To coincide with our countdown of Rugby’s Most Influential People, we thought we would offer up some additional rankings in the form of a series of ‘Top 5s’.
Next up is our pick of rugby’s most valuable talents – not necessarily the best players in the world. With the Rugby World Cup looming we think these guys are pivotal to their side’s chances. They may not all be potential World Cup winners but must perform if their teams are to reach their potential.
1. Richie McCaw (New Zealand) – The talismanic All Blacks captain is so often the driving force behind his side and is key to their hopes of reclaiming the sport’s biggest prize on home soil. His superb all round game is complimented by his record-breaking leadership prowess. Without him the All Blacks are just not the same.
2. Dan Carter (New Zealand) – Arguably equally as valuable to the All Blacks as his skipper, Carter appears to be playing a different game to the rest of the world at times such is his ability to find time and space when others struggle for composure. His playmaking ability is the key to unleashing New Zealand’s formidable back division.
3. James Hook (Wales) – The hugely-talented Hook is a potent game-breaking threat for Wales and will be central to their Six Nations and World Cup hopes. An undoubted world-class talent, the 25-year-old’s versatility has worked against him at times but such is his ability to conjure a piece of magic you can rest assured he will play a central role no matter his position.
4. David Pocock (Australia) – Pocock’s star continues to rise with 2011 set to provide yet further evidence that the Wallabies’ flanker is destined for greatness. His ability to dominate all comers at the breakdown – including even McCaw – makes him an inspirational presence for Australia.
5. Jamie Heaslip (Ireland) – The strong-running No.8 is another world-class talent and an inspirational figure for province and country. A rock in defence, it is perhaps his industry and hunger for the ball in attack that makes him an extra special talent. His team-mate Brian O’Driscoll may have the magic touch but Heaslip will happily lead the line in defence and attack.
Do you agree with our selection? Be sure to let us know…
Go to Scrum to vote or just have your say right here.
To read more about Rugby’s Most Influential People go to
dit is absurd dat fourie du preez nie op hierdie lys is nie.
dit moet ‘n britse skrywer wees om heaslip en hook op hierdie lys te hê.
@ Laagvat (bloubulblog.co.za):
se ek ook daar is geen kans dat hulle Fourie hier uitlos nie.
Ek sal FduP selfs 2de plaas voor Carter.
Helloooooooooooooooooo,
Back from holiday and thrown right into the deep end at the Office…… eishhhhhh
I still have to repair some lightning damage which occurred here just before I left on holiday…. a motherboard, ADSL Modem, KVM Switch, My special bloody Graphics Card, a Keyboard, 2 Network Cards and a hub of which 4 Ports were ruined…
Difficult to get back into a working rhytm here…. need to go to the beach quick…. hehehe.
Regarding the Article…. I suppose there’s bias in all of us, but the Doos that wrote this piece is undoubtedly a bit farked.
How can one mention Hook and Heaslip in the same company as McCaw and Carter and Pocock, and like you guys mention, leave Fourie du Preez and Victor Matfield unmentioned?
If I look at a World best 15 at present, Heaslip and Hook does not even figure, not even as replacements.
My World 15 would probably look something like this at present:
1. Gurthro Steenkamp with Beast Mtawarira a close second – Loosehead
2. Bismarck du Plessis – Hooker
3. Castrogiovanni – Tighthead
4. Brad Thorne
5. Victor Matfield
6. Juan Smith – Blindside Flank
7. Richie McCaw with Pocock blowing very hot at second choice – Openside Flank
8. Kieran Reid
9. Fourie du Preez
10. Dan Carter
11. James O’Connor
12. Sonny Bill Williams with Ma’a Nonu blowing hot at second choice
13. Jacque Fourie with Conrad Smith a close second
14. Drew Mitchell
15. Mils Muliaina
That means I place ONE Northern Hemisphere player in a World 15…. only 1!
“our pick of rugby’s most valuable talents – not necessarily the best players in the world”
According to the author of this article the sentence above is the criteria for his picks. So maybe he feels that those players are essential for their teams. With that in mind i would say that Brussow is absolutely essential and was sorely missed by SA. So too off course FduP.
So by the way, Hello GBS hope you had a great holiday, Welcome back.
6@ superBul:
Dankie SuperBees…. dis uiters kak om terug te wees van vakansie af, maar die tille sal nou moet rol, ons het gespend asof dit uit die mode gaan!
