Olympic bronze medallists, Reapi  Ulunisau and Aloesi Nakoci are the first two Fijianas to be nominated in the World Rugby women’s sevens player of the year award.

New Zealand’s Sarah Hirini and France’s Anne-Cecile Ciofani are the other two nominated for the award.

Fans need to vote online to determine the winner. Voting closes on November 21. The results will be announced on World Rugby’s social media platforms between December 6-10.

Ulunisau’s debut in a global tournament was during the recent Tokyo Olympics where she was top try-scorer with eight, including a record four against Brazil in their pool game.

Fijiana head coach, Saiasi Fuli said: “This is reflection of all the hard work that we did in the past nine months, it has come into fruition.

“The two deserve to be nominated and I encourage more Fijians to vote for both nominees in the men’s and women’s categories.”

France based winger, Jiuta Wainiqolo and Fijian Drua’s Napolioni Bolaca are nominees for the World Rugby men’s sevens player of the year with New Zealand’s Scott Curry and Argentina winger, Marcos Moneta.

The panel who made the nominations includes Humphrey Kayange (Kenya), Tiana Penitani (Australia), Karl Te Nana (New Zealandd), Marika Vunibaka (Fiji) and Danielle Waterman (England).

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “The World Rugby awards are the ultimate accolade for rugby, and we are delighted to honour the outstanding players and individuals who have made an impact on our game on and off the field in 2021.

“The pandemic and its consequences have restricted several unions from playing international games this year and we recognise that not all rugby stars have had a chance to shine. Nevertheless, the World Rugby Awards Panel has done an amazing job in selecting suitable candidates in each category and I would like to congratulate all nominees who, deservingly, have been shortlisted for this year’s awards.”

The 12 categories will be unveiled on World Rugby social media channels including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube (@WorldRugby).

Meanwhile Fijian born and Wallabies centre, Samu Kerevi is nominated in the WR men’s 15s Player of the Year.

Kerevi is named alonside Antoine Dupont (France), Michael Hooper (Australia) and Maro Itoje(England).

The rugby family can now cast their vote for six of the prestigious World Rugby Awards 2021 categories after the nominations selected by the star-studded panel was revealed on Monday.

The remaining six categories will be voted by the World Rugby Awards panel, a stellar team of rugby legends who will have the hard task of selecting winners for the World Rugby Breakthrough, coach and referee awards as well as the newly created 2021 Men’s and Women’s 15s Dream Teams.

Feedback:  sereana.salalo@fijisun.com.fj