The South African Rugby Players' Association (Sarpa) has announced the five nominees for the highly popular Players' Player of the Year award.

The Players' Player of the Year is chosen through voting by the 452 members of Sarap, which include all the Springboks and professional players of the 14 provincial unions, and has therefore from a player's and a professional perspective a very high prestige value.

The five players who have received the most nominations from their fellow players are Fourie du Preez (Blue Bulls), Morne Steyn (Blue Bulls), Heinrich Brussow (Free State Cheetahs), Sarel Pretorius (Griquas) and Stefan Terblanche (Sharks).

The CEO of Sarpa, Piet Heymans, pointed out that the selection of the Players' Player of the Year for 2009 will differ from previous years in the sense that there will be two rounds of casting votes.

"Whereas in the past the player who had received the most nominations from the members of Sarpa automatically received the award, this year all the members have been requested to vote again for these five nominees only in a second round of voting, which closes on midnight, Sunday October 18," he said.

"The nominations are a true and fair reflection of the performances in the Currie Cup as well as at international level. To be nominated by a player you have played against is a great honour and confirms that such a player is respected by his peers. I am sure that whatever the result, any one of these nominees will be a worthy winner of the Sarpa Players' Player of the Year Award."

The Award will be made at the SA Rugby Player of the Year Banquet which will take place in Midrand on Monday, November 2.