SA Rugby Awards: Winners and losers as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu falls ‘victim’ to Springboks depth while star builds on ‘greatest legacy’
Sacha Feinbeg-Mngomezulu with an inset of Nadine Roos.
Following the SA Rugby Awards ceremony, we pick out our winners and losers from the evening.
Winners
Malcolm Marx
After winning the 2025 World Rugby Men’s Player of the Year Award, ending a 24-year wait for another front-rower to finally be recognised, Malcolm Marx was always going to take home the SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year Award. This gong just caps off what was a memorable year for the world-class hooker who produced when it mattered most for the Springboks en route to winning 11 of the 13 Test matches and defending the Rugby Championship title.
Marx started 11 times for the Springboks in 2025 and finished as South Africa’s top try-scoring forward, taking his tally to 26 with five crossings during the international season, including two against Argentina to clinch the Rugby Championship title.
South Africa has a long lineage of brilliant front-row forwards, particularly in the hooker position, and Marx is cementing a reputation as one of the finest the country has ever produced. It’s the second time that he has won the SA Rugby Men’s Player of the Year, having done so back in 2017 – his first full season of international rugby and a year where he was named the Young Player of the Year too.
Rassie Erasmus
As successful as the Springboks were in 2025, the Coach of the Year was hardly a forgone conclusion with Rassie Erasmus facing stiff competition from Swys de Bruin (Springbok Women), Kevin Foote (Junior Springboks), and Philip Snyman (Springbok Sevens).
De Bruin made the shortlist after guiding the Bok Women to their best finish yet at a Rugby World Cup, Foote led the Junior Boks to the World Rugby Junior World Championship title, whilst Snyman coached the Blitzboks to HSBC SVNS World Championship glory.
But ultimately, it was Erasmus who took home the gong and left event with the Springbok Legacy Award, recognising the “extraordinary contribution made by an individual to promote and enhance the standing of Springbok rugby as a force on the field and a power off it by promoting excellence and inclusion to inspire social cohesion, and provide a legacy for the game such that it will resonate throughout the history of South Africa”.
Not only did Erasmus lead the Boks to another unbeaten end-of-year tour, a Rugby Championship title and 11 wins from 13 matches, but on a personal notched up 50 Tests as head coach of the Boks, becoming only the second person to achieve this milestone after Jake White.
While he was a fantastic flanker during his 36 Test matches in Green and Gold, it’s plainly obvious that Erasmus will be remembered most fondly for his excellence with the Springboks as a coach.
Nadine Roos
Famed SuperSport commentator, Matthew Pearce, repurposed his iconic ‘Back-to-back, Bok-to-Bok’ line when announcing that for a second year in a row, Nadine Roos was the SA Rugby Women’s Player of the Year.
It’s the third time that the 29-year-old has collected the award, having done so in 2022 too and becomes the first Women’s Bok to win the accolade in back-to-back years.
Roos also walked away with the first Springbok Women’s Sevens Player of the Year Award as she continues to build a legacy as one of the greatest women’s players in South African rugby history, having also played a pivotal role in her team’s charge to a best-ever finish at a World Cup.
Ethan Hooker
What a year it was for Ethan Hooker who made his Test debut off the bench against the All Blacks at Eden Park before starting a week later in South Africa’s record victory over New Zealand in Wellington. He earned six further caps in 2025 and scored tries in the victories over Italy and Wales.
That earned him a nomination for the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year Award, ultimately won by All Blacks lock Fabian Holland, but on Thursday evening, it was his name that was called out, beating four incredible nominees.
In fact, a strong argument could be made that any of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Canan Moodie, Haashim Pead, and Zachary Porthen were fully deserving of the award. However, at the same time, one cannot deny that Hooker was a deserving winner.
This is just another indication of how much promising talent is rising through the Springboks ranks.
Haashim Pead
After breaking Antoine Dupont’s Junior World Championship records en route to lifting the title with the Junior Boks, Pead has tongues wagging at the future of the Green and Gold number nine jersey.
Whilst he was unlucky to miss out on the Young Player of the Year Award, he did swoop to claim the Junior Bok of the Year gong and rightly so.
We haven’t seen much of him at club level with the Lions just yet but during his short cameos, he has already proved that he has what it takes to make the step up and has been included in Erasmus’ first Springbok alignment camp of the year. The future is certainly bright for Pead and the Boks.
Losers
Swys de Bruin
Had the Women Boks done the unthinkable and beaten the Black Ferns in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup, the Coach of the Year would have surely gone to De Bruin, but ultimately, he falls short to Erasmus.
Still, De Bruin deserves his flowers and will perhaps be recognised further down the line. A coach who wears his heart on his sleeve, he has done an incredible job with the women’s team that is on an upward trajectory.
With the formalisation of a professional club women’s competition and a classy operator like De Bruin at the wheel, the Springboks Women are in rude health.
Springboks Women
But in the same breath, the women’s team is still unlucky to miss out on the Team of the Year Award to the Springboks. Erasmus and the men’s team enjoyed a stunning year where they dominated the international arena, but having won back-to-back World Cups, the Springboks largely did what was expected of them.
The story for the Bok Women was the polar opposite, as few would have even given them a chance of progress past the pool stages, let alone beating Italy and thrashing Brazil in the manner that they did.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Feinberg-Mngomezulu has quickly become a fan favourite in South Africa and was largely tipped to clinch the Men’s and Young Player of the Year double this year, following in the footsteps of Ashwin Willemse and Marx.
However, the night ended with the rising star holding his SA URC Player of the Year Award, which was already presented to him several months ago.
There is no doubt that the 24-year-old has a glittering career ahead of him, jam-packed with individual accolades but 2025, but he fell victim to the Springboks brilliance and depth.
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Griquas
Heading to the event in Cape Town on Thursday, the Griquas’ hopes of taking home a gong was limited to just two: Gurshwin Wehr and George Whitehead, who were crucial in the Kimberley-based side lifting the Currie Cup title, and both men missed out on the competition’s Player of the Year award.
To say that the Griquas were long shots at the start of the campaign would be grossly underselling it as Pieter Bergh’s defied the odds in stunning fashion to not only reach the final of rugby’s oldest provincial tournament but then win, edging the Lions at Ellis Park.
Sports fanatics love an underdog story and along with De Bruin’s Women Boks, Bergh’s Griquas were South Africa’s Cinderella story in 2025 and they will have to be content with their achievements with no further accolades.
READ MORE: Tony Brown’s simple message to Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu to help him regain his best form
