World Rugby Sevens Series awards announced for 2016/17 season
HSBC World Sevens Series 2016/17 Dream team of the Year
©World Rugby
As the 2016/17 season of HSBC World Series came to a conclusion, we take a look at the award winners that was announced at Twickenham.
South Africa Sevens team dominated the season winning five out of the 10 rounds while England, who managed victories in Cape Town Sevens and Vancouver Sevens finished second following by Gold Medal winners from Rio Olympics Fiji.
Argentina’s Matías Osadczuk was named the Rookie Player of the Year after he amassed 26 tries from 36 games before an injury ended his season with Hong Kong Sevens.
Argentina sevens coach Santiago Gomez Cora, who received the award on behalf of Osadczuk was pleased with the perfomance of the youngster.
“I am very proud of Matias and the team as well. He got injured in Hong Kong but it’s pleasing for us to develop young players like Matias as it is good for our union and for our rugby.”
Wales captain Sam Cross was named DHL Impact Player of the Year following his season that included 101 tackles, 29 breaks, 63 offloads and 166 carries for a total of 359 points.
TAG Heuer Don't Crack Under Pressure Award went to England skipper Tom Mitchell for his calm performance in the game against Scotland while USA's Perry Baker remained the top try scorer of the year for scoring 52 touchdowns.
The panel also announced HSBC Dream Team of the Year which contains two players from champions South Africa - Chris Dry and Rosko Specman, with Fiji, USA and England the other nations represented. Dry is joined in the forwards by Fiji’s Kalione Nasoko, a nominee for Rookie of the Year, and Danny Barrett of the USA. Fijian maestro Jerry Tuwai joins Specman, 2016-17 series top try scorer Perry Baker and Dan Norton, who became the all-time leading try-scorer in series history in Hong Kong.
