Herschel Jantjies up for Breakthrough Player of the Year gong
Springbok scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies has been nominated as one of three contenders for the title World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year.
Jantjies has been nominated with England wing Joe Cokanasiga and flyhalf Romain Ntamack of France for the prestigious award. The winner will be named in Tokyo on Sunday at the World Rugby Awards.
In their nomination, World Rugby said of the 23-year-old Western Province player:
“Few people knew anything about the diminutive scrum-half outside of the Stormers camp coming into 2019, but he announced himself to the world in some style, scoring twice on his test debut against Australia in the Rugby Championship in July and then touching down again in the 16-16 draw with New Zealand. The 23-year-old has featured in all but one of South Africa’s tests since, more often than not providing an impact off the bench.”
Jantjies scored his fourth test try in the 41-7 win over Japan at the beginning of September and has made nine test appearances in all. The only Springbok match he has missed this season was the 24-18 win over Argentina in Pretoria when he was injured.
The title was taken in 2018 by another South African – Aphiwe Dyantyi – with the other winners being Nehe Milner-Skudder (NZ) in 2015, England forward Maro Itoje (2016) and All Blacks winger Rieko Ioane (2017).
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “The World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year award recognises the most exciting talent to burst onto the international 15s or sevens stage during the year and highlights the ‘ones to watch’.
“There were several outstanding candidates and the process of selecting the shortlist was tough for the panel. We have three outstanding candidates, who would be worthy recipients of this prestigious award.”