Welsh Rugby Awards

Jac Morgan was crowned Wales Men’s Player of the Year for the second time at the Welsh Rugby Writers’ Club’s annual dinner at Principality Stadium on Thursday night with another Wales captain, Kate Williams, carrying off the top Women’s award.

Blair Murray was named as the Men’s Young Player of the Year, while the Super Rygbi Cymru Player of the Year went to Newport’s Jac Lloyd.

All four regional head coaches were in attendance, Dwayne Peel, Matt Sherratt, Mark Jones and Filo Tiatia, along with newly appointed Wales head coach Steve Tandy.

As well as leading both club and country, Morgan was one of two Welsh players who toured with the British & Irish Lions, plying in the second and third Tests against the Wallabies as Andy Farrell’s men won the series 2-1.

It was the second time he had won the award, named in memory of the former News of the World rugby writer Lloyd Lewis, having won the vote in 2023. He follows in a line of some of the greatest players ever produced in Wales, going all the way back to Phil Bennett as the first recipient in 1975.

“It was a tough year with the way that the games went for Wales, but I was chuffed to watch the boys get the win in Japan. That was pretty special,” said Morgan, who received his award from Tandy.

“It’s been challenging but we have worked hard as a group and been tight. Personally, it has been a good year, I’ve enjoyed it and I’m really pleased to win this award.

“I’m really excited for what lies ahead and I’m looking forward to the start with Steve Tandy coming in. These are exciting times, especially after the win in the summer.

“The boys are looking forward to getting the season started with the regions. We have the talent in Wales and within the regions, so we are looking forward to regrouping, learning new things, getting better and trying to get closer as a group to put in the performances.”

Morgan returned to training early and is set to join the Ospreys in South Africa for the second game of their two matches to launch the new BKT United Rugby Championship. They face the Bulls in Pretoria on 27 September and then the Stormers in Cape Town on 3 October.

After making such a strong impression with his performances with the Lions in Australia, Morgan is hoping to build on that as Wales prepare for four matches in November – Argentina, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.

“The Lions tour was a great experience, and I enjoyed being with the coaches and playing group. They were a great bunch of boys, and we built bonds and made friendships for life,” added Morgan.

“To be a part of it was pretty special and I learned loads of new things playing with other back-rowers.

“I tried to develop my game, learn off them and see what improvements I can make based on how they play, train and their off-field habits. A tour like that has given me a massive drive to carry on improving and play to the best of my ability.”

Having picked up the Liza Burgess Welsh Women’s Player of the Year award, Williams is set to return to her club, Gloucester-Hartpury, later this month after taking a three-week break following the World Cup. She co-captained the side with fellow back rower Alex Callender.

Having helped her club make it three Professional Women’s Rugby titles in a row, it proved to be a tougher task on the international front with only a win over Australia to show from the first 10 games of Sean Lynn’s coaching reign.

“Sean is an amazing coach and his biggest driver for us is that he believes in us as players and believes in us as a team. That’s so important for us to move forward, to take the learnings we have from this year and believe we can do this,” said Williams.

“The way he sees the game really suits us as a team with the way that we want to attack and defend. Once we get better at doing that together we will see improvement next year.

“He coaches from an emotional place but is also excellent tactically, he brings that passion and that’s what we tap into as Welsh people. Sean pumped so much confidence into me at Gloucester-Hartpury and believed in me, when maybe I didn’t believe in myself at the time.

“I know he is the right man for the job and he will help see us through to better times in this next year. There is no shying away from the fact that it was a disappointing World Cup with performances and results, but we have a lot of direction going into the Six Nations next year.

“We know we need to work on playing more rugby with our clubs and in the Celtic Challenge to get that game fitness and game IQ. That’s where we will improve coming into the Six Nations – it will improve fitness, skills and connections.”

For Murray, winning the Welsh Men’s Young Player of the Year title was just further vindication of his decision to leave New Zealand and follow his roots to Wales. When he first signed with the Scarlets’ he thought he might play a handful of games in his first season.

Instead, he ended up as the region’s leading try scorer and worked his way seamlessly into the Wales set-up.

“Coming over to Wales this time last year, I could never have expected my first season to have gone as it did. I was hoping to play maybe four or five games for the Scarlets and build from there with this season in mind,” admitted Murray.

“But to play as much as I did and also represent Wales means it’s been a dream really. I have to continue to make the most of it now.

“I feel very grateful and honoured to receive this award and to be mentioned in the same breath as some of the previous winners is a great feeling. I want to build on what I did last season this year.

“We made the play-offs with the Scarlets and this year we’re playing in the Champions Cup which is something I’m really looking forward to. I’m also looking forward to hopefully being a part of the Wales set-up under Steve Tandy.

“Hopefully I can play well enough for the Scarlets to be involved again.”

SRC Player of the Year Lloyd wasn’t able to pick p his award in person as he was required at training at Newport. He played a crucial role in steering Newport to the title to crown their 150^thanniversary season, picking up the man of the match award in the final victory over Ebbw Vale at Eugene Cross Park.

That earned him a place in the Dragons squad for the new season and head coach Tiatia accepted the award on his behalf.