It was a great night for Dan Carter and the All Blacks on Monday at the Laureus Sports Awards.
The team – who sealed back-to-back World Cup wins with victory at Twickenham in 2015 – picked up the world team of the year award.
Carter won the comeback athlete of the year award for his starring role in the triumph in England last year.
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The fly-half battled poor form and fitness in the run-up to the tournament but everything clicked once it got underway – culminating in a man-of-the-match effort in the final win over the Wallabies.
Carter beat out Olympic legends like Michael Phelps and Jessica Ennis-Hill to take the title and was delighted at his award.
"It's a privilege to receive such a prestigious award," Carter said via video message.
"It was a very special year for me in 2015, especially after the injury setbacks I've had over the last couple of years.
“I'd like to say a huge thank you to friends, family, management and team-mates for showing faith in me and allowing me to live my dream."
The Laureus Academy opted for the All Blacks as team of the year instead of the record-breaking Golden State Warriors, who are the defending NBA champions, and treble winners FC Barcelona.
Richie McCaw and All Blacks coach Steve Hansen collected the award and the former skipper hailed it as a win for rugby in general.
"People say rugby's a big sport for us but not so big on a global scale, but it's obviously big enough where the exploits of what the All Blacks do are recognised," McCaw said.
"The success rate we have is pretty hard to compare to other teams around the world and I think that's something that's been recognised and something that we hold pretty strong."
