The Crusaders have been nominated the ‘Comeback of the Year’ award at the 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards, alongside the World Cup Champion All Blacks side, who are short-listed for the ‘Team of the Year’ award.
The Crusaders were nominated after reaching the Super Rugby Final despite playing all their matches away from their home ground AMI Stadium , which was badly damaged in the Christchurch Earthquake in February.
The Crusaders were forced to travel over 100,000km to play their matches, which included ‘home’ matches hosted in Twickenham, Nelson, Timaru, Napier and Wellington.
The nominees for the ‘Comeback of the Year’ include:
- Eric Abidal (France) Football - beat cancer to play in winning Barcelona Champions League team
- Darren Clarke (UK) Golf - at 42, recovered from slump in form to win Open Championship
- Crusaders (NZ) Rugby - despite Christchurch earthquake, Crusaders reached final of Super 15
- Sergio Garcia (Spain) Golf - won two European Tour events, after three years without a victory
- Liu Xiang (China) Athletics - after 2008 Olympic disappointment, won silver in world championships
- Queensland Reds (Australia) Rugby - won Super 15 rugby despite floods in Queensland
The winners of the prestigious awards, as voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy will be announced on the 7th February.