CJ Stander won the Guinness Rugby Writers' Player of the Year award for 2016 in a ceremony in the Guinness Storehouse last night.
Stander, who made his Irish debut in the Six Nations this year, was earlier voted the Irish player of the tournament. 2016 was a historic year for Irish rugby in that it is the first year Ireland has beaten all three Southern hemisphere powers in the one calendar year. It is the first time that any team has done so since 2003.
While he was sent off early in the June victory over South Africa, Stander was an influential figure in the November wins against New Zealand and Australia.
On accepting the award, Stander told the crowd that he likes to think of himself of being from the village of Annacotty just outside of Limerick - also the home of Irish great Peter Clohessy.
@CJStander on accepting the award, "I'd like to think I'm from Annacotty in Limerick!" #SUAF
— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) November 29, 2016
In an interview on receiving the award Stander acknowledged that all the hand-shaking with journalists before press conferences "had paid off", spoke of the grounding advice he'd been given by his father, and the effect Anthony Foley's death had on the Munster group.
After Axel's death I think we realised that we're here now, we disappointed ourselves last year but we have an opportunity to do something.
If it's to play for Axel or if it's playing for yourself or for the management or play for our jersey, that's back. That's something that I think we lacked a bit last year but it's come back.
It was the worst week and the worst day for everyone when Axel passed away but it's as if he's still around us and he's reunited us as a team.
Everyone's together whereas before, if you walked in two years ago and you saw an academy guy you might just wave. Now we're in the one centre and everyone knows everyone's name and we're all in one changing room and it's a different vibe. It's great to have.
So it was one of the toughest weeks but I could see boys turning into men. It was something a lot of people will never experience again in their lifetime and I think the group learned massively out of it.
It just shows, I think it united the team, that whole week.
Interestingly, his Dad had old words of advice which are rather fitting given the new-found depth in Irish rugby - "Your boss is only being born."
Yeah, it's good to get it. I think when you're a younger boy you go through a stage where you want to get a lot of pats on the back but when you get older and you get into a team you just want to perform for all the boys and for the team to help them win. That's really my biggest drive.
It's been a great year, an unbelievable last three years and I've worked hard to get to the place where I am now. The biggest thing for me now is to drive on from there and not settle or be part of the furniture. You always have to push on and create something new.
My dad always used to say to me “your boss is only getting born”, that someone is stepping up to make life difficult for you. He used to say it in Afrikaans but it means that the guy who's going to push you out of your position is only over your shoulder.
So that's a big drive for me not to think I've done enough. I just want to keep on performing for the team, that's important for me, and lead a few teams.
And he talked about how his form stepped up a notch in 2016 and the difficulties he experienced early in his time in Ireland. He admitted to missing his family initially.
The big thing I stepped up was just making sure that I recovered after games and training. I think that's where I stepped up a lot - ice baths, compression and all that stuff.
Otherwise, making the weak parts of your game your strengths, keeping working on them and getting something different into your game. If I'm carrying well then maybe adding one or two offloads here and there or at the back of the scrum, securing the ball, or playing 6 that you're a lineout option.
But making sure you look after your body because it's quite demanding training and playing week in week out and if you don't do that you're going to pick up a niggle and you're going to be in trouble.
So you just need to make sure you're at the front of the pack. The middle of the pack isn't a bad spot but you can easily slip back to the end of the pack and you're fighting an uphill battle from there.
Then for the next few years, I can't just keep doing what I've been doing. Everyone's doing it or they're going to be doing that so I need to look at my game and see if it's speed I need to work on or if it's defence or my carries.
I need to see where I can improve and there's good honesty in the coaching staff at Munster and up here with Ireland so if I have a weakness they'll tell you and we'll work on it.That's all positive. You have to go forward. There's another quote from my dad, he says 'you're not playing tug of war, the only way you're winning there is if you're going backwards'.
If you go backwards in rugby you're losing and for me it's the same in life, you need to go forward in anything you do.
Luckily, my wife knows that at this stage. We're always in the same team because I can't walk the dog without it being a competition, I need to win with my dog the first one into the door.
I've got a good support system around me with my wife and my family. They'll keep on pushing me, we're pushing each other so it's good to have a good support structure around you. I think I missed that when I left to come over here. I just had my wife who was brilliant but has been there all along but I missed that from my family, including my Dad.
