France captain Thierry Dusautoir was named the IRB player of the year for 2011 at a ceremony in Auckland, yesterday.
Dusautoir received his award the day after leading France in their nail-biting 8-7 World Cup final defeat by New Zealand at Eden Park, where he scored his side’s only try and was named man-of-the-match despite being on the losing side.
New Zealand were named team of the year, with All Blacks boss Graham Henry the coach of the year for the fifth time after guiding the side to only their second World Cup title and first for 24 years.
Dusautoir saw off competition for the award from the All Blacks trio of rival flanker Jerome Kaino, centre Ma’a Nonu and scrum-half Piri Weepu, who all played against him in Sunday’s final.