Bolaca nominated for Pressure Play Award in HSBC World Rugby 7s Series 2020 Awards

Fiji Airways Men's National 7s team playmaker Napolioni Bolaca has been nominated for the Cigna Pressure Play Award for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 Awards.

The Cigna Pressure Play Award looks at the moment a player or a team has applied pressure on the opposition to score a try, based on the number of passes, defenders beaten and offloads.

Bolaca was nominated for his Cup final try against South Africa in the Sydney 7s.

World Rugby has confirmed that the winners of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 Awards will be announced on Monday, 21 September.

The Awards recognise and celebrate the players and teams who have performed at the highest level across the season.

The World Rugby Sevens Awards panel, comprising former international sevens players and series commentators, have cast their votes to determine this year’s nominees and winners across the six men’s and women’s award categories.

Fans are given the chance to cast their votes to determine the winners of the Cigna Pressure Play Award and the UL Mark of Excellence Award.

Voting is now open.

Click here to cast your votes -  https://www.facebook.com/worldrugby7s/

HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 Award Categories

HSBC Dream Team: The best of the best. The Awards panel, including special guest panellists, HSBC Ambassadors Danielle Waterman and Bryan Habana, will determine the best seven men’s and women’s players to make up the HSBC Dream Teams.

UL Mark of Excellence: The Awards panel, together with by UL Executive Mike Galeski, have selected a shortlist of nominees from the list of UL Mark of the Excellence Award tournament winners on the 2020 series.

Fans will have the final say in determining the moment from the men’s and women’s shortlists which stand out as the biggest of the 2020 series.

Men’s nominees:

*New Zealand and Samoa teams: The New Zealand and Samoa teams have been jointly nominated for standing together in a show of solidarity to remember those affected by the measles outbreak in Samoa

*France team: France for beating Fiji for the first time in four years at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens in December

*Canada team: The Canada team for their fundraising initiative for the Ronald McDonald House, auctioning their match boots which had been designed by children at Ronald McDonald House

*Dan Norton (England): Dan Norton’s achievement of becoming the first sevens player to score 350 tries on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series at the HSBC Sydney Sevens

Women’s nominees:

*Lauren Doyle (USA): Lauren Doyle’s try-saving tackle against New Zealand in the Cup semi-final at the HSBC USA Women’s Sevens. The hosts went on to claim the title

*Tyla Nathan-Wong (New Zealand): Tyla Nathan-Wong for becoming the first Black Ferns Sevens player – and second overall – to reach 1,000 points at the HSBC Sydney Sevens

*Emilee Cherry (Australia): Emilee Cherry for scoring a double in her first match at the HSBC Hamilton Sevens, just seven months after the birth of her daughter

*Ellia Green (Australia): Ellia Green for breaking the Australian sevens try-scoring record with her 129th try in the HSBC Cape Town Sevens semi-final against France

*Cigna Pressure Play Award: The Awards panel has determined a shortlist of three men’s and three women’s players with sevens fans having the last say in voting for their favourite pressure play moment of the men’s and women’s series.

Men’s nominees:

*Fiji: HSBC Sydney Sevens – Cup final try against South Africa

*South Africa: Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens Cup final try against New Zealand

*South Africa: HSBC LA Sevens Cup quarter-final try against the USA

Women’s nominees:

*France:HSBC Sydney Sevens – France semi-final try against New Zealand

*New Zealand:HSBC Cape Town Sevens quarter-final try against England

*Canada: Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens Cup final try against New Zealand

Capgemini Momentum Tracker: A stats-based award using Capgemini’s unique tool, the Momentum Tracker, which analyses teams’ performances at individual tournaments and across the series to assess their capacity to improve throughout the season. The award will go to the team which records the highest momentum score on the tracker as a result of quantified performance and evolution scores.

Gilbert Top Try Scorer: An award for the top try-scorer on the men’s and women’s series.

DHL Impact Player: A stats-based award which statistically analyses individual players’ performances measured against four key criteria – offloads, carries, line-breaks and tackles.

[Source: Fiji Rugby]