Isaac O'Connor named Sportsman of the Year
The annual senior prizegiving was held at the clubrooms on Friday night to celebrate the individual and team achievements of another successful year for the club.
Premier captain Isaac O'Connor was named the club's Sportsman of the Year and awarded the Paul Donoghue Trophy. The award comes after yet another top year from Isaac (right with Club Captain Richard Haines) who by driving himself hard, drives the whole team to a higher level. He plays with utter commitment and has a fearless quality that the players around him instinctively respect. He is a member of the Wellington Development side and surely knocking on the door of the Lions.
The highest honour awarded to a non-playing member is the W.M. O'Connor Memorial Trophy for the Most Outstanding Club Member. This was awarded to long time club member Chris Ryan. Chris (left) is guy who just gets stuff done! He is a Committee member but actually prefers to be putting out the flags at Evans Bay Park each Saturday and doing running repair at the gym and clubrooms to sitting around a board table. He is the guy that if he sees something needs to be done then he just does it. He is honest and has huge integrity. He is the type of man that all successful rugby clubs are built on and is very worthy of this award
The coveted Mick Horan Memorial Trophy was awarded to Premier prop Vincent Sakaria. He is a player who never missed a training and works tirelessly at training and around the field on game day. His commitment to rugby means he is often seen in the weights room outside of training times. He was recognised as one of MSP’s best players this year and was missed when injury struck. He has a big rugby career ahead and has been recently recognised with his Wellington Lions debut.
In other awards, Under 21 players Michael Findlay and Mike Buckley were recognised for strong seasons which indicate a big futures for each of them. Premier Reserve forward James Zino was awarded the John Gordon Memorial Cup, presented to him by Ann Gordon. Fa'atonu Fili kicked the most points, James Arbury scored the most tries and Under 85 player Brendon Timu was the most consistent tackler. Club Captain Richard Haines and Premier Manager Mike Berry were recognised for their outstanding contributions.
A full list of club award winners and team MVPs can be found here.
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