New Zealand win big at World Rugby awards

Portia Woodman won the World Player of the Year Award, the Black Ferns were the Team of the Year while Michaela Blyde was the 7s player of the year, ensuring New Zealand were well represented all night on the stage.

Blyde was the top try scorer at last year's World Sevens Series and was in outstanding form throughout. She beat off competition from team-mate Ruby Tui and Canadian Ghislaine Landry to the award.

Woodman scooped the Player of the Year award having played every minute of the Black Ferns’ successful World Cup campaign, scoring 13 tries – including eight against Hong Kong in the pool stages and four in their semi-final win over USA – to finish as top try and point-scorer. The former netballer, who only returned to 15s in May, played all eight of New Zealand’s tests in 2017, scoring 16 tries in total to take her career record to a remarkable 22 in just 16 tests.

Joy Neville won the World Rugby Referee of the Year award after an outstanding season which has seen the former Irish number 8 referee the Women's World Cup Final and is set to make history becoming the first woman to referee a European professional club fixture when she took charge of the Challenge Cup fixture between Bordeaux-Bègles and Enisei-STM. Neville has already been appointed as an assistant referee at Champions Cup, Challenge Cup, Continental Shield levels and has regularly been appointed as assistant referee at Guinness Pro14 fixtures and earlier this year became the first woman to referee a Principality Premiership game in Wales.

England's Rachael Burford won an IRPA Special Merit award alongside Richie McCaw. Burford has played in the four World Cup Finals and helped England win it in 2014. She has been in superb form this Autumn but the award also recognises her off-field achievements. Burford was the first female member of the International RPA board and serves on three separate groups advising World Rugby, as well as  acting as an ambassador for various charities. She also runs her own rugby academy for girls.

After their outstabding World Cup success, the Black Ferns were named Team of the Year.