Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service

The Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service, previously called the IRB Distinguished Service Award, is awarded by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. It has been awarded annually since 2001. It honours an individual, Union or group, male or female, who has given outstanding service to their country and contributed to the International Game in as many as possible of the following areas: Playing, Coaching, Management, Training, Administration, Media & Broadcast.

Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service
Awarded for	Outstanding service to their country and contribution to the International Game
Date	2001; 24 years ago (2001)
Presented by	World Rugby
First award	2001
Currently held by	George Nijaradze (2023)

Recipients

Year	Recipient	Ref
2001	Tom Kiernan
2002	Alan Hosie
2003	Bob Stuart
2004	Ronnie Dawson	[1]
2005	Peter Crittle	[2]
2006	Brian Lochore	[3]
2007	José María Epalza
2008	Nicholas Shehadie	[4]
2009	Noel Murphy	[5]
2010	Jean-Claude Baqué	[6][7]
2011	Jock Hobbs
2012	Viorel Morariu
2013	Ian McIntosh	[8][9]
2014	Ray Williams	[10][11]
2015	Nigel Starmer-Smith	[12]
2016	Syd Millar	[13]
2017	Marcel Martin
2018	Yoshirō Mori	[14]
2019	Bernard Lapasset
2021	Jacques Laurans	[15]
2022	Dr. Farah Palmer	[16]
2023	George Nijaradze	[17]