McCaw, unsurprisingly, took home the New Zealand player of the year award while Henry was honoured with the the coach of the year title and the All Blacks were named team of the year.

The winning trio at the New Zealand Rugby Awards was an exact repeat of the accolades they had won overseas in recent weeks at the International Rugby Board (IRB) awards and the International Players Association awards.

There could be little arguments with these decisions after McCaw and Henry master-minded the All Blacks to 12 wins from 13 tests in 2006 and clearly established New Zealand as the number one side in international rugby less than a year out from the Rugby World Cup in France.

Henry has won 32 of his 36 Tests as All Blacks coach and, under his direction, the All Blacks are unbeaten at home and in the northern hemisphere.

The All Blacks won Team of the Year for the second year in a row, beating off tough competition from the Women’s Rugby World Cup-winning Black Ferns, the Super 14 champions Crusaders and Air New Zealand Cup champions Waikato. 

In other awards, McCaw’s All Blacks, Crusaders and Canterbury teammate Daniel Carter was named Super 14 Player of the Year.

The prestigious Steinlager Salver, awarded annually to people who have made an outstanding contribution to the game of rugby, was presented to former All Black forward and All Blacks selector Stan “Tiny” Hill, OBE.

Hill, 79, also a former All Blacks selector, made his name as a rugged forward for Canterbury, the New Zealand Army and Services teams and the All Blacks.

He made his All Blacks debut in 1955 and played 19 games, including 11 tests.

In 1956 he played in all three historic victories over the Springboks as well as the 1959 series victory over the touring British Lions.

Hill became selector for the New Zealand Army team and Canterbury before becoming an All Blacks selector from 1981 to 1986, helping the team to a clean-sweep over the Lions in 1983 and an unbeaten season in 1985.

In domestic rugby awards, Waikato’s standout centre Richard Kahui was named Air New Zealand Cup Player of the Year while Poverty Bay first five-eighth and competition top-scorer Scott Leighton was named AA Rewards Heartland Championship Player of the Year.

All Blacks, Highlanders and Otago prop Carl Hayman was named the Tom French Memorial Maori Player of the Year while Black Ferns and Canterbury midfielder Amiria Marsh, who starred at the Women’s Rugby World Cup and was picked in the Tournament’s All Stars XV, was named Women’s Player of the Year.

Hawke’s Bay’s Tafai Ioasa, who captained the New Zealand Sevens team to 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medal glory was named the Sevens Player of the Year, receiving the Richard Crawshaw Memorial Trophy.

Canterbury’s 21-year-old flanker Michael Paterson, who excelled for New Zealand at the IRB U21 World Championship in France, was named NZRU Age Grade Player of the Year.

The New Zealand Rugby Volunteer of the Year award, which honours the hard-working volunteers who work in the junior and amateur game, was won by Otago’s Jock Martin, who is President, Chairman and U13 coach at the Lawrence Rugby Club in central Otago.

The NZRU Referee of the Year award was won by Paul Honiss for the second year in a row.  Honiss became New Zealand’s most capped Test referee when he refereed his 38th Test this year.

The judges for the 2006 Steinlager Rugby Awards were former All Blacks manager John Sturgeon (convenor), All Blacks selector Sir Brian Lochore, former All Blacks captain and past NZRU president Tane Norton and veteran journalist and author Bob Howitt.

2006 New Zealand Rugby Awards winners:

Age-grade player of the year: Michael Paterson (Canterbury and New Zealand under-21)

Sevens player of the year: Tafai Ioasa (Hawke's Bay)

Referee of the year: Paul Honiss

Women's player of the year: Amiria Marsh (Canterbury)

Volunteer of the year: Jock Martin (Otago)

Super 14 player of the year: Daniel Carter (Crusaders)

Team of the year: All Blacks

Maori player of the year: Carl Hayman

Heartland Championship player of the year: Scott Leighton (Poverty Bay)

Air New Zealand Cup player of the year: Richard Kahui (Waikato)

Coach of the year: Graham Henry (All Blacks)

Steinlager Salver: Stan "Tiny" Hill

Player of the year: Richie McCaw (Canterbury, Crusaders and All Blacks)