World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year

World Rugby
Men's 15s Player of the Year
Date2001; 23 years ago (2001)
Presented byWorld Rugby
Formerly calledIRB Player of the Year (2001–2013)
World Rugby Player of the Year (2014–2019)
First awarded2001
Current holderNew Zealand Ardie Savea (2023)
Most awardsNew Zealand Dan Carter
New Zealand Richie McCaw
(3 awards each)
Websitehttps://www.world.rugby/tournaments/awards/past-winners/
← 2023 · World Rugby
Men's 15s Player of the Year		 · 2024 →

The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an award presented annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards.[1] It is given to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field".[1] First presented in 2001,[2] it was initially named the IRB International Player of the Year; from 2007 until 2014 it was the IRB Player of the Year and in 2014 it was titled World Rugby Player of the Year, before being given its current name in 2016.[2]

The winner receives a trophy at an annual awards ceremony.[3] The voting panel select a list of nominees who can then be voted for by players, coaches, media representatives and the public via Twitter. Informed by the vote, the panel then select the winner.[4] as of 2021 the voting panel comprises John Smit, George Gregan, Melodie Robinson, Maggie Alphonsi, Clive Woodward, Brian O'Driscoll, Richie McCaw, Thierry Dusautoir and Fiona Coghlan.[5]

The first winner of the award was Ireland hooker Keith Wood. The winner for 2022 was Ireland's Josh van der Flier. New Zealand players have received the most awards, winning ten times. Two players have won three times – flanker Richie McCaw (2006, 2009 and 2010) and fly-half Dan Carter (2005, 2012 and 2015). Nominations for the award are dominated by players from Tier 1 nations; only United States' Joe Taufete'e has ever been nominated from a Tier 2 side. Fly-halves have won the award most often, with seven wins, followed by flankers with five.

  1. ^ a b "World Rugby Awards". World Rugby. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Past winners". World Rugby. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. ^ "World Rugby Awards 2016". Getty Images. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  4. ^ "World Rugby Awards Voting Criteria 2017" (PDF). World Rugby. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  5. ^ "Voting panel". World Rugby. Retrieved 23 October 2023.