Kriel cleans up at Lions
He was crowned Lions Player of the Year, Players' Player of the Year and the Supporters Player of the Year.
Kriel had an impressive season leading the unbeaten side to Currie Cup victory in 2015.
Warren Whiteley was named Super Rugby Forward of the Year, while Ruan Combrinck received the award for Backline Player of the Year for Super Rugby.
Lock Franco Mostert proved another firm favourite and took honours as the union's Forward of the Year, while Ross Cronjé made the Lions' Backline Player of the Year award his own.
Newcomer Lourens Erasmus galloped his way into the limelight with some strong performances during the Currie Cup season and was aptly awarded the Most Promising Player of the Year.
Among the juniors Bobby de Wee grabbed Player of the Year for the Under-21 team, while strong centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg was named Best Backline Player for the Under-21 team, with Ramone Samuels the Forward of the Year in this age group.
James Venter received top honours as the Under-19 Player of the Year with Hendrick Mulder and Juandré Michau sharing the spoils respectively for Best Back and Best Forward.
Among the female contingency flank Luyanda Koi (21) was named the Forward of the Year and wing Refilwe Ramahlo (20) the Backline Player of the Year. Both only started playing rugby in Soweto last year. Koi is a student at the Johannesburg College just adjacent to Airline Park and Ramahlo works part-time.
The full list of prize winners are:
Women's Forward Of The Year – Luyanda Koi
Women's Backline Player Of The Year – Refilwe Ramahlo
GLRU Referee Of The Year – Lesego Legoete
GLRU Women's Referee Of The Year – Ashleigh Murray
Fittest Referee Of The Year – Zandre Janse Van Rensburg
Highest Exam Marks for a referee- Richard Schwulst & Hermanus Schwulst
GLRU Under-19 Forward Player of the Year – Juandre Michau
GLRU Under-19 Backline Player of the Year – Hendrik Mulder
GLRU Under-19 Player of the Year – James Venter
GLRU Under-21 forward player of the year – Ramone Samuels
GLRU Under-21 Backline Player of the Year – Rohan Janse van Rensburg
GLRU Under-21 Player of the Year – Bobby De Wee
Super Rugby forward player of the year – Warren Whiteley
Super Rugby Backline Player of the Year – Ruan Combrinck
GLRU Forward Player of the Year – Franco Mostert
GLRU Backline Player of the Year – Ross Cronje
GLRU Most Improved player of the Year – Lourens Erasmus
GLRU Players' Player of the Year – Jaco Kriel
GLRU Supporters Player of the Year – Jaco Kriel
GLRU PLAYER of the year – Jaco Kriel
* Meanwhile the Lions unveiled their new jersey for 2016.