The All Party Parliamentary Rugby Union awards were held for a fifth time on Friday evening and for the third time they were sponsored by CSC. The BBC again filmed the evening and interviewed the players and some of this will appear next Saturday on the prelude to the opening Six Nations matches.
The Rugby Heroes were:
John Eales, Australia
Francois Pienaar, South Africa
Jonny Wilkinson, England
and
Shane Williams, Wales
The players were presented with bespoke blue velvet dinner jackets each with a silver portcullis badge on their lapels.
A Special CSC Award went to John Carlin, author of Playing The Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that made the Nation. His book became the basis of the film: Invictus in which Matt Damon played Francois Pienaar.
A Special Parliamentary Award went also to John Inverdale for his help and support.