Selecting the ‘real’ World Rugby XV of the decade

 

By , 8 Jan 2010 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert

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Springboks Bryan Habana looks to get a pass away as the Wallabies Matt Giteau tackles him to the ground during the Australia v South Africa Rugby test at Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Saturday, August 5, 2006. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

Springboks Bryan Habana looks to get a pass away as the Wallabies Matt Giteau tackles him to the ground during the Australia v South Africa Rugby test at Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Saturday, August 5, 2006. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

The most important consideration in selecting a rugby side, and this is the view of Alan Jones, who was an excellent selector, is to get the shape of the side right.

Rugby is a team game and the good selector tries to mix and match the talents of his players so that the entity of the team is much more powerful than the sum of the individual skills in the side.

Hopefully the players in my dream team will complement each other in the various skills they bring to the side.

Another essential consideration is that each player must be expert in the specific role his position requires him to play. My props, for instance, must be terrific scrummagers, lifters and maulers.

If they can also occasionally make charges like a maddened bull, then so much the better. But the scrumming, lifting and mauling expertise come first.

My template in selection a World Rugby XV of the decade is Rugby World magazine’s XV.

And this brings me to another aspect of selecting, which is the bias that comes from watching and having an interest in a particular competition.

Rugby World is a UK magazine.

Their bias lies with the players they see most often in the European competitions. My bias comes from living in Sydney and writing for the SMH and The Roar, mainly about Super Rugby and the Tri-Nations Tests.

So the Rugby World magazine XV includes 8 northern hemisphere players (the Argentinian Agustin Pichot is regarded as a northern hemisphere player in that most of his top level rugby was played in Europe).

My World XV includes nine southern hemisphere players and six northern hemisphere players.

Of the six northern hemisphere players in my team, three of them were stars of the mighty England pack which dominated and won the RWC in 2003. There is an Italian, an Irishman and a Welshman.

South Africa provides four players in my team; New Zealand three; and Australia two.

These distributions, in my opinion, reflect quite accurately the fortunes of the various national sides over the decade. South Africa and England won the World Cups, and New Zealand were consistently the number one ranked side in the world in this period.

A final consideration for me is that the form of the players must have been outstanding for a couple of seasons.

Now for the envelope and the winning names.

The French call the front row the ‘orchestra stalls’ because this is base from where the rugby music is really made.

World Rugby magazine has selected Carl Hayman, John Smit and Gethin Jenkins. The first two names get my vote, too. But Jason Leonard, who appeared in four World Cups, three Lions tours and is the most-capped prop of all time, replaces Jenkins.

Rugby World magazine’s second row of Martin Johnson and Victor Matfield picks itself, as far as I am concerned.

As does Rugby World magazine’s backrow of Sergio Parisse, Richie McCaw and Richard Hill. This has not been a vintage era for number eights, and Parisse has been the best of an ordinary lot.

Rugby World magazine selects Augustin Pichot and Daniel Carter as its halves. There is an element of the sympathy vote with Pichot. He was a tough, resilient, game and inspirational player.

But his skills came nowhere near those of Fourie du Preez (my player of the decade, ahead of Brian O’Driscoll).

In my view du Preez is one of the all-time great halfs, right up there Gareth Edwards, Chris Laidlaw, Ken Catchpole and Des Conner.

The same compliment can be paid to Daniel Carter, who has no equal in the history of rugby for his all-round attacking and defensive skills. If there was no Carter, then Stephen Larkham, another rugby genius, would have been my first five-eighths.

Rugby World magazine has Matt Giteau at inside centre and Brian O’Driscoll at outside centre. I would move O’Drsicoll into inside centre and bring in Stirling Mortlock at outside centre.

At his prime Mortlock, was a big, powerful dominating presence (as he revealed in the semi-final of the 2003 RWC against New Zealand) in the outside corridors of the field.

Giteau, in my view, is an over-rated player who rarely if ever dominates Tests against strong opponents. Mortlock was feared by the All Blacks and the Springboks as the most dangerous Wallaby on the field when playing against them. 

Playing off O’Driscoll, Mortlock would be too tough to stop for even the strongest of defenders.

Rugby World’s magazine back three consists of Mils Muliaina, Jason Robinson and Shane Williams. I retain Shane Williams in my team. Bryan Habana comes in for Robinson, and Chris Latham comes in for Muliaina.

So the Zavos World Rugby XV is: Carl Hayman, John Smit, Jason Leonard. Martin Johnson, Victor Matfield, Richie McCaw, Richard Hill, Sergio Parisse, Fourie du Preez, Daniel Carter, Shane Williams, Brian O’Driscoll, Stirling Mortlock, Bryan Habana, Chris Latham.

My captain is John Smit.

His captaincy of the Springboks in the 2007 RWC and against the British and Irish Lions (where he was smuggled back on to the field, illegally perhaps, to save one of the Tests) was inspirational and thoughtful.

Sir Clive Woodward is my coach.

As World Cups these days defines coaches and players, Woodward and Jake White are the obvious candidates. Take nothing away from White, but the quality of play in the 2007 RWC was well below that, in the finals, of the 2003 RWC.

Woodward, too, produced the greatest England side in over 130 years of Test rugby.

That side won something like 12 consecutive Tests against the best southern hemisphere sides, an achievement that might never be equalled. Woodward introduced tactics like the pass-kick and coaching techniques that are now staple parts of rugby play.

Finally, his 2003 England side was one of the great national teams in the history of rugby.

My World XV is in great hands, with Woodward pulling the coaching strings.

© AAP 2012
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