Cardiff Rugby held its 2024/25 End of Season Awards at Tiger Yard in Cardiff Bay on Wednesday night.
Teddy Williams won two awards, including the highly coveted Peter Thomas Player of the Year award, while Alun Lawrence picked up the Players’ Player of the Year gong.
Here’s the reaction from both players after picking up their awards.
Teddy Williams:
“It’s a honour. I really enjoyed playing this season and it’s probably been my best season.
“I loved playing this year. I just want to play as much as I can, I think that’s probably how you get better and we really enjoy just taking the field with this group every week.
“There’s been some real growth for us this year. Obviously, we were all devastated we didn’t reach the playoffs and last year we weren’t really anywhere near the playoffs so there’s a lot of progress in that regard.
“I think ultimately it was disappointing not to reach the playoffs. Hopefully, we just keep progressing and we make sure we can get into those spots.
“It’s an exciting year to look forward to next year.”
Alun Lawrence:
“It’s the one that you want to win, to get the appreciation from some of your best mates.
“That means a lot, and is something I’m incredibly proud of and I am thankful to the boys because I’m a part of the and they’re a part of me, being a part of that group, particularly the group that we’ve got, is something real special.
“Obviously, just going under was an incredible disappointment and a real shame. I’ll always be super appreciative for Jockey and Cardiff for taking me back.
“Something they didn’t have to do, but it speaks volumes of this club and this culture that they did that for me.
“I just relish it and enjoy it and that’s what it’s all about. We just got to enjoy being out there every single time. There’s been a lot of improvement this year.
“The big thing that we talked about was growth, how we got better and how we improved. The stats speak to themselves. Within a whisker, getting to the playoffs, which we were all devastated about, doubling our bonus point tries, doubling our points, all that positive stuff on field makes for next season even more exciting again.
“We generally believe that next year we’ll make it to the playoffs and then it’s just knockout rugby. And that’s super exciting.”