URC Awards: Try of the Season & Ironman Named

May 16, 2023
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Ultimate Rugby

Benetton centre Joaquin Riera and Emirates Lions full-back Quan Horn have added their names to the United Rugby Championship Awards list picking up Try of the Season and the Ironman awards respectively.

Benetton centre Joaquin Riera claims Try of the Season accolade with Emirates Lions full-back Horn picking up the Ironman award which recognises the player who has racked up the most minutes over the 18 rounds of the BKT URC.

The URC Awards announcements continue tomorrow when the Gilbert Golden Boot and Vodacom Fans’ Player of the Season winners are disclosed.

The BKT Coach of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season are then revealed in the build-up to the Grand Final on Saturday May 27.

Here, we take a closer look at the Top Try Scorer and Ironman award winners and the performances that led to their achievements, which were determined using URC StatMaster data provided by Oval Insights.

Try of the Season: Joaquin Riera (i

Riera crossed the whitewash during his side’s thrilling 43-33 Round 17 defeat to the Cell C Sharks at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on April 14.

The 29-year-old, capped 11 times by Argentina, got on the end of a chip from Rhyno Smith, who had collected his own Garryowen, to dart over in the corner.

It was Benetton’s third of five tries in the match, which yielded 11 in total, and received the most votes for the award

There were 10 tries nominated in total, with the others being:

Stravino Jacobs (Vodacom Bulls v Cell C Sharks, Round 7)

Darcy Graham (Edinburgh v Ospreys, Round 17)

Manie Libbok (DHL Stormers v Dragons RFC, Round 9)

Rio Dyer (Dragons RFC v Munster, Round 2)

Ryan Conbeer (Scarlets DHL Stormers, Round 8)

George Horne (Glasgow Warriors v Vodacom Bulls, Round 4)

Suleiman Hartzenberg (DHL Stormers v Vodacom Bulls, Round 10)

Jordan Larmour (Leinster v Connacht, Round 11)

Thaakir Abrahams (Cell C Sharks Leinster, Round 4)

Ironman: Quan Horn (Emirates Lions) - 1,428 minutes

The award for having played the most minutes in the BKT URC this season goes to Emirates Lions full-back Quan Horn.

The 21-year-old racked up 1,428 minutes on the field of play and was one of only 10 players to feature in all 18 of their team’s matches.

Vodacom Bulls lock Ruan Nortje - the 2021/22 Ironman with 1,394 minutes - had to settle for second place this time after playing two more minutes this campaign.

Horn’s Emirates Lions team-mate Marius Louw was third with 1,371 followed by Connacht’s John Porch (1,340) and Cardiff’s John Turnbull (1,321).

URC Awards 2022-23 Winners

Top Try Scorer: Tom Stewart (Ulster)

Tackle Machine: John Hodnett (Munster)

Turnover King: Thomas Young (Cardiff Rugby)

Next-Gen Player of the Season: Tom Stewart (Ulster)

Elite XV: Kurt-Lee Arendse (Vodacom Bulls), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Sione Tuipulotu (Glasgow Warriors), Daniel du Plessis (DHL Stormers), Simone Gesi (Zebre Parma), Ross Byrne (Leinster), Grant Williams (Cell C Sharks), Gavin Coombes (Munster), Scott Penny (Leinster), Vaea Fifita (Scarlets), Federico Ruzza (Benetton), Niall Murray (Connacht), Finlay Bealham (Connacht), Dan Sheehan (Leinster), Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers)

Try of the Season powered by URC.tv: Joaquin Riera (Benetton)

Ironman: Quan Horn (Emirates Lions)