An international rugby team of the decade

Roar Pro

By Sam Taulelei, 17 Dec 2009 The Crowd is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: All Blacks, International Rugby, Rugby Union, wallabies

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Australia's Berrick Barnes tackles Brian O'Driscoll of Ireland during their rugby union test match in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, June 14, 2008. AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill

Hoy’s recent post about the Wallaby team of the decade sparked a debate in my mind about an equivalent All Black team of the decade. However in my mind there wasn’t a great deal of debate or difficulty in selecting the majority of the team that played from 2003 – 2007.

I changed focus instead to an international team of the decade, which offered wider scope, endless debate and more personal bias, depending upon what part of the world you lived in or came from.

Whenever these exercises have been conducted, there have been some players selected out of position in an effort to squeeze a favourite into the team somewhere.

I’ve resisted the temptation to do this and all players are selected in their specific positions or jerseys that they have played in throughout their career.

I’ve also tried to achieve balance within the team by selecting it with a view to playing an expansive, attacking game as a real coach would, instead of just picking the best players in their position.

As expected, there are a plethora of world-class contenders to select for each position, more so than others. This is my international team of the decade.

15. Chris Latham
14. Doug Howlett
13. Brian O’Driscoll
12. Jean de Villiers
11. Rupeni Caucaunibuca
10. Daniel Carter
9. Fourie du Preez
8. Lawrence Dallaglio
7. Richie McCaw
6. Schalk Burger
5. Victor Matfield
4. Martin Johnson (captain)
3. Carl Hayman
2. Raphael Ibanez
1. Os du Randt

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The Crowd Says (102) | Page 1 of Comments

brad said | December 17th 2009 @ 2:40am | Report comment

Justin Marshal in place of du Preez

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- PastHisBest said | December 17th 2009 @ 9:33am | Report comment
  
  Can’t agree with this. He only played for half the decade and his best rugby was in the nineties.
  
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Mr Sports said | December 17th 2009 @ 7:47am | Report comment

That looks pretty good to me. My only question marks are de Villiers at 12 and Burger at 6. I would give some consdieration to Tana at inside centre. I’m nto really sure who i’d prefer at 6 (Elsom maybe?) but Burger doesn’t feel quite right.

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Bay35Pablo said | December 17th 2009 @ 7:48am | Report comment

Eales (c) instead of Johnson.

Burke instead of Latham (we’ve had this debate on the Aussie team article).

I’m also chewing my lip over whether I could squeeze Mortlock, Kefu and Roff in there …

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- PastHisBest said | December 17th 2009 @ 9:35am | Report comment
  
  He didn’t play for most of the decade Bay. Johnson lifted the world cup in ’03, good enough for me.
  
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Terry Kidd said | December 17th 2009 @ 8:29am | Report comment

Yeah Roff instead of Caucau, definitely Eales in place of Johnson and Dallaglio doesn’t do it for me but I’m not settled on a replacement …. Kefu or Chabal maybe?

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- PastHisBest said | December 17th 2009 @ 9:41am | Report comment
  
  I’m a huge fan on Caucau Terry. It’s a difficult one as it’s definitely a case of wasted potential, as good as he was he could have been so much better.
  
  Why not Pierre Spies for no. 8? He’s been a monster since ’06.
  
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  - Wavell Wakefield said | December 18th 2009 @ 12:49am | Report comment
    
    In test rugby Pierre Spies has been reasonably easily contained. Aside from a few wonder tries at Super level there is no way that he could be considered in the same context as Scott Quinnell, Lawrence Dallaglio, Toutai Kefu, Zinzan Brooke etc.
    
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    - Rusty said | December 18th 2009 @ 7:48am | Report comment
      
      Im with you on this – he has yet to truly deliver on the international side or at least consistently. Scored one helluve a try against england in Bloemfontein in ’07 though – broke off the back of the scrum, accelerated past the 9 and then beat 3 players with his step and power to score
      
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      - Wavell Wakefield said | December 18th 2009 @ 8:36pm | Report comment
        
        He is undoubtedly a phenomenal athlete but I do not think the current SA brand of rugby suits him. Further, he is relatively new to the position (isn’t he?).
        
        A very underrated pair of number 8s, are, in my opinion, Anthony Foley and Martin Corry. Problematically, the decade has offered countless good players, many of which I can’t recall.
        
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Who Needs Melon said | December 17th 2009 @ 9:12am | Report comment

Great stuff Sam. You’re right – this’ll spark some discussion.

Happy we got one aussie in there. I agree with the Latham selection. The Eales/Johnson decision is an interesting one. I think the selection of MJ is fair though – just because he kicked on a little longer with his achievements in the World Cup, etc. in the decade than Eales did. Crap coach though.

I agree with having Jean de Villiers there are 12. I think if Giteau had stayed at 12 (where he belongs!) for more of the decade he would have pipped Jean. Jean is not as flashy as Giteau but just a hard worker and complete player. Nonu has shown glimpses of brilliance but I think and you need steady rocks like Jean de Villiers at 12.

