Ailing Brumbies playmaker Christian Lealiifano has won the 2016 RUPA Medal for Excellence, one of Australian rugbys most prestigious awards.Lealiifano, who is battling leukaemia, was voted by his peers as the individual to have shown the best performance, leadership, consistency and discipline, both on and off the field, across the international and domestic seasons.Lealiifano in September won the Brumbies Players Player after co-captaining his side to Australian Super Rugby conference honours in 2016.The 29-year-old, who has amassed 117 Super Rugby caps and more than 800 points since joining the Brumbies in 2007, missed just five minutes of the entire Super Rugby campaign.Lealiifano also completed a Certificate IV in New Small Business and was instrumental in the leadership of the Brumbies Pasifika players development program.He is a champion for the Canberra Domestic Violence Crisis Service, and this year he won an ACT Government Violence Prevention Award.\Speaking via video from Melbourne, Lealiifano thanked his peers and paid tribute to all of Australias professional rugby players.Im truly, truly humbled and honoured to receive such an award, Lealiifano said.Congratulations to all of the other nominees; I feel like this is probably an award for all of us, and the great work we do in the community to grow the game around the country.Christian, who has been undergoing cancer treatment in Melbourne since August, thanked the rugby community for their support since his illness was diagnosed.I want to thank everybody for all of their support through this journey this little man (my son) and I are on at the moment, he said. It definitely means a lot and were all so grateful for your thoughts and prayers.Melbourne Rebels and Wallabies backline utility back Reece Hodge capped an outstanding maiden season in professional rugby with the Newcomer of the Year award. NSW Waratahs star and Wallabies vice-captain Michael Hooper backed up his John Eales Medal triumph by being named the Peoples Choice Wallaby of the Year.Olympic hero Charlotte Caslick edged out Chloe Dalton to win her second straight womens rugby sevens players player of the year award.Shoes Black Friday Deals 2020 . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Discount Shoes Black Friday . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Buy Shoes Black Friday . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Wholesale Shoes Black Friday Free Shipping . Kuznetsov, who was selected by the Capitals in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, has been playing for his hometown team Chelyabinsk Traktor of the KHL.BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Brady Oliveira ran 22 times for 171 yards and two touchdowns, including a key touchdown late in the fourth quarter in North Dakotas 17-15 win over Montana State on Saturday.Oliverias 60-yard gallop gave the Fighting Hawks a 17-9 lead with 2:27 to play. MSU rallied with a 3-yard touchdown run by Chad Newell, but Newell failed to score on the two-point conversion attempt after a pass interference call against UND moved the ball to the one.MSU (2-2, 0-1 Big Sky) recovered the onside kick, but Tyler Bruggman threw his third interception three plays later.MSU, which came into the game leading the nation in turnover ratios, turned the ball over five times to just one for UND (2-2, 1-0).That was the entire difference in the game. Period. MSU head coach Jeff Choate said of the turnovers. Cannot win a game like that. Thats a really tough one.MSU had two chances to win the game with a field goal, but couldnt get the ball into UND territory on either drive.I probably thought that game was over two or three times, UND safety Cole Reyes said. Its probably one of the funnest games Ive ever been in. Im spent but its fun to win a game like that.Reid Taubenheim kicked a 22-yard field goal late in the third quarter to put UND ahead for good at 10-9.Neither team could reach the end zone in the first half until UNDs Oliveira scored from two yards with just 59 secondds remaining following a fumble by MSUs Chad Newell.dddddddddddd MSU had scored on field goals of 26 and 31 yards by Gabe Peppenger earlier.Following the touchdown Newell, a senior captain, left the game with an apparent leg injury, but returned in the second half. He ran for 68 yards on nine carries prior to the injury, but limited to just 32 yards in the second half finishing with 18 carries for 100 yards.THE TAKEAWAY:Montana State struggled offensively for the fourth straight game, but got a spark from true freshman receiver Kevin Kassis, who had 4 catches for 90 yards. MSU will need more players to emerge on offense if it expects to stay in the league race.North Dakota has seen all four of its games decided by four points or less and have now won the last two after falling to Stony Brook and FBS Bowling Green. Experience in close games will likely go a long way in what appears to be a balanced Big Sky Conference.UP NEXT: Montana State travels to Sacramento State for a conference game against the Hornets (0-1, 1-3), who lost 42-34 to Idaho State.North Dakota hosts Cal Poly in a conference game. Cal Poly upset Montana 42-41 at home and also sits at 1-0 in the Big Sky.Online: The APs college football page http://collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '