by Francois de Wet
Sanlam Boland Cavaliers flyhalf Ashlon Davids hopes his award as the 2024 SA Rugby Currie Cup First Division Player Of The Year will inspire future talents from the Boland rugby region.
Davids, who grew up in the Boland town of Kalbaskraal outside Malmesbury, beat out his Sanlam Boland Cavaliers captain, Thurlow Marsh, and Eastern Province’s Jayden Bantom for the prize at the South African Rugby Union’s 2024 Award Ceremony which was held in Cape Town on Thursday, 13 March 2025.
Meanwhile Sanlam Boland Dames captain Aseza Hele missed being crowned SA Rugby’s Women’s Player of the Year with Nadine Roos crowned as the 2024 winner.
Davids hopes the award inspires Boland youngsters to dream big.
“It has always been my dream to win accolades and also make those closest to me proud,” Davids said. “To be crowned as Carling Currie Cup First Division Player Of The Year means so much to me and I know it will also mean a lot to the community of the small town of Kalbaskraal where I was raised and learned to play the game.
“One of our slogans at the Sanlam Boland Cavaliers is to create hope for the people living in our communities so I hope that by winning this award I have created a little bit of hope and showed them through hard work you can get recognised and that they can achieve great things.”
Davids certainly worked hard to achieve the top gong with his performances in last season’s Carling Currie Cup First Division by contributing 62 points [1 try, 21 conversions and 5 penalty goals].
He was the driving force behind a feared Sanlam Boland Cavaliers’ attack, creating space for his outside backs and directing the team’s big ball carriers on where to make inroads.
In last week’s big 45-29 win in their opening game of the SA Cup against the Cheetahs, Davids continued his good form and will be looking to do more of the same when the Cavas face the Griffons at 15:00 on Saturday in Welkom.