Cheetahs duo pick up Pro14 awards
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Aside from Edinburgh dominating the Pro14 awards, two Cheetahs players were also among the winners.
Edinburgh Rugby ruled the night with a hat-trick of winners capped at the PRO14 awards held in Dublin at the Guinness Storehouse.
The Scottish team’s Fijian back-row Bill Mata was honoured by his opponents in the PRO14 as he was named the Players’ Player of the Season. Edinburgh also saw flyhalf Jaco van der Walt claim the Golden Boot with a goal-kicking accuracy of 86.84 percent while the club’s retiring Scotland hooker Ross Ford was recognised for incredible longevity in the Championship as he received the Chairman’s Award.
Benetton Rugby’s historic success was recognised with Kieran Crowley receiving the PRO14 Coach of the Season Award, which was voted on by his fellow coaches.
The other big award of the evening was won by Glasgow Warriors’ Adam Hastings who was voted as the Next-Gen Star of the Season following in the footsteps as Jordan Larmour, Joey Carbery, Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray.
Two South African players were also honoured on the night with Cheetahs pair of Rabz Maxwane and Tian Schoeman picking up some valuable silverware. Maxwane’s 14 tries saw him win the Top-Try Scorer Award while Tian Schoeman’s incredible accumulation of 1564 minutes meant he was the Iron Man winner for the 2018/19 season.
In a sport like rugby it takes a strong professional to compete week in and week out.@tianschoeman10 of the @CheetahsRugby clocked up 1418 minutes this #GuinnessPRO14 season and wins the @DaciaIreland Ironman Award pic.twitter.com/YJdE6so3yH
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) May 5, 2019
There were two Welsh winners to round off the marquee event in Dublin attended by star names from right across the tournament.
Firstly, Ospreys’ James King became the Ronseal Tackle Machine for 2018/19 as he finished the season with a tackle completion percentage of 96.6 percent missing only eight tackles all season and making 224 in total.
Olly Robinson, who was the previous Tackle Machine winner, claimed a newly introduced award – the Turnover King Award. Robinson finished the season with 26 turnovers to his name and as he underlined his value to the Cardiff Blues yet again.
List of winners:
·Player’s Player of the Year: Bill Mata (Edinburgh Rugby)
·Coach of the Season: Kieran Crowley (Benetton Rugby)
·PRO14 Chairman’s Award: Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby)
·Next-Gen Star of the Season: Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors)
·Golden Boot: Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh Rugby)
·Top Try-scorer: Rabz Maxwane (Cheetahs)
·Tackle Machine: James King (Ospreys Rugby)
·Turnover King: Olly Robinson (Cardiff Blues)
·Iron Man: Tian Schoeman (Cheetahs)
With 14 tries in this seasons #GuinnessPRO14
Rabz Maxwane of the @CheetahsRugby
Wins the @SportPesa_IE Top Try Scorer Award 🏉 pic.twitter.com/QihqxcAhLP
— PRO14 RUGBY (@PRO14Official) May 5, 2019