Schalk Burger also jars a little for me in that list. Although like Mr Sports, I’m struggling to suggest a better alternative. Elsom only won the really huge accolades while playing in club rugby overseas and I think is yet to demonstrate true greatness on the international stage.

If you ran this article through an English site, you might find a fair few calling for their hero Jonny Wilkinson to be in the side ahead of Carter on the basis of achievements during the decade… but I agree with Carter. I think you might also find they (and other NH followers) might also suggest Gregan ahead of Du Preez. Gregan had turned into a dirty word by the end of his career which is such a shame because he was fantastic for the Wallabies for so long and hugely respected worldwide.

I wouldn’t have a frikin clue how to compare front rows to be honest so I won’t weigh in on that front.

Thanks for the article.

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Darwin hammer said | December 17th 2009 @ 9:27am | Report comment

There really is only one #6 to be included – Richard Hill – the rest are just scrapping for a very distant 2nd place … and I’d placed Joost as being ahead of Du Preez … and the locks are far to similar esp if you want to play a more fast paced game – those two clods aren’t going to be that mobile and won’t be offloading a la Jack, Williams, Eales etc

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PastHisBest said | December 17th 2009 @ 9:44am | Report comment

Can you imagine a front row with those props!! They would scare the absolute crap out of every front row they came up against.

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Terry Kidd said | December 17th 2009 @ 9:45am | Report comment

Yeah PHB, Caucau showed great potential but didn’t show us enough consistency to make a team of the decade …. IMHO anyway. Roff did it all over a longer period thats why I put him in.

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Sam Taulelei said | December 17th 2009 @ 10:11am | Report comment

I knew this would spark some lively debate and discussion. I deliberately didn’t explain my (personal) selections in the team as everyone will have their own reasons about who should be included or excluded. As I stated rather than just going for the best player in their position as sole criteria I also thought about how each player would fit into the team so wanted some combinations and a definite playing style.

Burke v Latham – not a lot between them. Latham had more X factor in his attacking game and could make something out of nothing a la Christian Cullen, with a goalkicker like Carter in the side I felt I could get away without a backup in Burke. Jason Robinson and Mils Muliaina were other strong contenders.

Rupeni Caucau – personal preference and while purely based on his performances for Northland in the NPC, the Blues in the Super 12 and Fiji at the 2003 world cup he had the X factor with a capital X. He was as devastating with the ball in hand as Jonah Lomu and I can’t think of any other winger who played in the decade that can lay claim to that. Habana would be the other logical choice but he hasn’t scored the kind of tries Caucau did. Roff is one of many quality finishers that played in the decade including Lomu but compared to those players whose careers spanned most of the decade he didn’t stack up.

Jean de Villiers – with an attacking runner like O’Driscoll you need a good playmaker and while you could argue to pick Gordon d’Arcy, Will Greenwood, Aaron Mauger, Yannick Jauzion and Matt Giteau. The Sprinkgbok was the most consistent in the no.12 jersey. Tana didn’t play enough games in the no.12 jersey to be considered.

Matfield and Johnson – Matfield will be remembered as the best lock foward in the games history the same way that Richie McCaw will be remembered as the best flanker. Eales was a freak but even in his prime I can’t remember him being destroying opposition lineouts to the same extent that Matfield does. Martin Johnson dominated the front of the lineout and I can’t think of any other lock that played this decade that can compare even though his career ended in 2003.

Dallaglio – the same reason as I selected Johnson. So’oialo is a dependable, reliable performer but was really part of a whole in combination with Collins and McCaw and not a dominating player like Dallaglio. Pierre Spies career is still in its infancy and it’s only this year he’s achieved any type of consistency, Sergio Parisse and Toutai Kefu were other contenders but I couldnt’ look past Dallaglio.

Anyway the selection only reflects my personal preferences and I don’t profess to know everything about the game so I’m eager to read other people’s thoughts and arguments.

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- Jerry said | December 17th 2009 @ 1:59pm | Report comment
  
  I’d disagree about Matfield v Eales. While not quite on the same level in the lineout as Matfield, Eales was still a real force on the opposition throw and he did it in both the pre and post lifting era, not to mention doing all the other stuff better than Matfield does.
  
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- MattyP said | December 19th 2009 @ 3:44am | Report comment
  
  I love your stuff Sam but I think you’re off base on Matfield. No doubt a great lineout exponent but locks have to do more than that. I don’t want to say negative things about him, but I don’t think it’s as clear cut as you have made it out to be that he will be remembered as the best lock ever. (And a lot of kiwis I know still say Michael Jones was the best… but I’m staying out of that one.)
  
  I would have Eales and Matfield. I loved Johnson’s leadership, but it’s not required in this team! And you can have Eales as your backup kicker if you don’t have Matty Burker…
  
  I would have picked JC over Burger. Collins would be the last guy I would to come across on a rugby field. But I think the French are perhaps under-represented here. Magne or Harinordiquy, perhaps?
  
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Brett McKay said | December 17th 2009 @ 10:35am | Report comment

great stuff Sam. I guess the question would be which stadium in the world would be big enough to see your team play Hoy’s team (and never mind who miight win)??

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