Burnside International Rugby Programme old girl Moe Tsukui is recognised for her brilliant performances at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup.

Moe Tsukui was a Burnside High School IRP player in 2016. That same year, soon after returning to Japan, Moe was selected to play for the senior women's national team. Since then she has played both 15s and 7s for Japan and was selected as the best performing scrumhalf playing at the Women's World Cup held in Ireland last year. In particular, her superb performance against Ireland contributed to Japan delivering a real shock to the local team.

This award is not just for female players, so Moe was judged to have made the greatest impression of any Japanese rugby player in 2017. Needless to say, we are very proud of Moe and wish her well next year in her first year of university studies.