRB Sevens Player of the Year.
At U19 level, Anthony Faingaa, Josh Holmes (both Australia) and Victor Vito (New Zealand) are nominated for the award, while at U21 level Lionel Beauxis (France), Keegan Daniel (South Africa) and Digby Ioane (Australia) are the nominees.
The nominations in the three categories are the result of votes cast by the management of all participating teams in the respective age-grade tournaments or in the IRB Sevens series.
Shortlists for nominations in the IRB Player, Coach and Team of the Year categories will be selected by a panel of ten former international players and announced after the current Tri-Nations series.
Other Awards categories include IRB Sevens Team of the Year, IRB Women's Personality of the Year, the Referee Award for Distinguished Service, the Spirit of Rugby Award, the IRB Development Award and the Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service.
