Nine male and six female players, representing six different nations, have been nominated for the World Rugby Men’s and Women’s Sevens Player of Decade award, in association with HSBC.
HSBC have been the principal partner of the World Rugby Sevens Series for the last 10 years, during which time many great players have graced the competition.
Compiled from former World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year winners, the Player of the Decade lists are made up of players from the southern hemisphere with the exception of the USA’s Perry Baker.
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Baker is the only men’s player to have been awarded the Player of the Year accolade twice, in 2017 and 2018, while New Zealand’s Michaela Blyde is also a two-time recipient in the same years.
One thing all the contenders have in common, though, is the impact they have made on the sport through their talent and tenacity.
Triple bid
At the beginning of the decade, Mikaele Pesamino was the talisman for the Samoan men’s team, scoring 56 tries as they claimed their first and only series title in 2010.
Meanwhile, South African playmaker Cecil Afrika (2011) and speedster Seabelo Senatla (2016) are joined by a third Blitzbok in Werner Kok (2015), a very different type of player but equally invaluable to his team’s cause with his physicality around the park.
Tomasi Cama and Tim Mikkelson won the Player of the Year awards in 2012 and 2013 – in the middle of a run of four straight series titles for the All Black Sevens.
Cama sits second behind England’s Ben Gollings on the series’ all-time list for top point-scorers with 2,026 points, while the ultra-consistent Mikkelson has barely missed a game since first donning the black jersey 13 years ago.
In addition to prolific try-scorer Baker, Fiji’s Rio 2016 Olympic Games gold medal-winning duo, Samisoni Viriviri (2014) and Jerry Tuwai (2019) are also included in the stellar men’s line-up.
Super Six
Some wonderful players have lit up the eight seasons of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, from the first Player of the Year award winner, Kayla McAlister, to the most recent recipient, and her fellow New Zealander Ruby Tui.
The sister of former All Blacks playmaker Luke, McAlister was named Player of the Year in 2013, only a year after she converted to rugby from netball.
Emilee Cherry (2014) is joined on the list of contenders for the Player of the Decade by fellow Olympic Games gold medal winner, Charlotte Caslick, whose craft in a variety of different roles was the catalyst for Australia’s success in Rio in 2016.
Cherry and Caslick were also key players in Australia’s two series title wins in 2016 and 2018, breaking New Zealand’s hold on the series crowns.
After McAlister, Portia Woodman was the second Black Ferns Sevens star to be named the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year award in 2015, at the age of 24.
Sean Horan, her coach at the time, hailed her as “one of the most gifted and powerful players around”.
Back-to-back
Michaela Blyde won back-to-back Player of the Year titles in 2017 and 2018, beating fellow nominee Woodman in claiming her second award.
It capped a remarkable period for Blyde, who had won a historic gold at the Commonwealth Games and Rugby World Cup Sevens earlier in 2018.
Ruby Tui ensured the Player of the Year award stayed in New Zealand hands for a third consecutive year in 2019.
A valued leader on and off the pitch, Tui scored 15 tries in New Zealand’s title-winning season and was named in the HSBC Dream Team.
Rugby fans have up until Sunday, 25 October (17:00 GMT) to vote for their favourite player and can do so by clicking here.
Fans can also vote for the Men’s and Women’s 15s Players of the Decade in association with Tudor and the International Rugby Players Men’s and Women’s 15s Try of the Decade.
The Men's and Women’s 15s Teams of the Decade will be selected by the World Rugby Awards panel, a stellar team of rugby legends that historically choose the World Rugby Awards winners.
All the winners will be announced during a World Rugby Awards Special Edition on 7 December.
Read more: Vote for the World Rugby 15s Players of the Decade >>
