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The Roar

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Consistently brilliant: Celebrating rugby's three greatest craftsmen

13th December, 2017
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(Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Expert
13th December, 2017
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8021 Reads

Rugby union has had its fair share of great craftsmen; players who were so consistent, precise and accurate throughout their entire careers.

Of course, not all the great players have been genuine craftsmen of the game. We’ve seen players like Kurtley Beale and David Campese, stars whose ability lies (or lay, in Campese’s case) in their unpredictability.

In fact, Australia probably have more of these players in their ranks than the really consistent ones. Israel Folau, Beale, Marika Koroibete… they’re unpredictable. Bernard Foley is the closest we have to a real craftsman at the moment in that he’s reliable and is going to get it right most times.

We often think of rugby’s craftsmen as players with precise skills like accurate goalkicking and perfect passing, so halves are going to be in the conversation more often than not.

But while having an excellent nine and ten is crucial for any rugby team, if you don’t have a good two and three, you can forget about winning any games.

So before we move onto the top three, one player worth mentioning is Ewen McKenzie. ‘Link’ was a superb tighthead prop – as good as any this country has ever seen – whose technique was exceptional, and certainly a real craftsman of tighthead play. Australia’s scrum was at its best when McKenzie was there.

Coming up with a top three isn’t an easy task. Since professionalism came about, we’ve seen an increase in the number of players who can dedicate themselves to becoming real craftsmen of the sport. But that means it’s harder for modern players to stand out from the pack, so I’m going to name a trio of retired players as my top three.

All three of these guys had similarities, but the one thing that jumps out to me is their determination. Each had their own individual style, but one thing that could be seen in all three was their determination to win.

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Michael Lynagh kicks

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Michael Lynagh
The first name that comes to mind when talking about great rugby craftsmen is Michael Lynagh. You could see a real precision all through his game, particularly with his goalkicking and the way he would line up a conversion or penalty.

He did the exact same thing every single time with every single kick; wiped his hands, wiped his brow at the end of his run-up, got his composure, then came in and kicked accurately. Well, mostly.

‘Noddy’ was a perfectionist – he had this desire to get everything absolutely right – but one thing that really set him apart was his composure. Under pressure, when the going was really tough, he was outstanding.

Take the 1991 World Cup quarter-final against Ireland. We were down with two minutes to go and Michael, who was the captain that day, produced the perfect speech which kept us composed, he stayed composed, and we then went on to win that match with him scoring the winning try. That was a terrific case of him staying composed and leading from the front.

Another indicator of how good Michael was is the 1984 Spring Tour Grand Slam. Michael was only 20 or 21 during that tour and was playing alongside the best player in the world – Mark Ella.

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That can’t have been easy for a 21-year-old kid to do, but Noddy looked completely comfortable.

Martin Johnson
Everyone remembers the 2003 World Cup final for Jonny Wilkinson’s field-goal, but Martin Johnson was the reason England won that match.

Johnson was a great craftsman in the way he thought about the game. He had an uncompromising demand for quality and was able to put a strategy together on the field in the middle of a game when it was needed. That’s what we saw in 2003. England won the game through Wilkinson’s field-goal, but it was Johnson’s plan that got them to that position in the first place.

England’s forwards punched it up through the middle until the time was right, and only then did they give the ball to Wilkinson for the field-goal. It was an example of how well Johnson knew the skills of his players, which was one of his great crafts.

That leadership was evident early on in his career too. I faced him in the 1995 World Cup, when England knocked us out in the quarter-finals – funnily enough from a Rob Andrew field-goal – and you could see then he had what it took to understand how to play the game and how to get his team to play the game.

There are some guys who come in and from a young age, you can see right away that they’re a leader. Johnson was one of them. His leadership ability and determination even at that young age was clear and, while he might not have been the formal leader of that pack, you could see he wasn’t far away.

Martin Johnson holds World Cup trophy

(Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)

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Brad Thorn
There’s no single game or moment that stands out from Brad Thorn’s career. That’s no criticism – it shows just how brilliantly consistent he was.

Every time Thorn ran onto the field, whether he was playing rugby union or rugby league, you knew you were going to get the same thing. He was going to be aggressive, he was going to hit you really hard, and you were going to be hurting afterwards every single time.

When we talk about the craftsmanship of great jewellery and liquor and anything else, we talk about the consistency of their quality. That’s what Brad Thorn was like. There was a consistency about every game he played and you just knew he was always going to be very good.

Some of that comes back to his preparation and dedication off the field – Thorn worked incredibly hard to ensure his performances were right up there. The stories about how much time he would spend before and after training are legendary, and he was always prepared to make sacrifices to reach and maintain his quality.

Thorn was so dedicated that I can hardly think of a player who was more consistent over their career. You could maybe put someone like Richie McCaw or Jonny Wilkinson up in that conversation, but Thorn was really on another level entirely.

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So, Roarers, now it’s over to you: who do you think belongs in the list of rugby’s greatest ever craftsmen?

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