Overview
- The United Rugby Championship announced on Friday that Ivan van Rooyen was named Coach of the Season and Sacha Feinberg‑Mngomezulu was voted Players’ Player of the Season in polls of coaches, directors and team captains.
- Van Rooyen was credited for lifting the Lions from 11th to 7th, guiding them to 10 wins and a draw, securing Champions Cup qualification and winning the South African Shield.
- Feinberg‑Mngomezulu was celebrated as a generational attacking playmaker and finished the regular season as the leading points scorer with 158, but an ankle injury sustained in the quarterfinals ruled him out of the remaining playoffs.
- South African players and clubs feature prominently across the end‑of‑season honours, with nine South African players named in the URC Elite XV and multiple individual awards won by players based in the country.
- Media coverage highlighted a conflict in published points totals for the regular‑season top scorer — different outlets credited the Golden Boot to Chris Smith with 149 while others reported Feinberg‑Mngomezulu on 158 — and the URC had not publicly reconciled the discrepancy.