Rugby
Seven SA Stars In URC Elite XV
Seven South African players have been included in the official United Rugby Championship Elite XV.
The Team of the Season was announced on Wednesday and features Bulls trio Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Wilco Louw and Cameron Hanekom, Stormers playmaker Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Sharks centre Andre Esterhuizen, lock RG Snyman, who plays for Leinster, and Marnus van der Merwe, who plies his trade at the Scarlets.
There was double delight for Hanekom as he also claimed the Next-Gen Player of the Season award.
The Elite XV is determined by a media vote and players must have made at least nine appearances to be considered, with the media panel provided a shortlist of 10 players per position by URC StatMaster.
Nine of the 16 clubs are represented in the Elite XV, with the Bulls and Munster leading the way with three representatives each.
Wessels, Van der Merwe and Louw form an all-South African front row, Snyman is joined in the second row by Munster’s Tadhg Beirne, while Jac Morgan from the Ospreys and Rory Darge from the Glasgow Warriors link up with Hanekom in the back row.
Munster’s Craig Casey is Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s halfback partner, Playmaker of the Season Tom Farrell – also from Munster – makes up the midfield with Esterhuizen, while the back three consists of the Scarlets’ Blair Murray, Edinburgh’s Darcy Graham and Leinster’s Jamie Osborne.
Highlighting their consistency, Louw, Hanekom and Beirne boast the added distinction of making the Elite XV for the second season in a row.
Elite XV: Jamie Osborne (Leinster Rugby), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh Rugby), Tom Farrell (Munster Rugby), Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks), Blair Murray (Scarlets), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers), Craig Casey (Munster Rugby), Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls), Marnus van der Merwe (Scarlets), Wilco Louw (Vodacom Bulls), RG Snyman (Leinster Rugby), Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby), Jac Morgan (Ospreys), Rory Darge (Glasgow Warriors), Cameron Hanekom (Vodacom Bulls).
This category is open to players who were 23 or younger at the start of the season and had earned no more than five international caps at the beginning of the 2024/25 season. They must also have played at least nine games in the 2024/25 URC season.
In voting for Hanekom, a member of the media said: “Cameron Hanekom is supremely powerful in a thoroughly focused way, whether ripping the ball off the opposition or carrying it up. He has learned to be more selective at the breakdown and has a massive engine. A thrilling runner in space as well.”
Previous winners of his award include Munster’s Jack Crowley (2023/34), Ulster’s Tom Stewart (2022/23) and Stormers loose forward, Evan Roos (2021/22).