Page 16

2015A YEAR TO CELEBRATECarter joined his All Blacks captain and fellow test centurion Richie McCaw in becoming a three-time recipient of the prestigious accolade, having also been named Player of the Year in 2005 and 2012, and is the third New Zealander in a row to win the award after Kieran Read and Brodie Retallick.It was a fitting finale to Carter’s illustrious career, the 33-year-old putting the disappointment of missing most of the 2011 triumph behind him with a series of impressive displays as RWC 2015 progressed.It was a big night for New Zealand rugby all round, scooping six awards. Indeed, the applause barely stopped from the moment McCaw received a standing ovation as he entered the room carrying the Webb Ellis Cup.In becoming the first team to successfully defend the trophy, New Zealand were crowned Team of the Year for the sixth year in a row, while Carter’s team-mates, Julian Savea and Nehe Milner-Skudder, were also recognised for their achievements.Savea’s second score in the record quarter-final defeat of France was Lomu-esque in its execution, the All Blacks winger using his brute force and blistering pace to barrel through three would-be tacklers, and was voted 16 WORLD RUGBY YEAR IN REVIEW 2015Twenty-four hours after New Zealand’s 34-17 win over Australia in the final of Rugby World Cup 2015, Twickenham man-of-the-match Daniel Carter was centre stage again when he received the World Rugby Player of the Year in association with MasterCard at a star-studded awards ceremony in London on 1 November.as IRPA Try of the Year by guests on the night.Savea finished as the tournament’s top try-scorer with eight, two more than fellow wing Milner-Skudder who only made his All Blacks debut two months before the tournament kicked off. With six tries in eight tests and an impressive debut Super Rugby campaign with the Hurricanes behind him, Milner-Skudder was an obvious choice for the inaugural World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award.Portia Woodman’s reward for becoming only the fifth player in World Sevens Series history, men’s or women’s, to score more than 50 tries in a season – as New Zealand defended their title and qualified for Rio 2016 – was to be named World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year.Kendra Cocksedge, meanwhile, was crowned World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year after playing a leading role in the Black Ferns’ success in the inaugural Women’s Rugby Super Series in Canada.Another new award in 2015 was the Rugby World Cup Best Match Moment, a partnership between World Rugby and Facebook which reached more than 16.5 million people. The clear winner was Japan’s victory over South Africa on the opening weekend which sent shockwaves through the world of rugby.Among the other winners was South Africa’s Werner Kok, who was overcome with emotion after being named World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in association with HSBC. Michael Cheika was named World Rugby Coach of the Year after an impressive first season at the helm of Australia, despite their loss in the RWC 2015 final.Two former captains in Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll and Nathan Sharpe of Australia, who boast a total of 257 caps between them, received the IRPA Special Merit Award. One of the biggest cheers of the night, though, was reserved for Nigel Owens when he received the World Rugby Referee Award only a day after taking charge of the RWC 2015 final.The first two awards of the night were the Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service, presented to former England international turned commentator Nigel Starmer-Smith, and the Award for Character in association with Land Rover. The latter award went to the Pakistan Rugby Union for the way the rugby community came together in a show of solidarity with a match held in Peshawar just two months after terrorist attacks had killed more than 150 people at the Army Public School in the city.ENGAGING THE RUGBY FAMILY | WORLD RUGBY AWARDSRWC Best Match Moment reached more than 16.5 MILLION people