Pieter-Steph du Toit is world player of year for second time

SA’s Pieter-Steph du Toit was named rugby’s world player of the year for the second time on Sunday at a ceremony in Monaco, while England’s Ellie Kildunne took the women’s honours and Antoine Dupont and Maddison Levi claimed the sevens’ titles.

Flanker Du Toit also won in 2019 and becomes the fourth man to take the honour twice after New Zealand trio Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and Beauden Barrett.

He is the third SA winner after Schalk Burger in 2004 and Bryan Habana in 2007. The all-action forward helped the Springboks to a first Rugby Championship title in five years and followed up with a clean sweep of wins over Scotland, England and Wales in the autumn series.

Fullback Kildunne was one of the standout players in an England team that won all 10 matches played in 2024 as they took the Six Nations and  world XV titles. Dupont’s recognition came after his dramatic contribution to France’s Olympic gold on home soil and he becomes the first player to take the 15s and sevens title.

Australia’s Levi, who was also nominated in 2022 and 2023, was an unstoppable force at the Olympics where she scored a record 14 tries having scored 69 on the SVNS 2024 series — the second-highest figure in men’s or women’s series history.

Dupont’s sevens coach Jerome Daret was named coach of the Year, becoming the first sevens coach to take the honour.

Loose forward Wallace Sititi was named men’s breakthrough player of the year after a remarkable debut season for New Zealand, while Ireland flanker Erin King took the women’s award after hitting the ground running after moving to 15s from sevens after the Paris Olympics.

Reuters