Dankie ook vir die waarneem hier in my afwesigheid.
Wonder if I should put some of my Photos here on R-T…. maybe a full Article to make you guys more jealous….
Photo’s of some of the places we visited, of our Zip-Line experience, my jump of the Highest Bungi Jump in the World at Bloukrans Bridge (216m), me riding an Ostridge, some wine tasting shots, beach shots….
Who wants to see more?
Let me go browse for Rugby News…. everywhere
We’ve got exciting times ahead…. even before the start of Super Rugby.
There’s the Six Nations, the Cricket World Cup, then Super Rugby…. just to start.
grootblousmile wrote:
Howzit gbs welcome back to the real world, its good to hear you had such a super time away, and will be nice to see some of the pics you took, if you have any of the Wilderness area and Hartenbos will really get the memories going this side.
10@ Bullscot:
Hello Bully, I indeed have pics of Wilderness and Hartenbos.
It was the best holiday ever.
Oh, another thing…. we travelled back and from Calitzdorp to Oudtshoorn, accross the Swartberg Pass, at Prince Albert and right through to our house we travelled under thick cloud cover. The whole county is under cloud cover, have never seen that before.
It was raining cats and dogs in parts of the Karoo, specially near Richmond.
It is lush and green everywhere, the rivers are all in flood and every little dam on every farmer’s farm is brim full.
Took some stunning pics of the opened sluces at Gariep dam…. the Orange River massively flowing towards the Northern parts of the Cape.
The Vaal River is the broadest and highest I’ve ever seen.
Must say we had brilliant sunny weather all along the coast though, not one bad day!
@ grootblousmile:
That sounds cool lucky getting all that sunshine for your beach time especially with all the rain thats been around the rest of the country, hopefully the rivers won’t flood too much and cause even more hardship. Will look forward to having a look at the photos. Time to dash.
The first 3 were relatively easy picks. The other 2? Not so much. Agree on the FDP, Vic Matfield opinions. We really missed FDP last year, actually quite a scary thought that we could be so influenced by a player’s absence.
Hope everyone had a good holliday. GBS: Sounds like you had a good time. We were in Hermanus and we actually had rain most of the time, so the kids were a bit restless. It was scorching hot in CT over the season though.
Should have stayed at home and just gone to the beach here. Like yesterday.
Stormersboy wrote:
I wont be scared to take on the All Blacks without McCaw and Carter, in fact i see them operating at 75% without them. They were totally rattled with Carter out.
@ Stormersboy:
Another Big miss last year was a fetcher or say it like it is Heinrich Brussow.
@ superBul:
Yes, either of them make as big a difference if not more.
@ superBul:
Yes, given what I’ve seen from the “replacements”, Heinrich is the only one to really make an impact. I just hope that he can adapt to the new interpretations.
I had a conversation with an ex international now connected to our national setup and his (personal) first choice loose forward trio would be 6: Ratel, 7: Juan and 8: Schalk Burger. Interresting opinion. Wouldn’t be mine but it’s not like he hasn’t “been there done that”, so I cannot dismiss his point of view out of hand.
17@ Stormersboy:
I have always said that Schalla is either a natural blindsider or No 8 raher than a true opensider.
That said, my ideal loose trio with proper balance in their respective positions, according to the last known form end of 2010, would be No 6 – Brussow, No 7 – Juan Smith, No 8 – Willem Alberts.
@ grootblousmile:
I’m a big Alberts fan, he really makes things happen when he’s on the field, but all the ex players and adminstrators that I talk to rate Schalk so highly they would pick him very high up the list. Having said all this, based on form and experience in the position, Alberts has to have the edge on him at the moment.
gbs @ 18
hey gbs
ekt ñ halfuur of so gelede vir jou ñ mail gestuur. jy dit al gekry?
20@ Ashley:
Ja, en geantwoord ook.
@ Stormersboy:
Sorry i am in and out the whole time , fixing something on my car. I think we will see a battle royal this year amongst the loose forwards. If we dont have injuries i think Dewalt will come back with a bang. Well as a Bull i hope so.
@ superBul:
The fur on the dashboard come loose? (sorry i couldn’t help myself)
Personally I hope that players like Stegmann and FLO have a good year, we’ll need this depth I fear….
Stormersboy wrote:
hahahaha no after a lekker vry the rearview mirror ……. i am busy putting things back.. :LOL:
@ superBul:
Nice One! 😉
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